Recoil Shields
 

I've been in the market for a recoil shield. 1st off, I'm a little sonuvagun at 5'11" and 125# so there ain't a whole lot of padding built into me anywhere at all. 2ndly, my wife is pretty recoil shy. 3rdly, I have lots of friends who always enjoy range time with me because I have cool guns and apparently make shooting them lots of fun and safe.

So, the main criteria here is to make the big kickers not so scary for my wife and my inexperienced friends at the range. The two guns that I'm primarily trying to tame are a 12ga Rem. 870 Express and a Mosin-Nagant 91/59. With this in mind it becomes apparent that an ambidextrous model will be needed and that a vest would be too user specific to share with various people.

I went to the local Gander Mtn (love that place) last night and tried on the following models:
PAST Mag
PAST Mag+
Limbsaver

Both of the PAST models couldn't be adjusted small enough to secure the thing to my sub-30" chest; I told you I was a little bastard. The Limbsaver, at its' tightest, was acceptable and will certainly work if I'm wearing a jacket. All of the models were fairly easy to adjust and would, at their widest, fit the fattest people I know and then some.

I end up going home with the Limbsaver thanks to it's smaller circumference and based on reviews I'd read saying the PAST models had major issues with staying in place round after round. Also, the Limbsaver's pad is removable so the device can be washed and ironed if needed.

Oh, yes, another deciding factor was that the PAST models clearly stated they were made in China while the Limbsaver did not say but the packaging showed an American address. Once I got it home, I found the tags inside the pad's pocket stating that the garment was made in China and the pad was American made.

I have this thing, about my guns especially, that I don't do non-American made unless the firearm itself is of another nationality and then only American-made or correct origin parts are to be used. So, I'm a bit peeved that my options in recoil shields, at this store and on MidwayUSA, are Chinese made options.

So, my questions are two-fold; Does anyone have experiences to share concerning the 2 models above and does anyone know of an American made ambidextrous recoil shield that fits well, adjusts well and performs well that can be had from an easily obtainable source?

TIA

Re: Recoil Shields
 

You might consider buying slip-on recoil pads for each of the weapons. When firing weapons from the bench (many rounds), I don't like pain. I'll actually use a PAST along with a slip-on recoil pad.

If you reload your own ammo, you can also consider pulling the bullets & reducing the powder load in the 7.62x54R rounds. That also works well on 8mm Turk ammo. Light ball ammo would also tend to have less recoil than heavy ball stuff.

Re: Recoil Shields
 

I have a bolt gun that used to be painful to shoot - three rounds would but a bruise on my shoulder like a softball - no matter how snug I held it. I really couldn't stand more than 5 shots with that gun. Then I put one of those pachmyer "decelerator" recoil pads on it and now I can shoot it all day without even thinking about it.
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Also what about one of those surplus kevlar groin protectors, they look like they could be fashioned into a shoulder pad with little trouble.

Re: Recoil Shields
 

Thanks for the input, guys. The Mosin has a recoil pad that uses the existing hardware for attachment. The 870E, OTOH, employs a folding stock and finding a matching recoil pad will probably be unlikely. I'll shop about for a slip on generic but there isn't much hope in that department. Thankfully, that particular weapon is more of a home defense and "throw it in the back seat" sort of gun. After shopping replacement barrels to make it worthy of hunting I decided my hunting shotgun will be a whole 'nother shotgun instead of replacement barrel/stock for this guy.