"Lightweight Gun and Recoil"

Recoil , while hunting, has never been an issue with me. Used a Beretta Ultralight with good results for several years. Am now toting a Verona 16 ga ou at about 6 lbs. Sweet carry.
 
Ya, it's a little thing called Physics. Lighter the gun the more felt recoil. Heavier the gun the less felt recoil. But since lugging an 8.5 lb gun in the field all day would get to be rather laborious, a lighter field gun makes much more sense. Shooting a 6 lb gun with 3" magnums doesn't make sense either.

Gun fit will play as much if not more when it comes to felt recoil and I'm not just talking about felt recoil at the shoulder but the face too. Unless your tall with a long neck and arms most guns off the rack will fit reasonably well. Keyword "reasonably". Minor adjustments in fit can easily be done by a competent gunsmith.
 
I hunt with a Charles Daly 12 ga. ultralight. I love it. I don't feel recoil while hunting. It's not an issue. My issue, like birdshooter suggests, is it may not fit me the best because I'm tall with a long neck and arms. I tend to shot over, as I have a hard time getting my cheek down on the stock properly. But having carried much heavier guns in the field, I don't get arm weary with this one.
 
You might consider looking at the Remington V3 weighs 7.25 lbs and has the lowest recoil of any 12 gauge I've shot. I liked it so much I bought a second one for my wife. We shoot trap often and she loves it. I've shot hundreds of game loads and high brass through it and not a single jam. Not bad for a $800 gun.
 
Recoil and gun weight is a give and take decision you have to make at one point or another. Personally I carry a Franchi Renaissance 12 ga. Weighing in at just under 6# on my scale, its a dream to carry from field to field. It has frachis gel stock inserts in it that truly eliminate shoulder recoil, although when shooting 3" loads, the cheekbone recoil is still sharp. I dont mind it though as i maybe shoot a dozen of those shells in an entire day. It shoots great, is comfortable, and was in my budget. It actually was the beggining of my soon to be obsession with Italian shotguns.
 
IMO, Shooting 3" lead loads out of a 12ga. is unnecessary for upland hunting and certainly out of a 12ga. that is 6lbs or under. I could see a case for a 20 ga. loading in 3" which happens to be 1 1/4 oz IF your trying to emulate a 12 ga load out of a 20, but if you need 1 1/4 oz, why not just shoot the 12?

Steel shot may be another matter do to larger shot and pattern density.
 
I regularly shoot a 20 and have tried 3" shells - big recoil! Am going to give these away...
 
IMO, Shooting 3" lead loads out of a 12ga. is unnecessary for upland hunting and certainly out of a 12ga. that is 6lbs or under. I could see a case for a 20 ga. loading in 3" which happens to be 1 1/4 oz IF your trying to emulate a 12 ga load out of a 20, but if you need 1 1/4 oz, why not just shoot the 12?

Steel shot may be another matter do to larger shot and pattern density.


Its a rare occurrance that I do indeed use 3' shells. When I do, I am looking for velocity rather than load size. They are more for late season wild bird or early season pen raised birds that flush 30+ yards away. Here in IL we are forced to shoot pen raised birds and use nontoxic shot on the CPHP property. My normal is a box of Fasteel #5 or #6 in 2.75".
 
I realize the balance of a hunting gun would be screwed up but when shooting trap with my lightweight gun I do this:

Now you see it:


Now you don’t:


I’ll let you caption it but that is six and one half inches weighing a pound and a half.

I can also put these in the magazine tube weighing a half pound each:

 
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