Recoil moderation for Hogue 12" LOP stock?

[aegusto]

Shot 50 rounds of 00 buck and 50 slugs yesterday with the Hogue 12" LOP stock. Love the short LOP. The recoil pad itself seems OK, but my shoulder is really sore and bruised. I neglected to wear a recoil pad. No, I did not mount the shotgun like this. I recall a product some years ago that consisted of a steel cylinder filled with mercury and ball bearings for insertion into the stock bolt channel of a wood stock. The Hogue stock is hollow plastic. I have considered using a plastic tube to create an ersatz stock bolt channel and filling the rest of the stock with silicone caulk (or some other substance). Another alternative would be to ditch the Hogue stock entirely and cut down a wood stock. Will appreciate suggestions for moderating recoil with the Hogue stock.

[aegusto]

My friend google tells me that the shorter the buttstock, the greater the perceived recoil. Mercury recoil reducers provide little (if any) benefit. Best bet is to replace the Hogue recoil pad with a Limbsaver or Kick-Eez and wear a shoulder pad when shooting slugs or buckshot. If I still can't handle the Hogue, back to the wood buttstock (along with the aforementioned devices). I am really sold on shorter buttstocks despite my sore shoulder.

[Vitaly]

I have short LOP Hogue stock on my 870 too but don't have any problems with recoil.

What ammo have you used?

Do you bring stock tightly to your shoulder? If it is loose the stock will hit your shoulder shot after shot...

[aegusto]

Federal LE132 9-pellet 00 buck and F127 rifled slugs. Yes, I bring stock tightly to my shoulder. Maybe I am just lowly and weak.

[1190405]

I'd probably try throwing on an appropriately-sized Limbsaver pad before going the other route which sounds like a lot of work. I bought a Limbsaver pad for one of my 870's which I am going to cut an inch off the stock. I haven't done it yet but the pad seems really nice.

[Reaper]

I know there are low recoil 9 shot 00 buck loads out there, they should work fine for HD purposes. I believe they run about 1200 fps instead of the usual 1325-1350 fps. Heck, a 1 oz. slug going 1600 fps is always going to kick like a pissed off mule no matter what kind of stock or pad you've got on your gun!

If recoil is really that much of a problem for you, maybe you should consider a 20 gauge?

[aegusto]

I'm working the 20 gauge as a separate project and then I'm going to have a shoot-off. See this thread for details on the 20. It's going to the gunsmith next week. The 20 gauge seems very finicky and less robust in comparison to the 12 gauge. I want to see if the smithy has any ideas. At present, I am running Federal #F203-3B #3 buck, 20-pellet in the 20. The "manly men" on the internet seem to think you should move up to 3" magnum shells in the 20 to generate as much recoil as possible.

[aegusto]

While I'm ranting on stocks, I might as well rant on forends (or forearms, depending on where you're from). I have short arms. The Remington Express Compact Jr. has the best forend I've seen, but they don't make it for 12 gauge models. It's quite long, extending back to the receiver, so if you have short arms there is always something to grab:

[images deleted -- my Photobucket album got full]

The 12 gauge Express Synthetic 7-round has a pretty good forend that is not quite as long as the Compact Jr:

The Hogue forend is very short and really makes me stretch to get a solid grip:

In general, it seems the firearms industry thinks all shooters are gorillas with 36" sleeves and fists the size of hams. I have a 32" sleeve length and wear medium-size gloves. It's hard to find firearms that fit me comfortably without some modification.

[Kentactic]

Thats interesting because I feel that the hogue 12" LOP stock makes recoil a dream. I could shoot several hundred rounds without discomfort. Slugs or #00 is no problem for me. But im a bigger guy and I shot a hard plastic mesa tactical M4 style stock for quite a while. That probably built up some shoulder toughness. After 100 rounds it hurt pretty bad to continue.

[Reaper]

If your unhappy with your Hogue 12 LOP stock set, I would trade a factory 12 gauge Remington set?