I believe it. The first rifle that I hunted deer with was a Winchester .30-30 carbine of my grandfather's. I could barely reach the trigger and that crescent steel butt plate kicked the heck out of me.
I see some redundancy with your cartridge selection. If it were me I’d narrow it down to either the 500 NE or 470 NE and 500/416 or 450/400 to go along with the 20 gauge barrel.
Thank you, I completely acknowledge the redundancy. I just picked those calibers because they all interest me a lot and I want to shoot them, not for super practical reasons, I understand the crossover of them but decided to go for it, if not only because the cool factory in my head.
Not so sure I agree these rifles sans recoil pads look pretty good to me .
Not so sure I agree. These rifles sans recoil pads look pretty good to me . From left to right a Westley Richards 318 , BSA Lee Speed No1 in 303 , a Westley Richards 450/400NE , a 404 Jeffery and a Purdey 303 double .
That’s the beauty of the world we don’t have to agree. A nice recipe pad would finish off each of those.
Out of curiosity do you think that a crescent style metal buttplate have any benefits over the regular flat metal plates? My old circa 1906 Savage 1899 in 30-30 has a crescent style plate. I know the old German style target rifles had them, I’m guessing it really only helps for accuracy and not recoil as much? Or after reading other people’s comments about how a metal buttplate slides/shifts more easily on a shooters shoulder I’m assuming the curved crescent style plate helps keep it centered and not shifting while shooting?
Crescent style plates theoretically are supposed to help the rifle sit in the proper position. The ones on the German target rifles are much more exaggerated and actually are effective at that on a rifle properly fit to the shooter. The less pronounced ones have a nasty habit of driving the point of the crescent into the shoulder or collar bone when improperly seated. I think you should either find someone who will let you put a few rounds through a heavy caliber rifle with a steel plate or take the pad off your own ones and run a round or two out of it. I think that will help answer some questions.
You are spot on--they are for positioning the butt. But the curved profile concentrates all the recoil at the bottom of the curve. I think it was Carmicheal that observed this in his Book of the Rifle.
I think what it was intended for, and how well it worked, really didn't line up. Then it became a "style requirement." Notice how no guns have been made with this feature for many years. If shooters still wanted it that's how they would be made.
What did you do--hand him a 9.5 caliber?
