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What to do about face slap?

5K views 23 replies 18 participants last post by  skybuster 
#1 ·
I shoot an O/U that everything is adjustable on, comb and butt in all directions. I am tall, 6-3 and have a long neck. I have to really get down on a comb to get a sight picture that I like, one bead behind the other. It seems that no matter how I adjust I still get a hard face kick. When I lower the butt plate to get my head up, I get a ton of sholder recoil. When I raise the butt to get less sholder recoil, I get uncomfortable cheek recoil.
I am shooting light loads, 1oz and soft, but by the third round I am beginning to notice discomfort.
I have not tried a soft comb and really don't want to. Looks like that might add to the problem of inconsistant mounting. Will a moleskin pad help? Will greasing my face or comb top help?
What to try?
 
#2 ·
Jim:

Lowering your pad should not result in greater recoil to your shoulder, to your cheek possibly, but not your shoulder.

The punishment to your cheek could have two causes. One could be the way your cheek makes contact with the comb, the angle of your head as your cheek is placed on the comb. The other possibility could be the wrong pitch on the gun -the angle of the recoil pad relative to the barrel. (The bottom "toe" of the pad may be sticking out too far.)

When you mount your gun, is the top of the pad even with the top of your shoulder? Also, as you mount the gun, does the bottom toe of the recoil pad make contact with your shoulder well be fore the upper heel?

Even when mounting your with the heel even with the top of your shoulder, you will probably need to lower the recoil using the butt plate to achieve allow your head and neck to be upright.

Rather than trying to pad your comb, let's try to figure out the causes of your neck and shoulder pain. Your gun does not fit. Let's see if we can correct that before I suggest that you buy my book or that you consider porting the barrel.

Rollin
 
#3 ·
Hi Jim,

We discussed this some in the recent "What a gun that fits really means" thread.

First thing to look at is stock pitch at the butt. If the butt isn't flat against your shoulder (top not solidly contacting) then you get a pivoting up and back effect so check that first.

If that doesn't cure the problem, then consider barrel porting or weighting the barrel. ProPort has a style of porting (11 holes in a single row) that's specifically for helping to keep the barrel flat. Worked for me.

Satch
 
#4 ·
Jim, first thing I'd try is changing the butt pad pitch. Best if the pad is in solid contact with as much area as possible when the gun recoils. Too much either way for your build is bad news for the cheek at recoil. Try some washers between the top pad screw and stock till it feels best at recoil. Some body types have better results with zero pitch while others require positive or negative pitch.

One more point in setting the comb hight for you. Raise the shoulder up to lift the stock toward the cheek bone. If you watch how a lot of guy's mount their gun, very intently, you will see some of them slightly raise their shoulder during their mount. This lessens the distance between the shoulder pocket and the eye pupil.

" When I lower the butt plate to get my head up, I get a ton of sholder recoil."

When you lower it, you're increasing the distance between the comb and eye pupil. Hap
 
#5 ·
i have seen some shooters pay lots of money to try and correct this problem. purchase a different stock, most likely all your problems will be corrected. once you start getting slapped in the face, your mind will not tolerate it, and you will be moving your face away from the stock when you pull the trigger. if you don't want to purchase another stock, cheapest way to lessen the slap in the face is go to meadow industries and get a thin piece of vinyl with velco that goes over the comb. that will take the sting out of each shot fired. some stocks may feel like the fit, when mounted, but really don't fit. you will go crazy trying to correct this problem. slap in the face = poor scores!!!!
steve balistreri
 
#9 ·
Jim Porter,

The tips in these posts are great, however.....Guns cant be fit over the internet. Something important always gets overlooked. Go get professionally fit and figure out exactly how much of everything you need. Rollins book is a good read. Very informative. Still need 1 on 1 time hands on to make sure everything is right. Good form and good fit are married and cannot exist without the other and often require an objective eye to uncover and correct inspite of all our writings on the topic. Yours in shooting, Todd Nelson
 
#12 ·
Thanks to everybody---I shoot a Beretta 682 Gold E combo---Yes I do have broad sholders, I wear a 50 suit coat.---I have tried not to press my face down as tight to the comb but can't get the sight alignment I want and end up shooting too high at everything---I always set the comb angle to move away from my cheek during recoil / rearward movement during recoil---When I mount the gun my eyes are not level, the right eye (I am a right handed shooter) is always lower than the left and I end up looking higher through the glasses than I know I know should be best
I have not tried the heel/toe adjustment but will shortly. When I spoke earlier of lowering the pad to raise the gun and in turn level my eyes and hopefully get away from crunching on the comb everything worked but I got too much sholder recoil. I thought this was due to opening the barrell to stock angle. I moved the pad back up and sholder pain went away and comb lap came back.
I may see if I can lopcate a 682 use stock and do a cut and paste on it and see if I can make it more comfortable. I have considered the roll over or at least a thinner cheek piece than comes on Berettas.
Todd--Thanks especially to you--you cut my comb for me at the Miss State Shoot and helped me go from low 90's to high 90's IMMEDIATELY. If you remember I am the guy who shoots a REALLY FLAT gun, and you were anxious about cutting the comb for me. I will get with you as soon as possible and see if you can make me better. I suppose the gun is just fine and I need major re-construction of this old body to make it work
THANKS AGAIN EVERYBODY!!!!!
 
#17 ·
Jim Porter,

I don't know if anyone or maybe everyone has had the same experience as I have with face slap. Right now I am shoting an MX-8 with a 32" unsingle Baker barrel. I have two stocks. One is a stock with no recoil reduction at all and the other is a soft touch. Both are set up exactly the same or as close as I can measure it. They both look the same when I point the gun, so the fit seems close at least to my eye.

The stock with no recoil system is one of the softest shooting gun and stock combinations I have ever shot. When I put the soft touch stock on it kicks me hard right in the face. Something is different with the soft touch or at least it reacts differently even though it appears to be set up exactly the same.

In my case it is definately the the stock and not the setup on the stock. If you plan on keeping and shooting the gun, you may have to try several different stocks to find the one that don't bite you. Setup by itself may not be the answer.

Mark R
 
#20 ·
All good suggestions. I have had Todd Nelson fit my Browning Citori Stock correctly for me. He added an adjustable comb. and setup the Grigg's Redirector already on the gun; scores improved right away no more face slap.

Went to a Krieghoff that had a Precision Fit. I saw Todd Nelson again and he help set the stock correctly for my build and shooting style. Again success. I mainly shoot skeet and sporting clays with these guns but his insight was needed in order to fit the gun properly. I was always taught to learn to shoot the gun I had without adjustments, but I have learned that a proper fitting guns makes shooting higher scores easier because your not worring about getting slapped or kicked.

If you decided on the Precision fit Stock I offer this little piece of advice that Todd Nelson gave me. "They are great because they can be adjusted a million different ways, They are also a nightmare because they can be adjusted a million ways" "Once you get it fitted correctly locktite the screws and don't mess with it again unless you lose alot of weight". Your first thought if your scores drop will be to mess with the stock settings. I found that to be the main reason people sell their precision fits because they keep adjusting them until they can't shoot it anymore.
 
#21 ·
Make sure the comb is parallel both vertically and horizontally to the rib. Then, lower the front of the comb just a tiny bit. Likewise, put the forward cast just a tiny bit greater than the back part of the comb. Now fiddle with the pitch till it is right. Really not too hard. Jake
 
#22 ·
Jim Porter - I, suffered from face slap for many years. Two sessions with the Country Gentleman Sr. helped a lot. Rollins Book helped. Porting my barrels helped a little. Some recoil reducers seems to help me a bit. Many changes in pitch did little. A soft comb did help quite a bit. Shooters with a long neck have some unique problems. The good news is that my Precision Fit Stock solved about 90% of my problem. I am still looking for help with the remaining 10%.

Pat Ireland
 
#24 ·
I recently started shooting an o/u. I am 5' 10" and 155 lbs. and most gun fit me well. Have always shot an 1100. Feared recoil from the o/u. Shoulder recoil ok but face slap was noticeable. I changed the stock pitch to just slightly positive, put on a Pacymar 550 trap pad, added a clamp on 8 oz. recoil reducer from Precision Reloading. I also use a Beartooth stock sleeve which feels good on the cheek. This combo works for me. Experienced shooters have given me several tips also. Good shooting stance and a tight grip on the forearm helps reduce felt recoil. Jim in ohio.
 
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