Prior to SHOT Show I had never heard of Knoxx Stocks. As I own a shotgun and a lever action .30-.30 rifle, had I known about a recoil reducing stock, I most assuredly would have tried it out. I had never heard of such. So, there I found myself, walking around the BlackHawk booth at SHOT and I find a collection of shelves with stocks on them: Knoxx Stocks. Then and there I began to learn about the stocks and how the came to be acquired by BlackHawk. Shortly thereafter I received a T&E shotgun stock for my Remington 870. Once it was installed I began to shoot with it and I wanted to report on what I found... or felt would be a better way to put it.

A little personal history with shotguns: I went to the police academy in the early '80s and way back then I weighed about 150 pounds. At 5'-10" tall, I was pretty lean... some called me skinny. The bottom line is that there wasn't a lot of me behind that shotgun and qualifying with double aught or slug rounds was uncomfortable. I was left with nice bruises on my shoulder every time. As I have, ah... matured, I've gained a little weight and thankfully some of it has been muscle mass. Still, if I have my preference I'd rather not shoot slugs or 00. Why deal with discomfort if it can be avoided and the mission still accomplished in an expedient fashion? With the Knoxx recoil compensating stock, this becomes (largely) a moot point.

As you can see in the cutaway picture to the right, the Knoxx Stock has two spring systems in it that absorb part of the weapon's recoil before it is transferred to the shooter's shoulder. The springs - as I understand things - work in order. The one you can see in the pistol grip begins stretching to absorb recoil as the action of the weapon rides back. Once that spring is at or near full extension then more energy is transferred into the horizontal spring in the stock which absorbs more recoil before energy is transferred to the shooter.

The hardest part about the whole thing was mounting it properly - and that wasn't difficult; you just have to have the right tools (don't you hate it when that happens?). For my installation a 3/16" ball end extended allen drive was required and that just wasn't a tool I had at hand. It also wasn't a tool I could find at the local hardware store. Luckily, after visiting three local hardware stores, I found the right drive. It would be easier for those of you who purchase Knoxx Stocks to also order the tools - they are available from BlackHawk as well.