Do Rifle Breaks Reduce Recoil / worth the money?

My wife is getting older and it now hurts her shoulder when she shoots her 30/06. It's her favorite rifle, had it for 38 years and she won't even try my 270 or any other gun. Would having a break put on her gun reduce the recoil to the point that she would notice it, or is it just a little bit? No sense in spending the money if noticeable reduction in recoil is on slight. And I have just learned of "lite loads," by Remington. has anyone used them?

Just buy some Remington Managed Recoil loads for the '06. These fire a 125 grain bullet at 2600 fps and will do the trick for her.

Oops, I posted before reading all the way to the end of your post. Yes, I've used them in the .300 Win Mag and they do the trick and are just as accurate as the regular ammo.

Short answer is yes. I just put a jec break on my 243 and can really tell the difference. There Is almost no recoil now. Well worth it IMHO.

Walter

With the Lite Loads and a good muzzle Break it would be amazingly less recoil. The Low recoil loads work very well from what friends tell me.

All most all her shots are under 200 yards, most being 100. So the ammunition would not have to reach out to far to find it's target. Thanks for the suggestion on the managed recoil Remington.

Yes. And yes.

You may have to order the Managed Recoil loads off the Web, I'm not sure if places like Academy stock them or not. If she tries them, post back here and let us know what she thinks.

yes bout 60%

Both Remington and Hornady make reduced recoil loads. Bass Pro has the Remington a lot of the time. Cabela's has the Hornady

Reduced recoil loads help a lot. The break also helps significantly. Downfall is it gets super loud. Not that most guns are quiet but the sounds can be pretty bad. I had a break on a 300 win mag and it was about like shooting a 243.

I've shared my home with four women--3 daughters and a wife--for nigh on to 40 years. They are not happy unless they can complain.

If you put a brake on the rifle, she will shift her wrath from the kick to the noise. So you put a decelerator pad on the stock; now she will complain about the stock being too long or the pad hanging up on her jacket when she shoulders the rifle.

So this is what you do: Give her $250 bucks and encourage her to go shopping at her favorite store and buy whatever she likes. While she's buying a new purse or shoes, you go to Academy and buy a box of reduced-recoil loads. If you handload, buy a box of 130 gr Hornadys and go to the handbook and load up some low-velocity starting loads. Let her wear your PAST recoil pad while in the blind. While you're out at the deer lease, take her to dinner at the Ft Griffin Ice House.

And you haven't ruined the rifle with a brake or a big recoil pad. Problem solved.

if you love her buy her the best break you can find she will love it

And 60% louder for the trade off, at least that has been the experience with my MB, so prepare for that.

just as everyone has said, MB do work! A good one will reduce the recoil a ton and make it fun to shoot again! But you will need to wear hearing protection while hunting but then the older I get the more I think I need to do this anyway. As for reduced rounds I can't answer that because I don't know much about them. I do know that the MB has allowed me to shoot a long range rifle and the recoil is like a .22. And I can shoot it all day long!

ive been shooting a 300 weatherby mag,and a 300 win mag for twenty years now and until yesterday i didnt know what ive been missing.had chad from titon weapons thread my barrel and put on muzzle break in preperation for my specwar 7.62 can ,yes it was louder but i just doubled up my hearing protection and it was fine about the same as if i only had ear plugs in i say go for it.

Yup.

If the brake is designed like the JECs I run then it is loudest for anyone 45 degrees rearward of your muzzle. The shooter hears about what you would without a brake.I wear Rad Rand ridgid plugs around my neck while hunting. 9 times out of 10 there is time to put them in my ears before making a shot.

edit above post,muzzle break with doubled hearing protection = single hearing protection with no muzzle break

Yes. A good muzzle break will reduce 55% to 70% depending on the brand.
Don't let the others here fool you a reduced recoil pad will not reduce recoil at all, just cushion it some. And that cushion is only about 10% of the felt recoil.
Plus a good muzzle break will allow the shooter to stay on target better.

You can use a ballistic chart to compare the recoil energy of managed recoil ammo with standard ammo. For example, Remington Managed Recoil Ammo in .270 creates less recoil energy than standard .243 ammo.

Thank you all for the information. I am going to get both for her, the MB and reduced recoil ammunition.

If you really wanted to blow her skirt up get her a suppressor. It will do the work of a muzzle brake (yes, I do that just for Chad ) and take care of the ear protection too. Plus, she'll think you really love her. One word of warning....might as well order you one too because once she gets hers you'll be jealous as all get out and want one too.

Good luck all 3 options along with a thicker recoil pad will help.

Good muzzle brake plus Limbsaver recoil pad.
you can get a slip on Limbsaver pad vs permanent
Yes it is louder, but you should wear hearing protection regardless

I don't know what your rifle weighs, but the rifle recoil chart below shows a .243 WCF 7.5 pound rifle shooting 100 grain bullets with recoil figures of 8.8/8.7. Consider that the standard for a comfortable shooting load.

The closest I could find to the managed recoil loads was the 6.5 Grendel with a 120 grain bullet at 2600 fps also from a 7.5 pound rifle. Its figures were 8.9/8.8. So, the managed recoil loads will be very, very, close to a .243 WCF.

Chuck Hawks Rifle Recoil Table

Dr. Scholl Gel Insert for shoes

ask her to slide 1 or 2 of those on shoulder where gun butt is , she won't feel the bite

also ask her to snug the butt tighter against her shoulder, lean her weight into the gun

I suspect the rifle butt is not snug, allowing it to slide back hitting her shoulder

I forgot to ask the OP if the rifle has a 1 inch pad like a Pachmayr Decelerator. That and managed recoil loads should be the first two things to try. A recoil pad can be installed by a gunsmith for less than $100.

Thank you all for your suggestions. She is now 68, small framed and her 30/06 with 180 grain bullets that she has used since she was 30 is beginning to hurt her.
I think I will get a break, good ear protectors, and use the reduced recoil bullets. Has anyone actually used these bullets on a deer and if so what have been your results.

The reduced recoil loads work very well. I have made many reduced loads in almost all of the common calibers. If you reduce the bullet weight with the reduced speed, they are still very effective on game. I hunt with a 300 Black Out pushing a 125 Nosler or 125 Hornady SST at 2230 fps. At this speed, the bullet opens up to a perfect mushroom shape with good penetration.

In a 30-06, you can push a 125 grain about 2600 fps or a 150 grain about 2500 fps as a reduced recoil load. In an 8.5# rifle, the 125 grain reduced load has 8.06 ft/lbs of energy to the 19.54 ft/lbs of a standard 180 grain at 2800 fps. That's a 70% reduction!

Let me know if I can quote you anything. I can load any bullet from 110 grain to 150 grain as a reduced load. The 125 Nosler Ballistic tip or the 125 grain Hornady SST would be ideal.

But Chad...what about the brake?

I despise brakes.

However, she clearly falls under the Rule 3.08(F) "momma/wife/daughter who loves her rifle and wants to keep using it" exception.

Can't imagine the brake would be necessary with a good thick pad and reduced loads unless this is a super-lightweight.

A muzzle break reduces the recoil by taking the gas component of recoil out of the equation and the gasses hitting the front of the ports or front part of the break "pushing" the gun forward some. The larger the powder charge the more reduction the same break will have. Breaks with larger frontal surface will reduce recoil more (think artillery style breaks)

A recoil pad as alluded below does not reduce recoil but a good one does spread out the recoil over a longer period of time causing the shooter to feel that recoil has been reduced considerably. Good ones like Kick-ez and decelerator feels like about 50% reduction in the painful sharp recoil impulse.

Reduced recoil ammo, lighter bullets with less velocity and powder = less recoil

For what it is worth, I put a break on the 300UM and it kicks about like a .243 or less. My 11 year old cousin shot his first deer with it and my sister has shot numerous deer with it. Neither would have been able to handle the gun otherwise.

Sounds like you pretty much have your answer from the other posters though