The recoil impulse is thus incremental rather than an instantaneous jolt.

Declaring the action over, it was time for battle damage assessment.

The crows were the clear losers with dozens strewn across the cornfield to our front.

That was my son, who looked like hed come in a poor second during a prize fight.

On my left flank, the other shooter in our three-man team, Mike, was still fully functional despite a mild headache.

Ive never crunched the numbers regarding its recoil, but it cant be much less than the notoriously hard-kicking 1 oz.

The latter are sold five per box but the count for the former is 25.

This being one of those days, in theory, we shouldve all been hammered.

Fresh out of the Marines, he was in darned good shape whereas Mike and I had a few extra decades to ripen.

Ejecta mass is the sum of a shotshells powder charge, wad, and shot.

In guns of constant weight, greater ejecta mass equals more recoil.

By comparison, a 6 -pound gas operated semiauto will seem mild.

In all gauges, gas guns tend to provide the greatest relief usually at the expense of extra weight.

The semiauto is a softer shooter thanks to its extra weight and gas-operation but 3 magnums still kick.

These recoil-actuated designs tend to kick more, but this situation has been largely remedied by Benelli.

Their Comfort-Tech stocks include built-in shock absorbers and those Ive shot were more on par with gas guns.

But today, the even smaller 20 gauge is much more popular due to development of 3 magnums that can exceed a 16s payload in a smaller gun.

The 20s standard 2 target load is a 2 -dram, 78 oz.

Its a manageable choice, especially for smaller-statured shooters in an average-weight gun (3 magnums can kick because of 1 oz.

The 28 gauge and.410s do kick less, but shells are much more expensive and harder to find.

Buy one with a 3 chamber and you can still shoot 2 shells, including low-recoillow noise 20 gauge loads.

Good thing too The 3 Magnum dose of 5s that flattened this turkey packed plenty of wallop to the rear.

If I had to live with just one, it would certainly be a 12 gauge capable of firing 3 magnums rarely.

No, they dont run on unleaded (although steel shot is part of their diets).

Were talking semiautomatics, which function by utilizing a portion of the same high-pressure gas that expels their payloads.

410 Vs 12 Gauge Recoil