by AndrewX » Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:51 pm
I've gained a lot of useful information on this forum so I thought I'd share my experience with the .450 and my efforts to make the recoil manageable without sacrificing power. I bought my 16" .450 Bushmaster upper in late summer for deer hunting this fall and winter for either my 15 year old son or I to use.
After an initial cleaning, my son and I headed to the range with 40 factory loads and 60 handloads all with the 250 grain FTX bullet. I used two different lowers during my initial load development/barrel break-in that included 100 rounds total from the bench. The first was a collapsible stock lower with a Magpul CTR with the enhanced butt pad. After 75 rounds, the recoil became bothersome and I switched over to the second lower that had a standard A2 stock which I tried with and without a 3.5 pound stock weight pulled from my Service Rifle. Out of these first 100 rounds, I shot 65, my son 35. Although I'm not particularly recoil sensitive, we both came home with slightly sore and somewhat bruised shoulders.
While, the weighted A2 stock was definitely easier on the shoulder, I knew I would be using a collapsible stock for hunting due to the lighter weight and adjustable LOP. After all, from a deer stand, you're hopefully only pulling the trigger once. As I continued load development/barrel break-in (the next 100 rounds from the bench) and after reading some posts on this forum, I went back to the range with the both lowers, 3.5 pound stock weight, Tubb CWS and buffer spring (also pulled from my AR Service Rifle) as well both a Pachmayr and Kick-eez recoil pads and Kick-eez sorbothane pad inserts. As Ross was still recovering from his accident at the time, I've not yet replaced the stock Izzy comp.
This time I was the only shooter and I started with the bare A2 lower (shots 101-105) and after each five round string, I added another of the three different components. For shots 106-110, I added the CWS and buffer spring. During the first 100 rounds, the brass had ejected at 2 o'clock and was fairly marked up. The Tubb CWS definitely improved functioning and the brass was cleanly ejected at 3:30 but recoil was not noticeably improved. For shots 111-115, I added the stock weight which definitely changed the perceived recoil. For shots 116-120, I removed the weight and slipped on the Pachmayr which didn't change the "push" but noticably softened the blow on my shoulder. For shots 121-125, I tried the collapsible stock lower with the Pachmayr with similar results. I then switched back to the A2, added the weight and pad back and thus continued to shoot shots 126-200 during which I tried different combinations of recoil pads with the various sorbothane pad inserts finally settling on the Pachmayr pad with a 1/2" Kick-eez sorbothane pad insert.
After my basic load development and barrel break-in and to get the gun ready for hunting, I mounted a 3-9 Nikon Omega and purchased a GL-Shock stock. Both purchases were based on recommendations on this forum. I went back to the range with both lowers and 50 rounds of my chosen load to sight in the new scope. Shots 201-205 were with the padded and weighted A2 stock as before. I then switched over to the collapsible stock lower with the GL-Shock (without any additional recoil pad) for shots 206-215. Wow, what a difference! Just to compare, I shot the next five rounds with the weighted and padded A2 lower before going back the the GL-Shock for shots 221-240. I then cleaned the barrel (first time since the initial cleaning at round count zero) and shot ten fouling shots with the GL-Shock stock both off the bench and sitting. At no time did I feel the need to add the Limbsaver or the desire to switch back to the padded and weighted A2 stock lower. During another trip to the range before deer season began, my son got the chance to shoot another ten rounds with the .450 with the new scope and GL-Shock stock without complaint.
Admittedly, my experiences with the .450 are subjective and still somewhat limited. My general impression is that the GL-Shock works very well to absorb the recoil and help the shooter get back on target very quickly. As I stated before, I prefer a collapsible stock over a fixed stock and the GL-Shock makes the .450 easy to shoot. Since this stock is made to fit either a mil-spec or commercial buffer tube as well as recoil about a half inch with each shot, it doesn't clamp onto the buffer tube the same way a Magpul collapsible stock does but so far, that hasn't gotten in the way of me getting a solid cheek weld. Once deer season ends (January 15th), I'll probably go back to the range with my .450 for more trigger time and I may try one of Ross's brakes now that he's reportedly on the mend.
AndrewX
16" Bushmaster upper
NRA Patron Life Member