Perceived Recoil and Stock Design

by AaronB, Saturday, December 14, 2024, 13:09 (7 days ago)

The thread below on the .450 BP Express conversion on an NEF Handi-Rifle got me thinking. I did a little bit of reading, and a little bit of looking around at the classic rifles in heavy-recoiling calibers.

I read (and it makes sense to me) that part of perceived recoil isn't so much how hard it punches your shoulder, but how hard it punches you in the face. With your cheekbone down against the buttstock, any upward motion of the butt is delivered directly to your skull.

In comparing rifle stocks, I looked at a Weatherby rifle in .460 Weatherby:

If you look at the comb of the stock, you will see it slopes downward from the butt toward the pistol grip... meaning that as the rifle moves backward under recoil the stock will tend to fall away from your face, and will even compensate for some muzzle rise in the process.

By comparison, the Handi-Rifle's comb is straight and level, and almost inline with the bore:

Interestingly, the Alexander Henry rifles I saw went in exactly the opposite direction:

Note that, in the rifle shown, the comb slopes upward from buttplate to grip. I can only conclude that, in the rifle shown, the shooter's cheek was not expected to be welded to the butt... the shooter's eye had to be up higher to use the peep sight. Also, I figure the A. Henry rifle used weight to compensate for recoil. It doesn't matter as much when you have your gunbearers in the field with you.

-AaronB