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Recoil bruises my face!

If you can mount properly, then getting bruised must be down to gun fit.

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Thursday, 14 June 2007

I have a Browning B325. It's a big improvement on the Spanish over-under I had, except I'm constantly getting bruised on my face and lower shoulder. I've never suffered from this in ten years of shooting!

Tuition
JOHN BIDWELL says: By the sounds of it you've done enough shooting now to know how to mount a gun properly. So, assuming that's the case, the problem surely lies in the fit of the Browning.

A qualified gun fitter or gunsmith should be able to pinpoint the trouble in a short time but, if I were to hazard a guess, the bruising to your upper chest is being caused by an over-long stock. Instead of coming to rest snugly in the shoulder pocket the butt plate is getting only halfway there.

Not only is the stock too long, it also sounds as if the comb is a little low for your requirements: to compensate for the lack of height you are probably now having to duck your head down, and forward, to meet the wood. In instances like this it's possible for a shooter's hand to make contact with his face, hence the bruising.

As a stop-gap measure, try shortening the length of your grip on the fore-end, this might help the butt plate clear the chest and find the shoulder pouch properly. It won't necessarily solve the problem of a low comb but it should draw your face out of harm's way a little better.

As I say, a fitter will be able to suggest a proper remedy and the cost of having a stock shortened, and raised, isn't that much.


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