What are the limits of a NEF Pardner frame?

[Cowboy_Dan]

I have a Pardner shotgun I purchased from a gun show. It started life as a youth model .410 (at least that's how t came to me). I have aslo fitted it with a second-hand 12 Gauge barrel with a 3 1/2" chamber. I have only shot 1 3 1/2" shell from this setup (a factory-labeled Turkey Shell) and the recoil was more intense than I expected. This led me to buy a Limbsaver pad and construct an inertial recol reducer.

Recently, I was inspecting the gun for my upcoming turkey hunt, and I noticed that the forend had a crack starting in it. This got me wondering if I was asking too much of the little gun. Maybe I should keep it to 3" shells, or maybe the crack was due to the forend fitting too tightly to the barrel?

[Outpost75]

Cracked fore-ends and buttstocks are fairly common with these.

Acraglas Gel is your friend.

[megasupermagnum]

A 3 1/2" turkey load in a pardner? I would just give that up. I fired 5, 3" 2 ounce turkey loads in one a few years back to see what it could do at the pattern board. It left me with a headache the next day that has me legitimately concerned that it had caused a minor concussion. I'm a big guy too at 6'5" and at the time about 280 pounds. Not a chance you could fire those without flinching. A recoil pad wont save you, the best thing to do is add weight. Fill hole in the rear stock with lead shot. That should add at least a pound, and then you could try some 3", and I wouldn't be afraid to try a 1 1/2 or 1 5/8 oz 2 3/4" either.

[bikerbeans]

Most folks who shoot a 3 1/2" 12ga turkey load in a H&R pardner only shoot one of them. The shotgun can handle the load, the shooter not so much.

BB

[KenT7021]

One of nephews used to turkey hunt with a 10 Ga single barrel.The recoil was impressive.

[fixit]

I shot one of those 10 gauge singles in my teenage days! My cousin, who himself is a big man, had gotten one and we were goofing off, shooting trap with it. I think I went two or three rounds before I gave it up, the third round resulting in me punching myself in the nose with my thumb knuckle! That’s a lot of recoil for a lightweight shotgun!

[Cowboy_Dan]

Good to know that a 3 1/2" shell won't hurt the gun, just me. For the record, I didn't expect the Limbsaver would make a huge difference in recoil, I bought it mostly to increase the length of pull, it does live in a youth model stock.

What I am thinking will help is the inertial dampener I alluded to above. I have not tested it in my situation, but the design has been used in safari guns and works on the same principle as the Mercury vials some people put in their stocks. Mine consists of a length of Copper tubing filled with birdshot and a spring. This unit is located in the hole to access the nut which holds the stock to the reciever. Spring tension holds the tuping against the inside of the buttplate.

Since I have not tested its effect, I will probably take the 3" shells I have access to instead of the full on 3 1/2" when I go hunting on Monday. Thanks for all the helpful replies, guys.

The effect of my inertial dampener, for those unfamiliar with the science, is that when the gun is fired it will want to reoil, but the shot in the tubing will want to stay put. Therefore, some of the recoil energy will be taken up by the spring as the gun moves around the tube, compressing the spring. This recoil energy is held back until the spring uncompresses, and would cause the gun to give two, smaller kicks and posibly sound like a semi auto as the dampner "cycles".