My first try was to put on a rubber butt pad. That didn't do anything but mess up my trigger reach. I think the rubber was too soft and allowed the gun to accelerate before it hit my shoulder. Later, I got a strap on pad from Buffalo arms. Nicely made, it is leather and canvas and wraps up over the shoulder, so it works from prone through standing positions. I was worried about the padding, because it seems thin at 1/2 inch or so, but it works like a charm. Even in prone, where I'd really had problems, I was quite comfortable.
In this photo you can see how it has an under arm strap that keeps it secure and rolls up over the shoulder. I give it 2 thumbs up, especially since it allows me to shoot prone, so my scores should improve.
If you look closely at my right elbow you'll see a small wound healing. I shot a loaned M1 Garand in our local club's Vintage Rifle match. The recoil wasn't bad, but each shot pushed my shoulder back and dragged my elbow with it. It simply scuffed on the mat. After 50 rounds, I was bleeding. An elbow pad may be in order. Next month is "Trapdoor Day" at the Vintage Rifle match, but with only 30 rounds prone, so I should live.
My next flich reduction technique was to be cheap low recoil shooting. I purchased a .22 Long Rifle adapter. It is basically the shape of a cartridge, takes a .22 shell, and has a little adapter plug that converts the centerfire pin to a rimfire impact. The adapter has to be removed from the chamber each time to reload, but this isn't much slower than using a blow tube, so I'm OK with it.
Here's the adapter setup alongside a loaded 45/70 round. My round is longer because it takes a lot of reach to get the bullet near the rifling in my gun. It shoots a bit better stretched out this way. There's still a lot of bullet inside the case.
The downside of all this is that the adapter is horribly inacurate. I was shooting 20 inch groups at 50 yards. I assume the problem was a combination of a super short barrel (about an inch) and poor repeatability of the adapter in the chamber. Oh well. Despite the poor performance, the company (ACE, MCA) was easy to deal with so I'm putting them in my links list. They have some adapters that shoot smaller cartridges through your existing barrel, such as a 22 LR in a .223. I'm betting these have much better performance. Also, Buffalo Arms sells full length .22 barrel liners for a 45/70. They get rave reviews, but won't fit in a trapdoor because the breech is shrouded.
I should give a quick note here about my links list. These are all places I have used and had no problems with. I'm not too picky, but I like shops where I give them money and they give me product and there's no hassle. This can be hard to find in businesses that are hobby based, so I like to spread the word. There are other links along the right side that are ads. I don't get to choose what these are. They are somewhat random from Blogspot though they are subject related a lot of the time. So far, most of the ads seem OK, like Starline Brass, or Midway, so I keep them up. The oddest I've seen was rubber band "wrist rockets" with scopes mounted. Also, I get paid a few pennies any time you click on one of these, so click away. My personal links list I make no money at, but feel free to click away anyway.
Lastly, my "money per shot" calculations are a mess. Do I count 30-06 in the M1? I was shooting to check out the match process so I could shoot the trapdoor there, so it was related, but it seems like cheating to count the rounds fired in the total. Same goes for the .22. It is training for the 45/70. Do I count the ammo cost? Do I count the rounds fired? I finally decided to include all the costs 100% but only count non 45/70 rounds at 1/2. Now that the .22 doesn't seem so hot and the M1 match is over, the situation may not come up again.
Current dollars per shot = $3.88
Current % of money is shipping = 9.99%
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