Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst kicking gun you ever shot.

Buddy has a custom Ruger #1 in .460 Lott. It's Fuggin BRUTAL !

My own RUGER #3 in 45-70 with Ruger ONLY handloads.

About 40 yrs ago my buddy bought a Browning Safari 458, man it was a pretty gun. We went on Sun. to try it out we both shot 1 rd apiece and he took it back Mon.and sold it.

Shot 460 Weatherby once, figured I could shoot it about 4 or 5 times standing before it began to be painful, ten pound rifle with scope.

Shot 45 Colt derringer once, felt like a firecracker going off in your hand.

Most painful was a CVA Kentucky rifle a buddy had built about 40 years ago.
He read you couldn't over load them, the excess power would just go out the bArrel, so he wanted to shoot it with 240 grains of powder. Like a dumbazz I told him if he shot it and it didn't blow up, I'd shoot it.
That curved brass butt plate really hurt, turned my shoulder black and blue.
We only did that once.

I haven't read the whole thread (lazy, among my other faults too numerous to mention), but I assume that someone has upheld the honor of real men everywhere by declaring all who offer experiences to be pussified wimps who should find another line of work.

A little Stevens break open 20 gauge that was jointly my brothers and my first gun when I was about 9 years old. I shot it after I became an adult and it was and still is the worst recoiling firearm I ever shot. Short stock and weighed very little. In addition to kicking your shoulder without mercy it would jump up and hit you in the face.

I shot one of those that was owned by Abie DuPlooy and had been re-chambered to .458 Watts which is basically the same as a Lott. My reaction was about the same as yours. Those are very hard kicking rifles.

Benelli Supernova with a 3.5" turkey load, everytime it goes bang I say " this is just stupid".

Worst felt recoil has to be a Winchester M70 "Ranger" in 30/06...belonged to a buddy of mine. He told me how miserable it was to shoot and I didn't believe him, he was right. No way a 30/06 should pound you like that, but it did.

I got the notion that I just had to have a Benelli SBE2 for a turkey gun. I knew a 3 1/2 inch 12 guage turkey load would have a bunch of recoil, but I figured the semi auto would soften the recoil enough that it wouldn't be bothersome. It was very noticeable, not the worst I've ever shot, but much more so than I was accustomed to. I hunted with it 3 years, and that was enough. A good 3 inch gun, with the right choke, and the right shell will kill just as good as a 3 1/2. I've even started shooting a 20 guage for turkey, and have killed every one I've shot at. No need to be punished when you don't have to be.

The NEF 12 gauge with the fully rifled barrel 3 inch slugs most recoil.

The marlin guide gun with max loads and 400 grain bullets is in second place it's sighted with no more than 2 rounds from the bench.

Most damage I have received from recoil was shooting my .325 WSM left handed; moving to get a right hand shot would have spooked the deer, cut the bridge of my nose and left a wee bump for a couple of weeks. Luckily it was cold enough the blood froze before it made a mess of anything.

Mossberg 835 shooting Winchester HV 3.5" turkey loads. I traded it off and went to a 20 gauge.

Exact same thing happened to me, BIL gave me a little single shot 20 guage, Iver Johnson or some such, I shot the dang thing 3 or 4 times and give it up as a bad job. Actually brought tears to my eyes and bruised my cheekbone right smartly, I gave it away some years later. Worst recoil I have endured and I have shot quite a few.

Running a close second was the Reminton 721 in .270, got it new for my birthday when I was 12 or so. That thing was just brutal, I never shot it much at all. Still have it, took it out and shot it a little a couple of years ago, yup, still brutal.

Worst one I have ever fired was a Ruger #1 in 458 win mag. Shot it off the bench. BIG mistake! Standing was not as bad but we were trying to zero in the Leupold on it so we tried it off the bench.

A friend of mine had one of those double barrel coach guns. 12 gauge, short and light, butt stock with lots of drop, hard buttplate and narrow comb. A couple of turkey magnums through that thing was enough for me.

A more recent example was one of those light crack barrel single shots in 35 Whelen, with heavy load Buffalo Bore cartridges being the round of choice.

+1 on .300 Weatherby Magnum, that rifle just plain kicked hard and I was used to shooting my .338 Winchester Magnum with 275gr. handloads.

Mossberg 835 12 gauge with 3 1/2'' turkey loads....fired it twice and it was
GONE!!!!!!!!!!

Wife still laughs her ass off if that subject comes up.......my shoulder still hurts.

I thought I knew what recoil was, and then I fired my 500 Jeffrey from the bench. My starting loads were 100 gr of H-110 under a 600 gr cast bullet and they clocked 2200 fps. It was a moving experience. I had to re-set my sandbags after every shot as they’d be knocked off the shooting bench. I have yet to work up full patch loads, though a proper stock might make the rifle semi tolerable.

The most painful gun I’ve ever fired is the S&W 340. Sure, it’s “only” a .357 magnum, but the felt recoil with magnum loads is on par with laying your hand open on a bench and beating it with a 16 oz ball peen hammer.

4 bore.

This was the hardest kicking gun I ever shot. I made this about 15 years ago. This guy is firing it with a light load of powder. (And no... I am not kidding)

2 bore.
I made this one for a man in Illinois a few year back, but I didn't fire it from my shoulder. If you have the same velocity and you double the bullet weight you quadrupedal the recoil. Knowing that fact I thought I'd be better off not sighting in the 2 bore. I'll make it, but I won't shoot it. I only test fire the barrel and that's done with it ties to a tractor tire.

My single shot 50 BMG will shake your fillings loose but the recoil is not worse than a 12 ha with slugs.

Beretta 1201FP with 3" 00Buck