Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What's been your biggest recoil suprises?

One day, I set the trigger on my CZ 416 Rigby, then got distracted, then before I had the gun snug and my left hand on the forend, it jumped up and bit me!

Also, one day I shot about 40 rounds in my 300 Weatherby, then 20 in the 416 and then about 50 in my 358 Win BLR, and then the bruise was sore for about 5 days.

The worst rifle I've ever owned as far as "felt" recoil is a marlin 336 in .35 Remington. I swear it kicks much worse than my Browning in .338 winchester.

My Worst: I borrowed my dad's 30-06 remington pump and a box of 220 gr silvertips for my first deer hunt. Headed to the hills to check the sights. The but plate was some kind of plastic. I was 16 and weighed about 125 pounds. Four shots later I could flinch better than anyone in the county. Never took that gun hunting and still fear 220 grain silvertips...

Wife's worst: Took my 95 pound wife to a turkey shoot. She lined up and I helped her load the shell in my 870. To hold the gun up, she had to lean really far back. I stepped behind her and when she pulled the trigger, she was in my arms again but not with a good attitude... That recoil lasted several days.

My Savage M116 .338 WM is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My .303 Enfield MK V Jungle Carbine will rattle your fillings with hunting loads.

Expat

Ugliest: 308 handloads in my buddy's M1A with a steel buttplate. No fun. Put it down after five or six rounds.

Most pleasant: black powder dueling pistol. What a hoot!!

Those Jungle Carbines are ugly for recoil.
I forgot the .58 calibre hawken I had for a littel while. The guy i bought it off told me a hunting load would be 130 gr of black powder and a 555 gr maxiball. After touching of a few of these i gave up the idea of blackpowder hunting and later learned that a max load for a bulelt that big was bewtween 90 and 10 grains.

While not really bad the biggest surprise was from a Savage .22/20 gauge. The stock was high to accommodate a scope sight for the .22. With 20 gauge shells the comb would bite me in the cheek something fierce.
.303 Jungle Carbine in factory stock.
I have a friend who is about 6'-4" tall and weighs in at over 200 lbs. For years he shot a Parker Hale .300 WM. and found the recoil brutal. One day at the range he tried another friends new Win. 70 Super Grade in .300 WM. Within 2 weeks he had traded off his Parker Hale. He was under the impression that .300 WM kicked that badly and nothing could be done about it. He has bought 2 or 3 other rifles with good stocks since and he now uses a .30-.378 for moose hunting.

When my daughter was about 12 she was with me at the rifle range and kept wanting to shoot my cute little Ruger ultra light 308.
So I got her set up on the sand bags and was shocked when that gun slammed her back about 2 feet. I was hoping we could get out of there before someone called the cops for child abuse.

338 RUM not nearly as bad as I expected. KH

I don't consider myself recoil sensitive, but i own 2 guns that give me all i want. A hawkin 58 cal with a brass cresent butt plate using 100 grs. of black...but worst of all Win.HV 3" mag. in a 71/2 lb Traditions O/U. I didn't pay attention and bought some 31/2" HV ... anyone interested in a trade?

KS Custom Mountain rifle in 375 Ultra.
I got a "good deal" on it....No need to wonder why!
The quickest jolt I have ever felt.

.......Rifle for Sale! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Oh yea! One OZ of lead slug in a 3" mag, Out of a pump shotgun. That is one thing I'll shoot off hand, standing. Thank you very much.

Most pleasant surprise: Rem 700 Classic in .35 Whelen; I was expecting more recoil than my .308, but off the bench or prone it was really a pussycat.

Least pleasant surprise: Winchester 94 in .32 Special; I was expecting something in range of my .35 Rem but I could only get 3 groups in before I had to put that one away for the day.

Your mileage may differ,
Bob

My biggest suprise was a double barrel 10 gauge double set trigers loaded with 3 and half maguim shells. I set both trigers pull the first one and the other went off. I fox hunted with an old guy and he use to tell me to not to shoot them to close it would really distroy a hide.

Ruger 77 ultralight in 270win that a friend had bought for his wife.We mounted the scope and took it out to sight it in before he gave it to her.The recoil was very harsh for a 270win.He ended up taking it back and exchanging it for a 243win.

M70 pushfeed fwt .270. OUCH!! Tenderized the shoulder and the cheekbone. My smith had a leftover standard stock that we put the fwt barreled action in, and it's a fine gun to shoot, now.