Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Recoil injury/damage ?

I am not a writer, but I have had some injuries due to recoil. Black eye on right side from a 3 1/2 in mag 12 ga hitting my cheek bone. then the worst was a broken cheekbone same side of course. so I sold the shotgun. may have some 3 1/2 mags left. but I will never shoot them.

I will be 70 this year and recoil has become a definite limiting factor for me. Too much recoil gives me a headache, so I limit the number a rounds I fire with anything harder kicking than the good old 30.06. I avoid the really big stuff. I also hate muzzle brakes and will not be in a hunting situation with someone who is likely to fire a large rifle with one of the damn things without prior warning so I can flee to the next county. The biggest animal on my list this year is a bull elk and I'll use a 280AI. My rifle is a little heavier than most on the fire would want to carry(right at 9lbs loaded and ready to go), but its weight helps to dampen felt recoil. The deer hunting I'll do will get done with a 257R from the now defunct Serengeti outfit. So no problem.

MD, I know this isnt a rifle, but if I remember right wasnt it John Taffin who had to give up shooting large handguns,or handguns altogether, due to the recoil over the years of them big hand cannons did severe damage to his hands.

Swifty

I haven't experienced any adverse effects from heavy recoiling rifles to date.

Started in about 1985 at age 22 with a 378 WBY, and have progressed through the years with.

375 H&H
375 AI
416 Taylor
416 Rigby
458 Win
460 WBY
500 Nitro
505 Gibbs
577 Nitro
8 Bore Rifle

Although it may be impossible for me to give a correct diagnosis, always being kinda thick-headed and all.

Gunner

Swifty,

A number of folks who've regularly shot hard-kicking handguns have ended up with various sorts of damage, ranging from carpal tunnel to torn ligaments.

Gunner,

That "thick headed" trait may be your ticket to a trouble free life with big boomers...

Just a thought...

DF

LOL DF

Gunner

Skip Talbot was among those who ended up with various sorts of damage.

Purely anecdotal though it be I've long considered Block That Kick by Donald Hamilton to accord with my own experience and observation - and to some extent before I had some of the personal experiences and so to predict them.

It's quite certain that my own performance degrades in proportion to power - see e.g. power factor and major caliber issues in competition and in rifle design and cartridge choices especially rested - it's also my observation that as I age my recovery slows - I have no reason to believe that a notch at 4kHz is the only long lasting damage.

I had always considered myself recoil proof. I've enjoyed big bores for years. But a few years ago, I put two boxes of 400 grain loads through my 416T, two boxes of 286 grainers through my Chapuis and a little over two boxes of 300 grain loads through my 375. I shot a couple boxes of lighter stuff while the barrels cooled between groups. I was chronographing a bunch of loads and having a great day. That evening, I went to help my son move. I complained about the flashing lights in the truck cab. He claimed there weren't any lights flashing anywhere. I had a retina repair done the next day. The eye guy, a shooter, told me no rifles for six weeks. I can't say the shooting was the cause, but it certainly is suspect. I should note that I've been sewn back together a couple times from things that caused others to shake their heads when I did them. 'Hey guys watch this stuff.' It's bad when they know you on a first name basis at the emergency room.
I've since developed arthritis in both my hands and shoulders. They might be more related to stupidity, farming, and falling accidents than shooting, but it has had a serious impact on my shooting. So much so that I'm now pondering whether I should be selling my big bore rifles and handguns. The old saying, if I'd have known I was going to live this long, I've had taken better care of myself seems to apply. But why waste wisdom on the young. By the way, there are also hearing aids in my ears.
Just think about what you're doing to your body. You only get one.
Bfly

????

That would be one heck of a scope cut as the optic nerve inserts in the back of the eyeball.

I had that same thought, but held my tongue.

Your observation, of course, is absolutely correct.

DF

for me, i get headaches if i shoot anything bigger than a .243 or so, for very long. it's not a pain thing exactly. it just feels like someone has been slapping me in the back of the head and it sucks.

that said, i bought an ADL 700 in .270 last year and the new supercell recoil pad just about eliminated that feeling even with the .270 being more recoil than my .243.

maybe it's how long it takes for the recoil impulse to hit you? i shoot a 20 gauge shotgun and it doesn't seem to bother me as much as a rifle of same weight and recoil slapping he hard as opposed to a shotgun's more gradual recoil impulse.

also, if i am standing it's much lessened than if i am at the bench letting it jar me.

i am 31 and a big guy (6 feet tall and 280), so it's not like i am older or smaller and thus have a problem.

I've seen pictures of the old timers shooting their big boomers over a standing rest. Standing allows more movement of the upper torso than seated and leaning forward over a bench.

Greater movement allows the motion of the gun to be arrested over a greater distance, thus less perceived recoil.

Or put another way, the velocity of the gun in recoil is diminished at a slower rate.

Like the old saying, the fall wasn't so bad, just the landing. It's that sudden deceleration that does the damage.

DF

Thanks Blackfly 1, I am very aware of my old bag of bones, and I do pay attention, I just try to squeeze all the performance I can out of myself.

But at 50 years, I'm gonna have to start cuttin' her back a bit.

Gunner

I like shooting big bore handguns.You do not have to shoot every round at full max to enjoy them.For big bore enthusiasts who enjoy shooting more than pain "Trail Boss" is your friend!!!

+1 One of my favorite lines in Elmer Keith's writings is his report that he fired about 600 full power rounds in the 44 magnum the first year he owned it. Keith wasn't known for recoil sensitivity but it seems he did know how to pace himself with full power ammo, and that might be the key to avoiding long-term damage.

I shoot a muzzle-braked 30-378AI. The recoil is negligible, but I start getting a headache after 15 rounds or so, and I take my time, never letting the barrel get hot. I also clear the line of other shooters.

They hate to see me coming.

I'm suffering from recoil injury right now. My shoulder is black & blue from shooting one of my .30-06's too many times the other day. I knew I was done when after my final shot I shrieked "ouch" out loud.

Funny you mention the 30-378 MD, I had one of those back in the early 1990's, it was a rechambered '06 Ruger #1, that sombuck was one of the most unruly rifles I ever fired.

With 200 gn Partitions and IIRC 120 someodd grains of H-5010 that flame throwin' bench buckin' SOB was pure hell to hang on to.

I was by far not the hardest kicking rifle I have ever fired, just the rudest.

Gunner