Gentlemen, Gentlemen, Gentlemen;
I surely feel many have been carried away by smooth talking Advertisers. "If" you can measure the difference in recoil then you can feel it. "IF" you can't measure it then there has to be a significant difference in the way it is applied in order to "Feel" anything. Most of the differences we are speaking of here are "Extremely" Mi-Nute. Lets look at a few Facts. Assume a load of 1oz shot, a wad of 45 grains & a powder charge of 20 grains. Know what the weight of the shot, wad & half the powder ejected from the gun is - 1 1/8oz. I picked these weights for convenience. Now let's assume a MV of 1200 FPS from a 6 3/4lb gun having a 30" barrel. Guess what this gun weighs exactly 96 times the total ejecta weight. Now hold on to your hats, the gun starts to move the instance the load does in direct proportion to that of the load. Now I am going to introduce an intentional error by assuming the load travels the entire 30" which as we have the thickness of the base wad it will be a bit shy. However with that
96:1 ratio of load to gun while the load is moving 30" the gun will move 5/16" in "Free" recoil, not against a rigid shoulder. Even if the charge had a constant acceleration this would take place in .0035 Seconds. All the rest of the motion of the gun occurs from built up inertia or from the ejecting gases. The reason for that Half of the powder charge is that as the base of the wad reaches the muzzle the gases from the burning powder has filled the bore. Thus we could say that on average either that 20 grains weight have traveled 15" or that 10 grains weight have traveled the full 30".
As soon as the wad leaves the barrel the gases rush out at an increased velocity thus imparting a bit more recoil to the gun. Its always amazing that so many can "Feel" a bit of change in the burn rate claiming a slower burn gives them less recoil, but can't feel the results of an increase of both amount of gases being ejected or an increase in the rate of ejection. "IF" we change in some way to lower the Breech pressure while maintaining the same MV we will of course likewise raise the muzzle pressure, there Ain't No Free Lunch. Bottom line is the recoil of a shotgun is about 99.9% determined by weight & velocity of the charge against the weight of the gun Whether Measured or Felt.
Sure there are some factors which affect hot the recoil is felt, such as gun fit, how you hold it etc. The recoil pad works by spreading out the recoil of the gun. I would feel quite certain it does not fully compress in that under .003 sec's the charge is in the barrel but is continuing to compress as the gun continues in motion. A too Soft pad can in fact give you an increase of recoil just like holding the gun off the shoulder a bit & giving it a running start.
I can't feel a pea under 13 mattresses either or ever how many it was they out under the "Princess", sure glad I'm not so Dainty & Delicate as some seem to be.
Fact is if you use the same identical load from the same gun, But, you have done something to the gun which reduced its recoil (Assuming its not just in your head) then you have reduced the ballistics of that load. The Bird itself could care less whether you did this by saving a few pennies in powder cost or spent a bundle having the gun modified, but if you think you can reduce the recoil while maintaining everything else equal, you may be fooling yourself, but not Me.
