I’ve been universally impressed with Sims Vibration Labs’ “Limbsaver” products. Limbsaver now has a line of shooting shirts, introduced at the 2007 SHOT show, well-made from cotton canvas that feature a Limbsaver “break-away” recoil absorbing pad in the shoulder area. After using a pair of these shirts all fall, I can simply say that they work.

Great for upland wingshooting in blaze orange and taupe configuration, they are equally at home on the clay fields. What is particularly good about them is that they add no significant bulk or weight, yet the pad in the stock weld area of the shirt really takes the edge off of recoil shock. It is just the ticket for fixed breech shotguns, but I suspect once you start using them you’ll have them on all the time for your scattergunning needs.

I won’t tell you that they attenuate recoil “better” than a Limbsaver recoil pad. The thickness is not there to allow it to better a dedicated recoil pad. What it does do is take the edge off of the jolt from pump and double barrel shotguns with no modifications to the gun and no change in shooting style.

It is a classier alternative to a bag full of lace-on recoil pads. They not only generally unsightly, but changes the length of pull of your gun. A Limbsaver shirt fits all your shotguns and rifles, of course, and the guns themselves need not be touched.

The easiest to tell difference, for me, was on a vintage “T” prefix Remington 870 12 gauge using 1-1/4 ounce “Pigeon loads.” I can’t get through a box of shells without the gun starting to “talk to me.” The best way I can describe the Limbsaver shirt is that it feels like 1/8 ounce of your payload is gone from your loads. A 1-1/4 ounce load feels like a 1-1/8 load; a 1 ounce load feels like a 7/8 ounce load, and so forth.

Anything that makes shooting more comfortable is a very good thing as far as I’m concerned. So, as you can imagine, I think the Limbsaver field shirts are a very good thing, indeed.