RECOIL - Consider the consequences
April 2007
Shooting
Tip
by: Dan Schindler
It was a bright, sunny day in early 2006 and my practice session was
going exceptionally well. Looking into the sky I was startled to see a
very large, black, shadowy mass,…which disappeared when I closed my left
eye. I stopped shooting and called my eye doctor, Michael Holmes who
said come in now. Immediately.
The bad news, my retina had partially detached. The good news, laser
surgery could re-attach it, restoring my left eye’s vision to 100%. Had
the retina completely detached, the outcome would have been much worse.
Fully recovered, I’m grateful for the great care I received and the
technology available. Vision in both eyes is holding at 20/15.
Since 1993 I’ve been stating in my articles that heavy recoil is not
only a very real disadvantage to good shooting but will inevitably catch
up to those who ignore this. I see head lifting and flinching in my
classes on a regular basis, both signs of the cumulative effects of
recoil.
I personally do not use the super fast shells with heavier recoil. Why
did I encounter this eye emergency? To be perfectly honestly with you, I
simply don’t know—nor did Michael. But I’ve now taken additional steps
to hopefully avoid this emergency from occurring again. The first step
was to purchase a PFS (Precision Fit Stock) which delivers a 50%
reduction in recoil. The second step was to move to a 1 oz load at about
1,230 fps. Felt recoil is similar to a moderate 28 gauge round—and
terminal ballistics (results at the target) remain excellent,
including those birds beyond the 50 yard marker.
Ballisticians, the gurus who understand what really happens after the
firing pin meets the primer, urge us to pay less attention to the
feet-per-second statistics and more to felt recoil and—not the
perceived—but the actual, improved results at the target
downrange. I couldn’t agree more.
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