Recoil

Talking recoil, scopes and black eyes with Sportsmen's Warehouse Sales Associate Randy Rust. David Sparks, Sportsmen's Spotlight. "They have come a long way with technology to where you don't feel the recoil as much. You have absorbing factors in the butt of the gun as well as the shock absorbing plate on the end. There is quite a bit of recoil but there is cushioning, a lot of shock absorbing that is done in the butt of the gun. I hang with all kinds of novice hunters and they get black eyes. To avoid that, target practice before you go out. I can see a guy getting buck fever, he sees a buck in his scope and he wants that eye relief to be as optimum as possible so he puts his eye right up to the scope and he ought not to do that. That recoil is going to leave a little ring around his eye. Addressing that specific issue of the scope and your eye is just a matter of getting a scope that has good eye relief. You don't want your eye sitting an inch behind the scope. You want to be 3 to 4 inches behind the scope and be able to see through the scope clearly, eye relief is basically how far your eye can be behind the eyepiece of the scope and still see a clear circle.