Henry Rifle Forums

So obviously a semi auto has more options for recoil reduction. But how much? I’m looking for a 12 gauge for upland birds and would really love a decent Italian O/U (a Winchester 101 would be nice too), but I have a shoulder injury that makes felt recoil a serious consideration. The O/U guns I’m looking at are all a bit older as I’m not made of money, so will be fairly basic in comparison to the new versions. If I go to a semi auto, how significant will recoil reduction be? Should I be looking at inertia or gas operated? My experience with 12 gauge is all pump and side by side, so I really am starting at square one.

Thoughts from the experts??

as one who was on blood thinning meds for several years, recoil instantly became a primary concern .... there are several common mods that can be made to most long guns which will lower felt recoil .... the ones we use as a package are :

install a top quality recoil pad,
install a Mercury Recoil Suppressor in the stock
hone the forcing cone
port the barrel(s)

the action of most semi automatic shot guns burns some of the recoil energy to work the action .... we have made the package of mods above to our semi automatic Remington 1100 and 11-87; as well as, to one of our O/U shotguns .... with the additional benefit of burning some recoil, our semi autos have much less felt recoil .... when trap shooting I routinely fire 100 rounds (often up to 200) at a single session without any bruising or soreness .... I couldn't do that with the same shotguns prior to the mods nor can I do so with the O/U even with the same mods

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JEB, thank you for that insight. Given that you still can’t shoot the O/U the way you’d like with all those mods, makes me think I should trade my pump in on a semi auto. The O/U will probably be no improvement on my current gun, and possibly worse as it will be lighter.

Aaarrrgghh! I just posted a huge response and it didn't take.

I just went through about a month of research on my first shotgun in decades. Focusing on Trap, not hunting, but many of the same concerns about recoil, weight, serviceability, etc.

Everything JEB has done is legit, but not cheap. One thing I've learned along the way is shot weight is a big factor, so you'd need to understand what you'll need to be shooting for your distances and conditions. A lighter weight game load can be a shoulder saver.

My research and grilling of gun guys says gas operated is probably better than inertia, but also takes more care, cleaning and maintenance. Not crazy amounts, but just more, as inertia takes very little (I've been told).

Another key factor is "fit," so if you're not just straight up "average" in terms of build and arm length, you might need to have the stock modified for LOP and, during that process, the "stock guy" can tweak other things like "Pitch" to give you better recoil management.

The used market in the U.S. is pretty good on GunBroker, but I don't know a thing about how you go about trying to source a good used shotgun in Canada; if there's a GB equivalent, that'd be great. A decent used O/U can be had (down here) for a reasonable amount with the right research and some patience, but you may be in another boat altogether. A 7.5# O/U with a 7/8 oz game load should be pretty easy to handle if it fits you well and you have even a minimum of mods done. After all, hunting with one is way different than 100 rounds in an afternoon shooting clay birds.

Hope that helps, but I'm on expert, just crammed with new research and some fairly vetted opinions I've picked up along the way!

either an older Browning a-5 humpback or a newer one, they take most of the recoil out and a pleasure to shoot.

I have a Weatherby SA-08 semi-auto 12ga that is very soft shooting right out of the box.
Then again, before the SA-08, my only experience with shotguns are with single-shot break barrels and pumps.

You might try looking at the Weatherby.
I think they run around $600 new.
I'm not really sure because mine was a gift.

I looked long and hard at the SA-08. Gas-operated, available in either synthetic or wood stock. Gets good reviews. Again, not sure about Canada pricing or availability, but worth investigating for hunting!

I haven't done any shotgunning for a long time, now, but I grew up in bird country and spent most of my life bird hunting, both upland and waterfowl. In that time, there was no type of shotgun I hadn't used and shot. Bottom line is that, yes, a semi-auto will reduce recoil, but, as mentioned, there are other ways to reduce recoil other than just action type. Proper fit is a big one as is your choice of load and along those lines, your choice of gauge. The good news is that semi-autos are very popular and lots of affordable choices.

I’ve got a Mossberg 500 at the moment, and am pricing both their 930 and Weatherby SA-08s. I also did some external reader here today and settled my sights on a gas semi. There isn’t a huge difference in cost/availability from Canada to USA. Lots of people think we can’t / don’t have much for guns up here, but in fact it’s easier to buy them here, and we can own pretty much anything we want. The big difference is you just can’t get a CCW permit here as an average citizen. But our crime rate is so much lower, it really is a non issue.