Ask The Instructor: Back Pain

Question: Almost every time I shoot my 12-gauge, I get a tightness in my back between my shoulder blades. It usually starts toward the end of a shoot and the discomfort continues into the next day. Is this from recoil or some other issue?

Answer: That sounds like recoil to me. When a shotgun recoils, it sends shockwaves throughout your upper body. Some shooters are unaffected while others experience discomfort. In addition to back pain, some shooters can experience symptoms in the neck and shoulders. The solution to your problem is simple: reduce felt recoil. Exactly how you reduce the recoil of your shotgun and how much recoil reduction is needed to eliminate your discomfort, is the difficult part of the answer. There are at least five different ways in which you can reduce recoil in an over-under shotgun. 1) Use a softer shooting shell. The faster the speed of your shell and the heavier the weight of the shot, the more recoil you will feel. Use 1 ounce or 7/8 ounce instead of 1-1/8 ounce, and keep your shell speed at or below 1200 fps. 2) Increase the weight of your gun. A heavier gun will have less felt recoil than a lighter gun, such as a field gun. 3) Have the forcing cones in your barrels lengthened. For $400 - $500, you can have your forcing cones lengthened by an expert, such as Jim Eyster of Heritage Gunsmiths. Since most of the recoil of a shotgun is generated in the first five inches forward of the chamber, this is a proven and effective way to reduce recoil. 4) Have a recoil device installed. There are a number of devices that work well such as Soft-Touch and Gracoil. I have had the most personal experience with the ISIS System {Recoil Systems, UK), which I have found to be very effective, lighter weight and more esthetically pleasing than the others. 5) Change guns. Some shotgun models and brands have inherently more recoil than others due to the structure of the forcing cones, barrels and overall weight. While semi-automatic shotguns are comparatively lower in recoil, most will need a shell with a speed of at least 1250 fps to reliably operate the action.