Nobody likes to be punished at the range or during the hunt by teeth-busting cartridges. I can recall more than one trip to the range where I’ve had to improvise with a wadded up shirt for extra recoil protection. Most predator hunters don’t worry about recoil. That’s because they shoot calibers like the .17 Hornet, .223 or the .22-250. Combine these smaller calibers with a heavy rifle and you have recoil so light that you can watch the critter tip over in the riflescope.
Of course a handful of predator hunters like to reach out and touch “Wile E.” with the impact of a Stanley hammer. Folks like you put calibers such as the .243, .270 and the fan favorite .308 into play. These calibers aren’t outrageous in the recoil department, but can lead to some flesh abuse at the range. That can easily create flinching and accuracy issues down the road. You don’t want to flinch on a 200-yard coyote and create a dust splash instead of a watermelon thump.
And what if you’re introducing a young shooter or spouse to predator hunting? You certainly don’t want to create any bad memories if you’re introductory rifle has a bit more wallop than a .22LR Making any shooting event enjoyable with accuracy results should be a number one priority.
There’s good news. You don’t have to purchase a smaller-caliber rifle or trade off your favorite Stanley-hammer rifle. You can simply tame it with new ammunition. Companies like Hornady and Federal, to name a few, have innovated ammunition that performs in the field with less felt recoil.
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran, a smaller-framed female or an aspiring youth hunter, a product like Hornady Custom Lite takes popular calibers and reduces the felt recoil. Using slightly lighter bullets and modified propellants it can reduce recoil by as much as 43 percent. It also tames muzzle blast for big-game favorites if that’s on your plate later in the season.
Eight popular calibers make up the Custom Lite roundup including .243 Winchester, .270 Winchester, 7mm-08, 7mm Remington Magnum, .30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and .300 Winchester Magnum.
Custom Lite ammunition uses two proven bullets from Hornady, the SST and the Interlock RN. Depending on the caliber each bullet accentuates accurate and dependable performance for a deadly ending to your hunt. If you crave that kind of recoil taming in a shotgun load check out the slug offerings from Hornady in both 12 and 20-gauge offerings.
Do some comparison research between different companies and their claims, and you might just come up with a load that’s perfect from the bench or bipod.
