I'm only planning on making small adjustments and was wondering if there's a recoil pad for it? I don't want to change the stock just add a recoil pad to it, thanks!

When I was in basic training, the Drill Instructor fired an M16A1 off his crotch and off the end of his nose. He did so because many of the recruits had never fired a rifle and were nervous about recoil.

The AR-15 when chambered for .223 / 5.56mm NATO isn't any different, so the question is why would you want to add a recoil pad?

There are recoil pads designed for the MIL-SPEC collapsible stock. However, they do almost nothing to reduce recoil.

What are you trying to achieve with this pad?

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

I just wanted something to help with that plastic from bruising up my shoulder. I have 60 year old shoulders with not much natural padding. Even if it just softens it at least I won't have checkered marks left behind on my body.

Just something to soften the recoil, my shoulders are 60 years old and not much in way of natural padding. I don't want checkered imprints left on my shoulder.

Limbsaver makes a real nice slip on pad

I put one on my AR-15 and it feels like I shooting a .22. Oh wait....

The military style A2 and the telestock butts can be a bit hard edged.

You might want to one of the original M16 style stocks - the early pre-trap door stocks. Originals are hard to find but Brownells has started making them for their retro series rifles.

The buttplate on these is both rubber and nicely rounded.

BROWNELLS AR-15 RETRO BUTTSTOCKS | Brownells

If you don't already have a fixed stock, the suggested A1 stock would need you to change the receiver extension/buffer tube, you'd also need a spacer to keep the original buffer and spring or change those to the ones for the rifle.

You might want to check where you're putting the current butt plate on your shoulder. I've messed up and rested mine on my collar bone a couple of times and that does hurt. You want the butt resting on the chest muscles.

Other than that, the pads suggested by Rastoff seem the best answer.

Yeah I basically just want something softer than the plastic stock but don't want to change the whole stock.

Seriously. This one won't bruise you.

__________________
America First

Well......lol...my husband might be bit of a wimp, he never shot a gun let alone a rifle.

Midway USA has several AR-15 butt pads , make sure you have good hearing protection AR's are very loud especially indoors. Enjoy your new rifle

Yes I have protection but since I can't hear in one ear I caN'T hear anybody talking, I have to get those electronic ones.

An AR in .223/5.56 has very little recoil. I have bad shoulder joints, I am close to the same age, and I can assure you there is no pain in firing the AR. Certainly no bruising.

__________________
Or something like that . . .

debgram,
Do you have this rifle already?

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

I used to be really big into building AR's. Dug through my parts stash to see if had a snap on pad laying around to just send ya as I knew I used to have few, but apparently I have already let them go. If you google AR15 Carbine Recoil Pad the results will give you many options. As noted before, Limbsaver makes a nice one.

Yes I do, just waiting for the manual sights to come in, my optic is here but was told I need to sight in the co-witness first, then the optic to match it.

No, you can sight in an optic without sighting in iron sights first. They should be sighted in independently.

If you have iron sights that are sighted in for 50 yards and then you want to sight in the red dot for the same distance, it makes it easier by just putting the red dot on the tip of the front sight, but it isn't a requirement.

Ok well, the sight comes in tomorrow and I'm hoping my husband can line his friend up to help me sight it in. I was looking into getting a new handguard but I found out I can just add a rail to the existing handguard. Now, what kind do I look for, a Key-loc one? Thanks

What are you adding a rail for?

Just in case I want a put a grip on it. I was going to wait and see how the gun does without it first, or should I say how I'll do with the gun without it.

Let me just add one more thing: don't change anything until you've fired the gun. Then, consider changing things.

Because the AR is such an easy gun to put stuff on, most make unnecessary changes only to realize later that they've wasted their money.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

Ok that makes sense since I don't want to add too much more money into it. Thanks

I guess I'm an AR purist.

My Bushmaster A@ is box-stock. My 6920 is box-stock, with the exception of replacement of the little Magpul flip up sight with a Colt carry handle. I don't think this is a "mod" so much as restoring it to original M4 spec.

Yeah, I'm a purist.

If I could, I'd have gotten my Smith 15-44 in M4 configuration as well.

Never mind. It's not worth the electronic ink.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

Buy a padded shooting vest.

If not a vest, get one of the shoulder pads made to tame recoil.

This one is made to attach to bra straps and has good reviews...

Thanks I'll check that out

Also, technique: When you shoulder the rifle, hold the stock *firmly* against the muscle on the front of the shoulder joint, right past the end of your collarbone. This is the ‘pocket’ of your shoulder.
Don’t pull it in hard, just enough that the stock is pressed into the muscle. This way, you and the rifle recoil together and it doesn’t slam into your shoulder.
THEN, practice and get used to the push, which you should find to be surprisingly gentle.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

Thanks for the info.

ALSO—wear good hearing protection. At an indoor range, I wear both earplugs AND earmuffs. A lot of perceived recoil and flinch is a reaction to the very loud CRACK!!! of the shot going off

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

I have earmuffs but looking into getting electronic ones cause the ones I have block all sound and I have no hearing in my 1 ear so if anyone is talking to me I can't hear ****.

debgram - I have a VLTOR E-MOD adjustable stock with a rubber pad attached that fits a "mil-spec" buffer tube. It fits on in place of the standard hard plastic buttstock. This is an unneeded extra stock that is just taking up room on my work bench, you are welcome to it, no charge. If you are interested just PM me.

Never say never. IF you are taking blood thinners you can get bruised doing ANYTHING. I'd suggest using a padded vest instead of padding the butt plate.

__________________
THIS WE'LL DEFEND ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I've got a couple of different PAST pads with different amounts of recoil attenuation, depending on the rifle or shotgun. Much more effective than sticking something on the butt of a rifle.

PAST Super Mag Plus Recoil Pad Shield Ambidextrous

The MFT Minimalist buttstock has a very comfortable buttplate that has padding AND curves comfortably into the shoulder. When I took my Sporter out Thursday, I had the original stock on it. In a sitting position, the flat, hard plastic started pinching me a bit around my collarbone. Not bad, but enough to be distracting
BATTLELINK™ Minimalist Milspec Stock Actual price runs around $50; a good value, IMO.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

That does look good but I had a nice gentleman on here send me a VLTOR EMOD collapsible stock which also has a recoil pad onto it. I also bought a recoil pad that someone suggested on here that connects on the bra. I was going to sell that since I thought I wasn't going to need it but after shooting the rifle 2 Mondays ago I'm going to keep it. I have a tiny shape and not much space between my collarbone and shoulder and it seemed like the gun would slip after the shot cause I have a nice bruise on my upper arm.
Also the gun was getting heavy on my left arm so I was wondering if adding a grip on the handgum would help that or just wrapping the sling around my right arm for more support and taking the weight off the left arm would work. I do like shooting it and my darn shield seemed to be louder and more kick....lol. Probably louder because it's barrel is closer I did buy a Peltor sport Tactical 300 hearing protection after finding out that the earmuffs I had I couldn't hear anyone talking and since I really only have hearing in one ear I need something where I can hear people talking to me.

Great! Lots of options and easy to change if you want to try something different later on.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

So would adding a grip on the handguard help with the heaviness and hurting of my arm? I have short arms too.....lol

It might, by changing the angle at which you hold the rifle. Also try holding it closer to the magazine well. Do a google search of foregrips and see what shapes and lengths are out there.
ALSO, feel free to rest the rifle on the magazine or some sort of support. Don’t feel that you have to hold the weight of the gun yourself to be a good shooter.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

This may sound obvious, but adding the weight of a foregrip will not reduce the weight of the rifle.

Unless you have a bull barrel, which you don't, the front of an AR is not very heavy. What you're running into is something most new shooters have to learn; shooting isn't the same as standing.

Almost all new shooters have a stance similar to this:


Note how she is leaning back. This is usually done because they feel the rifle is heavy and they are trying to compensate by leaning back. Try this:



See how she is leaning forward a little? This lady has a foregrip, but it's not necessary. The one change I would make here is to tuck the left elbow underneath. She's probably pointing her left elbow out a little due to the way she's gripping the vertical foregrip.


In the long run, the answer to the heaviness of the gun is time and practice. Everyone thinks the gun is heavy at first. That will pass. It's a stance you're not used to yet, but it will become more familiar with time.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

Oh I wasn't standing like that first pic, that looks painful....lol. So I would bend my left arm a bit?

So bending my arm a bit and placing my hand closer to the mag would help? I saw on a youtube video where the guy said to extend your arm far, but that's why my arm was hurting, I had it straight out like stiff holding the barrel. That was a mistake?

Yes, it should help a lot, for basic shooting. The reason for holding far out in the video you mention was to be able to quickly change targets in competition. That long, stretched grip is tiring; even the pros agree!
Hold the rifle in a way most comfortable for YOU. As you gain experience, you can try different ways. I usually hold mine about halfway down the grip--but I have fairly long arms.
In fact, when I'm working on trigger and sight control, I very often rest my rifle on a stand or even the magazine, so I'm not distracted by the sights moving.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

This is not a right/wrong kind of thing. You'll have to discover what works for you.

Back in the day we taught to hold the gun like this:

This still works and is what I'm suggesting for you; elbows down and front hand a little closer to the magazine.

Some even taught to do it like this:
...with the support hand on the magazine well.


The current "operators" will tell you to hold the gun like this:


This hold gives a little more control over the muzzle and can even help control muzzle rise. However, try standing with your arm out in front of you for a minute. Most can't hold their arm out by itself that long. Add the rifle and you cut that time in half. So, this "arm forward" type of hold is good, but not easy and takes some strength that no new shooter has.

Just to confuse things more, here is how the long distance precision shooters do it:


See how he has his support elbow tucked in and resting on his torso? Then he's supporting the gun by placing the magazine in the palm of his hand. He's even leaning back a little. This is a good stance, but only for those really long shots where maximum precision is necessary. You won't ever see this outside of competition.


In the end only one thing matters; bullets going where you intend. If the bullets are going where you want them, whatever hold you're using is the correct one. Try some different holds and see what works for you. Just because a hold is comfortable doesn't mean it's the right hold. Sometimes you need to work through a little discomfort to learn what works for you.

Even so, comfort is a factor. If the hold you're using is causing pain in your shoulder, you won't be able to shoot well. Try the hold in the first picture. Then try the second one. If one is working better than the other, use the one that gives the best accuracy for you. Then, when some well meaning range commando tries to tell you you're doing it wrong, show him your target and ask to see his. Then just grin when yours is better.

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

BRAVO, Rastoff!! Outstanding post!

__________________
Registration? NEVER!

Oh I gotcha! No wonder my arm hurt for a couple of days. Yeah I need to try and use something to rest the rifle on, told my husband that is what we should have done to site the gun in. I'm really not satisfied so we will have to do it again. Thanks for all your help.

Yeah I was kind of holding it like the 3rd pic. With short arms not very comfortable and the red dot seem to jitter a lot. So holding the ar is a bit different than the proper way to hold a handgun? So holding the mag wouldn't be wrong or right? That may actually help me a bit more with the short arms. I also had the stock set at the shortest length but I saw on a youtube video to have it extended more something to do with stability? But that wouldn't fly for me cause that would just make the arm length even more troublesome. Even when I owned the 30-30 and shotgun I had the stocks cut down and new recoil pads on them to fit my arm length. Those worked out great for me! Thanks for all your help too! You guys are great!!!

Even with the arms of a 6-footer, I don't like that long reach to hold the rifle.
Use a support for the rifle as much as possible, even when you become proficient. That way, you can focus on the sights and trigger, and not be tempted to jerk the trigger when the sights wander over the target (and they will wander ). THEN, as you practice less steady positions--and there are a TON of them--your shooting will be even better.

__________________
Registration? NEVER!