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

Rifles, I had a Winchester 70 SS .375 H&H that would make my eyes water. Traded it for a one pound lighter Rem 700 SS in 375 H&H and it hurt slightly less. Guess it fit me better, but got rid of it too. Strangely, I had a Win 70 .338 prior to that and the recoil bothered me none.

Shotguns, I've shot hundreds and hundreds of 12 gauge slugs thru everything form lightweight single shots to my 870 pump, but they didn't hold a candle to a 10 gauge 36" barrel H&R single shot that I owned briefly. Ran a box of 3 1/2" magnums and one box of slugs through it. Always had wanted a 10 gauge.. til I tried one. And I really wanted to shoot one deer with it, but with 2 1/2 foot groups at 50 yards, it wasn't going to happen. (And I wasn't flinching when I shot that group.)

Worst of the worst, a S&W scandium 360 using .357 magnums. Closest sensation I imagine would be holding out your hand and letting someone smack you as hard as possible with a ping pong paddle. After a little experience, I'd wrap my thumb in black electric tape prior to firing because on the first shot the cylinder latch would remove a chunk of skin from the inside of my thumb! Sold it. After 12 years, I recently bought a scandium 340. 11.5 ounces. Really wanted a snubby revolver again, but didn't want any more weight than necessary. Haven't had time to shoot it yet, but will probably stick to .38's when I do.

Rynite stocked contender in 45-70.
Literally knocks the spit across your face.

Long ago, in a place far away,...made up some dies to reload original pull down brass, revamped the cases for regular primers, and lathe turned some bullets.

......wasn't bad standing off a platform,.... but the first shot with it was foolishly fired from the prone,...

.....ouch ?

GTC

9.3x64mm Brenneke in a 7 1/2# rifle. Never sure whether the shoulder or jaw hurt worse.

I'm limited to about 8 rounds off the bench with my #1 .45-70 with 405's @ 1750fps, but it's not terrible off hand (that said, I'll probably never load all the way to the 2100fps that it's capable of).

I was at the range one day, just me and a guy down at the other end. He was shooting a Titanium Smith .38. I was monkeying with my chrony and some rifle loads. He walked down and asked if I could shoot his pistol over my chrony. Sure. IIRC, it was Speer factory 135 +P. When it went off, I darn near dropped his gun. 835fps, for those wondering.

A buddy has always had an affinity for his 11-48 Remington 16ga. We were shooting skeet out in a field one day with it and for some reason, every round felt like my face was soaking up every bit of the recoil. After a box of dove loads, I was done. Lots of folks around here still love 11-48's, someday I'll have to ask why.

Bro-in-Law's 870 Supermag with 3-1/2" Hevi Shot Loads give a pretty good shove. First time I ever shot it, I shot it kneeling, it spun me half around. Despite the shove, it doesn't really hurt (though I'm sure it would after a box of shells). The stock fits me pretty well and it has a nice, big, soft, recoil pad. It will also hammer turkeys at stupid ranges.

I figured out a long time ago it's (within reason) all about weight, stock design, and recoil pad. I've shot a buddy's .300 Weatherby with 180's and I was pleasantly surprised. I've shot another buddy's M77 .300 Win Mag that was considerably less comfortable to shoot.

A Nagant model 44 carbine shot from the bench was memorable.

My brother had one like that. IIRC, the 20 gauge recoil was only bad with 3" shells and when you thought you had the selector set for the rimfire barrel.

Reading through some of these, I'm reminded of one I forgot when I did my first post which is my 357 PD with full house .41 mags. Someone said something about getting your hand slapped with a ping pong paddle....yep, that's it.

TC Encore 12ga slug barrel with 3" Breneke Magnum Crush.

a friend's .338 lapua

my own, my 10 gauge with 3 1/2" 2 1/2 oz turkey loads
or my .444 contender

.470 Nitro Express with a steel buttplate. A guy at the range was trying to make 20 empties and asked me to help him at about shot 5. I took my medicine a few times and decided I wanted to keep my retinas attached.

Don't remember exact specs, but that rifle was stupid light for a .470, and the steel buttplate instead of recoil pad sucked big time.

I don't know if he finished making his empties, as it was a weekday and the range was empty-ish.

That rifle was truly brutal.

This is pretty nasty too. 480 Ruger SRH.

Boy, does that bring back some memories. I bought a brand new Remington Model 700, ADL in .270, in probably 1973 or 1974. It was a beautiful gun and I was proud as hell to own it, being only in my early 20s. That SOB was punishing to shoot. Like JB said probably not the hardest kicking gun I ever shot, but it was just miserable. It turned my shoulder black and blue more than once. I ended up selling it. I could never figure out what made it so. Shot lots of .270s in a lot of makes and models, but nothing was as miserable as that 700 ADL.

Awesome!

I have one of these 5 shot 32oz in 44 mag I carry in bear country loaded with 300gr FP or 250gr fmj silhouette bullets. It will numb your hand after about 20 rounds. I will admit I only put a few cylinders through it a year. It is handy to carry though when your tromping around in the mountains, but not my favorite range gun.

A single shot 10ga with turkey loads when I was 14+/-.
Was sitting on a bucket then was lying on the ground. Only shot it once.

Have that same H&R, shot it one morning[turkey hunting] twice as fast as I could reload and squeeze again.
Painful doesn't really describe it.

20GA Mossberg syn stock youth gun with 3" deer slugs - no wonder my son didn't like shooting it! S&W 360 with full house 357 mags - as poster above said, like holding you hand out and someone smacking it with ping pong paddle (I was thinking baseball bat). Double Tap derringer in 45ACP 230gr. Made my hand numb for a couple of days. Two shots was plenty.

Rossi Coach gun exposed hammers, double triggers.
I was calling crows and by the time it was over the trigger guard was full of blood.
The crows flopping around on the ground brought more in, it seemed to infuriate them.
whelennut

870 slug gun , forgot what slugs I was using but they were rough. I've not shot a lot of big rifles but have shot a .577 bp express, a 450/400, a 405 Winchester plus a few othersover .45 cal. but none were as bad as that 870. Have had a couple of double barreled 12 ga guns double on me. That can get your attention too.

Shotguns have been pretty bad, but having shot from a 22 rimfire right up to a 458 win mag, the worst was a Ruger no3 in 45/70 with my heavy loads, beat the crap out of my trigger hand and with that metal buttplate it beat the shoulder pretty good too, seem to have avoided getting a flinch and still enjoy shooting my Sako Finnbear in 375 H&H magnum.

same here my friends model 37 lightweight.......