Would using the www.zediker.com/tubb/images/speedlock/slarpackage.html Tubb CWS (carrier weight system, which can add 4 oz the the carrier) and the Tubb CS buffer spring lower the recoil much?  Maybe use a weight in the stock too, like the MATCH shooters do?  Would a hydralic buffer be a better idea?

A PRI "fatboy" gas tube would be a better idea instead as it would give you the same volume as a 20" gas tube which should smooth out the recoil a bit.

The first line of defense in taming recoil is mass (weight on planet earth).

Here is a useful recoil calculator:
[url]http://www.beartoothbullets.com/rescources/calculators/php/recoil.htm?bw=400&bv=1800&cw=30&w=6[/url]

I've guessed you are using a 400 grain bullet, 30 grains of powder (total guess), and your gun weighs 6 pounds. OUCH!

The calculated recoil energy is 35 foot-pounds. That's like a mid-range 12 gauge shotgun.

[url]http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_recoil_table.htm[/url] if you want the formula, it's here, too.

If you are shooting a 325 grain bullet with 30 grains of powder at 1950 fps, the calculator gives 29 foot-pounds of recoil for a six pound gun.

My frontstuffer shoots 300 grain bullets at 2600 fps using 50 grains of powder. It's kinda special. IF it weighed 6 pounds, it would have a brutal 54 footpound recoil. It actually weighs 9.5 pound (ug to lug) but brings the recoil energy down to a stout but comfy 34 ft-lbs.

Let's increase your 6 pound gun shooting 400 grain bullets with 30 grains powder at 1800 fps to 8 pounds. The recoil goes from 35 down to 26 ft-lbs... that's 74% of your original kick, for the cost of 2 lbs in weight.

OK... here goes- things I have found that reduce my "impression of recoil"

1) WEIGHT- actually reduces recoil
2) Good fitting stock. When the stock fits your build, it doesn't reduce recoil, but the recoil isn't pinching or biting you.
3) Good pad- maybe it's just part of a good fitting stock, but  the Pachmayer decelerater on my skeet gun, along with a professional fitting made my 12 gauge very nice to shoot. Before fitting and pad, 50 rounds gave me a big bruise! Kick Eez pads are made of recoil absorbing elastomer plastics, too.
4) Good balance of the firearm. I prefer slightly barrel heavy, as it gets your stance leaning forward, in to the gun. So, consider weights under the handguards as well as in the stock. It doesn't reduce recoil, but it feels like it does.

In my opinion, those are the first things to chase after. Assuming you refuse to load a less kick-ass round!

Next, I would look in to a variable gas system- either an adjustable tube or a block- because I have no idea how much extra gas that freaking Beowulf produces! You might be able to save yourself a bit of a big "twang" load.

Finally, a muzzle break can help- but it's got to direct gas and NOISE back at you to reduce recoil. I think the big honking JP sherman-tank style break may be very effective, and all that weight out on the end of the muzzle can't hurt, either! You might want to call JP and have them ream one out for you.

So- before somebody waxes all poetic about  muzzle breaks, consider this- you have 30 grains of powder, and 400 grains of bullet. All the powder turns in to 30 grains of gas.

Even if you had ALL the gas going as fast as the bullet, and ALL of it is used for recoil reduction, that at best reduces the bullet weight by 30 grains, effectively. That gets you from 35 to 31 ft-lbs, perfect world. Hey, it works, and you can see the upper end of what you might expect.

Good luck. You have an awesome beast. I sure would not spend extra money for a light weight scope!

Pete

It would but they don't happen to make one in a mid-length that Alexander Arms uses on the Beowulf.

Then let me suggest an adjustable gas tube like the one I used on my AR10.  I bought it from [url]www.ccfa.com[/url] for $40 + shipping.  These don't come in a midlength either, but I pulled the valve off the purchased tube and placed it on mine with little issue.

The AR10 is very much overgassed and this tube made a BIG difference in perceived recoil.

I have a Colt's light machine gun Hydrolic buffer that is real heavy (in was supposed to slow ROF down to 450rpm)  If any body wants to buy it I paid $200 a long time ago.  Make me an offer.  I don't know if it will work in this application or not, just a thought.

I have a Colt's light machine gun Hydrolic buffer that is real heavy (in was supposed to slow ROF down to 450rpm)  If any body wants to buy it I paid $200 a long time ago.  Make me an offer.  I don't know if it will work in this application or not, just a thought.

Its best not to mess with the gas tube or recoil buffer/spring.  These are low pressure guns that do not work the same as the 5.56 versions, the gas pressure drops off quickly so anything that delays or reduces the amount gas powering the system.  About the only way to tame them down id to adopt stinkeypete's suggestion and use a muzzle break.  The gas pressure at the muzzle is liable to be around 5,000 lbs so you don't have much to play with.  

I am getting this bad MoFo installed on my .50 Beowulf.  I really want it on a long range gun for looks but I think the utility will be good on my .50  Check out their site and see what it does.  
[url]http://www.jprifles.com/index.html[/url]

[img]http://groups.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetPubPhoto&PhotoID=nJwAAAFIMM9ETNc4dzB8Wzx2qDIEdXqCQOsdlqigvA*8kf4BZ5m!RxDx7BrdJiDactWmJPvQC614[/img]
here is the link to my other post about them.  Recoiless rifle.

[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=167192[/url]

 I'm going to put my DCM weights in mine for range use. But I'll pull them if hunting. I've never felt recoil on any gun when taking a hunting shot.

My bad.  I did not know that the Beowulf had a midlength gas system.

I have to completely agree with HFG on this one.  The placement and SIZE of the gas port in these uppers is custom developed for these rounds.  An adjustable tube or even the Fat Boy can modify the system to where it will not reliably function anymore.  The ways we take some of the sting out of the 458 SOCOM:
- 0.93" bull barrel.  We can make them lighter, but advise against it.  It adds mass and shifts the balance forward, points mentioned by StinkeyPete.  We weighed the 16" version and it still weighs the same as the XM15E2S upper from Bushmaster.  Guess that big hole in the center of the barrel makes a difference [;)]
- Recoil pad.  For whatever reason, the ARFX stock with the pad seems to be ideally suited for these rounds.  Most all that have switched to this stock will agree.
- Muzzle brake.  Like HFG said, muzzle pressure is low, so there is not much to work with, and the bore is large, so the gas tends to just keep going past the ports (these suckers are tough to suppress I tell ya).  But the brakes can make a difference.  The most comfortable upper we have shot was a 20" SS bull barrel with Shrewd brake.  The least comfortable the 10.5" in F/A ....

We installed one of the JP Recoil Eliminators and it did not perform as well as you would hope due to the low muzzle pressure.  I would suggest brakes like the Shrewd or VAIS.

Or as Bruce Willis so eloquently put it in "Tears of the Sun",

"COWBOY THE FUCK UP!"

Go shoot 250 shots of 12ga on a skeet course a week or something and build your recoil tolerance up.

[lol]

I like my A2 type FH too much to give it up for a friggin' muzzle brake. [:D]

Please don't think me a smart ass, but why don't you just practice and aclimate yourself to the recoil?

I don't (yet!) own a .50 Beowulf, but I've shot a friend of mine's and it doesn't kick that bad.  I would agree that Alexander Arms is full of BS when they say it kicks like a 20 gauge, but it has nowhere the recoil of heavy 12 gauge loads either.

I wonder if having the barrel itself ported (as opposed to an add on muzzle brake) might help tame the recoil more.  I've shot .338 Mags with and without ported barrels, and the porting helps considerably... and a .338 Win. Mag kicks a heck of a lot more than a .50 Beowulf!

Scot

An A2 FH/FS is half a muzzle brake, hence the name 'compensator' in the TM.  My Beowulf is on a postban lower so no A2 comp for me (I'm not trying to be bubbas girly in Club Fed).

I haven't shot it yet so I haven't really felt the recoil.  I'm going to be shooting it this weekend.

I do hunt with a 12 gauge Rem 870 w/Federal 1-1/4oz 3" Magnum slugs at Quantico, but I don't think shooting 250 rounds a week of that will do much besides give me early arthritis.[;)]

Full 16" barrel, I am still getting the same barrel distance and recoil impulse.  Not sure you can consider it a brake by any stretch, but if it makes you feel better I've fired three other 458 SOCOM uppers with no brakes.

12ga would be going out to Bull Run and shooting some clay pigeons with 1oz #8 and about 10 rounds of skeet. [BD]

The Beowulf is stiffer than the 458 SOCOM in the recoil department, but not that much.

Ed

After 150rds of 12 gauge and 300rds+ through my M1A, everything else feels like a squirrel gun.[BD]