Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Average Recoil Tolerance

Well back in the day when I really did hunt game that required a 375 or a 416. I could shoot about 20 shots out of the 375 H+H accurate enough to not give a PH or a Guide heartburn. With the 416 Remington I could do maybe 12 to 15 shots. My first 4 with either were always more accurate than the last 2 or 3 shots. But plenty accurate to kill things. My dangerous game hunting days are in my pass, and the biggest rifle I shoot now is a 338 Winchester Mag, along with a 7mm Remington that I gone back to. I still hunt with a 6.5 x 55 and 7 x 57. With bullets being the way they are today, I could pretty much do all my hunting with either a 6.5 x55 or 7 x 57. I shoot the Blaser R-93 7mm RM very well and I really like it, I may pick up a barrel in 6.5 and 9.3 x 62 and call it a day. Thou the 338 Sako 75 has become a favorite of mine. So much so I kept it when I parred down my rifle collection. I will admit, that my real comfort level max's out with a 375 H+H . Above that it take real effort on my part to shoot well enough to hit things where then need to be hit.

I once owned a Rossi Overland Coach Gun, a 12ga with exposed hammers, dual triggers and 20" barrels. My shooting friends and I used to "give'em both barrels" with 3" slug loads. That is the most recoil I have ever dealt with. The recoil impulse felt heavy and stiff, but not brutal. Watching friends shoot it, it seemed that the muzzle lift was high. Shooting the same slug loads from from a 1300XTR, a heavier gun with a longer barrel, actually felt worse.

I would not hesitate to fire the Coach Gun the same way again, though I see no reason to. For something I would fire a lot, I would prefer something a bit lighter.

I agree with those who say that much of recoil tolerance is psychological, but I also wonder about the long-term physical effects of firing heavier calibers extensively. Shoulder damage? Detached retinas? In the long term, I think a lot of our minds can handle more than our bodies can.

I have sufferred more from muzzle blast than recoil. I think that muzzle blast causes a lot of flinching but stock design and fit are important. I once had a Rem 721 in 30-06 with iron sights and a steel buttplate. Everytime I fired, it hurt. The crooked stock with a long LOP slammed me hard. By chance I fired a JC Higgins 51L that was kighter than my 721 but had a better stock design and fit. I was amazed at how civilized the 30-06 had become. I had no problem with an M 79 G renade Launcher in Nam. There was little muzzle blast and it threw a 1/4 LB grenade out to 440 yds. I think it weighed about 6 LBS. Under most conditions a 9 LB 30-06 would be the limit for consistent accuracy.

I find the recoil of a 270,30/06, or 7 mag to be very similar,with the 270 being the lightest recoiling of the three. They all sem to require the same "hold",and are generally not a problem.

Once I get to a 300 magnum, things change, and they require more muscle tension and concentration to control; especially from somewhat unsteady field positions. I do notice that my groups with a 300mag or 375mag, from solid, locked-in positions, tight sling,field prone, etc are not much different, if at all, from the smaller rifles, but I limit sessions to fewer rounds. Not a bad idea to quit BEFORE you start to tense up IMHO.

Jeff's advise about the 223, and duplicating trajectory of the bigger rifles, less punishment, more range time,is the best advise.That and a 22 rimfire for a lot of off-hand practice.Builds "muscle memory" without punishment.

I have learned to hold that heavy old 375 H&H still when it goes off, but when guest shooters try it, just the size of the cartridge seems to spook them, even before the boom. Mental? I think so.

Wayne

To give credit where it's due, I'm pretty sure that was actually Steelhead's advice...

-jeff

Average Recoil Tolerance --

I'm not a gunwriter, except maybe on an internet forum, but for me recoil tolerance is pretty much determined by fit of the stock. A 375 with an ill-fitting stock beats the dickens out of me and a 458 with a well-fitting stock can be shot a lot (20-40 rounds) without being punishing. But the same can be said for a 30-06, only it's less obvious.

+1 - I can shoot my Sako 75 .300 RUM (MagNaPorted) all day (30-40 rounds). My Remington 700 LSS in .338 RUM has me crying like a little girl after 8 rounds

I would draw the line at a NORMAL 30-06 for most. Two of the most unpleasant rifles I have ever fired belong to Mule Deer; an ULA 30-06 using Fed high energy and his fabled 9.3BS. Both are relatively light rifles and have a very high recoil velocity.

I can shoot my 340 Mag in a T-shirt and it doesn't get to me.

Best recoil reducer I ever found is a Leuplod scope with the 4"+ of eye relief!

Some of the lever guns are pretty unpleasant as well.


I once attended a tactical shotgun class where one morning was spent shooting full power slugs-prone! I shot 150 or so rounds that morning. It was brutal. Never again!

Ruger 77.

Don [/quote]

Hah! +1 I had one of those too about 30 yrs. ago. Loaded up some fairly stout loads using Seirra 250 gr. bullets and what a bruiser from the bench! After a box of ammo it went up for sale and was gone----good riddance. That little red butt pad didn't absorb much;). Anyway I found that a 300WM with a decent recoil pad was as much as I could shoot accurately with and I usually go for something using an 06' case for my go-to hunting round anymore.
2Seventy

Dennis,

But it's widely known that you are a recoil wimp.

Actually, what kind of stock do you have on your .340?

I guess stock fit, although expressly excluded in the opening of this thread, is the biggest thing after all. I remember shooting gramps' old 1886 Win in 50-110 when I was too small for the stock, and that damn thing left me black and blue and yellow for a week after that one shot.

Wayne

Some of the problems I experience with recoil (and I freely admit I don't like recoil...at least on the bench), is that I can't seem to get benches to fit right. I like to be sure of a load and that it will perform out there a ways. So, I shoot on the bench quite a bit.

Sitting too high or too low or whatever makes a big difference on how much I wind up leaning into a gun or how much a gun hammers me, if the gun is too high. Granted, there are some that just want to slap ya all the way across the bench and that is an issue.

The other problem is that I get scope bit a lot. I tend to get my face too close to the scope on the bench. I don't know why, but it is just the way I shoot. If I move my head back, I just don't get as tight of a group and it just isn't natural to me.

On one gun, I just went ahead and put a band-aid on before I even started shooting. Sure enough, I got hit, and I bled....but anyway.

So, stock fit aside, I want to be sure it fits for me in the field more than on the bench, except for my benchrest rifles. For a field gun, if it fits prone or when I'm shooting off of shooting sticks or on a rest, then I just deal with it on the bench....or put on a muzzle brake...which has made my RUM's a dream to shoot.

I used to get "scope bit" quite a bit also. I talked to my local gun smith and he switched my leupold bases around on my model 70 and moved my scope further forward and reset it. He gave it back to me and said try that. I never scope myself anymore. Some guys call it crawling but I would rather have my head lean in to see throughe the scope than to pull my head as far back as possible to prevent scope bite. Hope this helps.

From what I have observed in both myself and my friends it breaks down something like this:
For the one box a year just before hunting season guys a .270 or 30-06 is a challenge and many would be better off with something smaller still. For the reloaders and shooters anything through a .375 H&H in a properly fitting rifle is ok. Past the .375 things rapidly cease being fun even if we manage to hit consistently.

I have a Mickey Sako Varmint stock on it with a 1" Decellerator.

I think the 9.3 has similar recoil but in a lighter package making the recoil velocity higher.

I only shot the 30-06 that one time and I can still remember thinking that it whacked me pretty hard for a 30-06. If you had just told me it was a 300 WBY or something I would have been psychologically prepared for it

Was only kidding about the "recoil wimp." You shot the .416 Rigby just fine on that same trip....

My NULA .30-06 kicked so hard because I was using the the Federal 180 Trophy Bonded High Energy load, which in that rifle gets around 2950 fps. In a 6.5 rifle, it probably is a lot like a .300 Weatherby in an 8-pound rifle.

Same deal with the 9.3 BS in my rifle, which weighs 7.5 pounds with scope. The load you shot was either a 232 Norma Oryx at 2700+ fps or a 250 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2650, I can't remember. Believe me, it stills kicks slightly less than a .338 Winchester with a 250 at similar velocity; my .338 has xactly the same stock (Bansner) and weighs about the same with scope.

Of course, somebody wise once pointed out that the effects of gravity are constant, but the effects of rcoil only temporary. (That is, unless you are shooting a light .22-250 600 times over a day and a half. Then the effects of recoil are pretty much constant.)

I believe that the average hunter can learn to shoot a .300 Win magnum pretty well. If the hunter is not dedicated to learning to handle recoil, then I think a .30-06 is about the upper limit.

Lou

I took an unscoped Ruger #1 RSI out to the bench a couple weeks ago and had the bag of sand between shoulder and stock after two shots. I just don't care for recoil on a bench. I've never noticed a thing while hunting even when in a bench type shooting position. I have a feeling that adding a scope to the #1 will make a world of difference, but I may keep using the bag of sand.

Lou: I think ability to tolerate recoil, and your willingness to tolerate it,are two different things. As I've aged, my ability to tolerate recoil has notdiminished that much. I notice certain parts of me(back of my neck)object a bit to being whipped around from the forces involved with shooting anything from a 300 magnum on up.

But I can still shoot those cartridges,and don't think a great deal about hunkering down to a 300 Weatherby,340 Weatherby, 375, etc.BUT range sessions are limited to fewer rounds than 10-20 years ago.I find the recoil levels of a 30/06-270-7 mag to be more tolerable.

But sometimes, where the situation calls for a 375, and I have to practice with the rifle,I just accept the fact that I will get moved around some; and put up with it.Through experience shooting 416's,458 winchesters and the 460 Weatherby(once!); I've decided a 375 is as much as I care to deal with.

A funny thing I've noticed is that recoil is less bothersome with rifles that don't have scopes....is part of this a subliminal defense mechanism that does not like a scope flying back toward your face? And on another, similar note, I notice even a 375 is easier to shoot with the VERY long eye relief afforded by a 2.5 Leup compact.