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Hey Guys,

Picking a recoil pad is not a simple thing that most folks think it to be. A soft pad, like a Kickeez, converts recoil energy into heat as it compresses; it works fine until it bottoms out. A harder rubber pad doesn't absorb recoil in the same manner as a Kickeez, but is less likely to bottom out.

Clearly, soft pads allow the rifle to move backwards farther, so recoil is spread out over a longer timeframe but it increases the likelihood that the scope will smack you in the eye. Hard pads don't compress as much, so more recoil is felt on your shoulder in a smaller amount of time but scopes are held farther away from your eye.

In order to select the most optimum pad, one has to consider the weight of the rifle, the total energy dumped into the pad, the acceleration of the rifle, and the square inches of pad resting against the shoulder. Then, one can chose the best pad density, softness, and thickness.

Clearly, the next question you are going to ask is, how do I do that? Well, some of this is pretty easy, the hard part is determining the variables of the pad once you know all the recoil numbers.

Perhaps, some of the mechanical engineers on this board can answer that question. I am an electrical engineer, I can tell you what the variables are, the way to select the pad, and the density of the pad, but I never learned how to calculate energy dissipated due to the compression effects of the pad.

I can tell you this however: I switched from a 3/4 inch hard rubber pad on my 416 Rigby to a 1 1/8 inch soft Kickeez pad and the felt recoil was much much worse. It was only when I sat down and really thought about the problem that I began to see the light of day. For my rifle, that pad would have to be about 2 inches thick in order for it to work properly.

Ideally, recoil pad manufacturers should sell pads based upon the weight of the rifle, the caliber it is chambered for, and square inches of pad against the shoulder. It could be done with a simple 2D table.

RobertD

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