Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hunting rifle recoil vs. Remington 870 3 1/2 magnum

.223s work good on turkeys�.

I fired a couple of turkey magnums from one of those lightweight, double barrel coach guns. Short barrels, stock with a narrow comb and lots of drop, hard buttplate. I decided shooting my 338 mag with full power 250 grain loads would be a pleasant alternative.

You haven't lived until you shoot a NEF single bbl. in 3 1/2 inch! Completely in a class by its own, I have 375's and a 340 and full house Ruger #3 45-70 loads are all house cat loads compared to that thing, shot it ONCE, never again. I use 2 3/4 inch #7 1/2's for turkey-Muddy

I don't know. The 835 convinced me that my .338 was a pussycat.

A .45-70 loaded hot, a .375 H&H in a Talkeetna, a LW .338 Mag with high performance loads and a Sako in .338 Lapua with 250 grainers don't kick nearly as much.

Shooting 3" slugs in my Ithaca Deerslayer comes close.

If you've never launched a 3" Partition Gold you owe it to yourself to try it. Personally, I'd rather chew on tinfoil than try that again - and, that was out of the milder-recoiling 11-87.

Yep, this is what happened to me.

It'd been so long since I shot one of those damn guns I had forgotten. I'm glad it's not just me that finds them brutal.

I used to shoot an 835 with a 24" nonported barrel using the 3.5" HV shells, brutal. The only rifle I have fired that matches it in recoil is an open sighted .458 Win Mag Ruger Tang safety that a guy I work with owns. It sucks just as bad to shoot it as a 3.5" turkey load.

I just shoot 2 3/4's. If that won't kill somethin', to hell with it.

FC

my friends 870 slug gun recoils way more than my 450 marlin with factory loads.

My 416 Ruger would be pleasant to shoot IF you compared it to the 870 3 1/2" mag in terms of recoil.

None.

3 1/2 inch turkey loads are aweful. I have finally decided not to shoot 3 1/2 inch steel shells at ducks. You don't notice the recoil so much shooting on the swing as you do a rifle but still is brutal. Rifle recoil seems sharper but does not have the heavy push. My teeth litteraly hurt after shooting ducks with 3 1/2 inch loads out of an SBE2. I will say that a 30/06 with 180g bullets will rattle you pretty good when shooting off a bench.

After a day of duck shooting with an 870 SuperMag, my face was so bruised I looked like I had gotten in a fight.

Back to 2.75 for me now.

Ive not encountered a situation where I felt a 3.5 would provide enough reason over a 3 inch shell. The autoloader helps with the heavier, magnum loads. Pump guns with magnum loads arent any fun to me.

I will say that a 30/06 with 180g bullets will rattle you pretty good when shooting off a bench. [/quote]

I'll take a .30-06 even loaded with 220 gr bullets shooting maximum loads over a pump or single shot 12 gauge loaded w/ 3 1/2" mags or slugs any day of the week.

Another combo that'll get your attention is a little CVA Wolf .50 cal muzzleloader rifle loaded with a .338 gr Powerbelt Aerotip Platinum and 150 gr worth of Triple Seven pellets or AP Jim Shockey's Gold sticks.

So glad I discovered BH209, I'd take the .30-06 I described above over that combo too, I don't recommend it to anyone.

I am not sure that the Benelli auto does much or anything to remove recoil like a gas auto. It is also light, which does not help either.

I used to work for one of the gun manufacturer's. One of the things I noticed that had a REAL effect on the felt recoil was gun fit. A poorly fitting firearm, whether rifle or shotgun, will just plain HURT.
Saying that, the only rifle I've ever shot that comes close to a 3.5" Turkey load out of an 870 was a Weatherby 460 Wby Mag from a bench.

I remember working one of the DU Great Outdoors things in Memphis one year and a little county-guy, maybe 5' 2" tall and 120 lbs dripping wet, came up and said he wanted to shoot 'one of them 460's'. Jim Stotten and camera-man filmed him cranking off a round.
It knocked him back about 5' and nearly knocked him on his backside. If he hadn't hit the railing behind him it would have. I managed to catch the rifle just as it left his hand at about a 45 degree angle.
The camera man turned off the camera and the guy turns to the two of us and says "next time I get stupid and shoot one of those things I'll try and hang on to it tighter".

After an almost 20 year hiatus from turkey hunting, I wanted to get back into it, so I pulled out my old short barreled 870 express 12 gauge and proceeded to pattern some of the new 3" turkey loads that was available. After shooting 5 different brands/loads out of my lead sled, it was clear that my old gun shot the best pattern with Magblend. I then shot it from a field position consistent with turkey hunting and after 3 shots had an enormous headache and a bruised cheek. I then put the gun back in the case, went to my LGS and bought a Benelli M2. Its still not pleasant to shoot but is more tolerable than my 870. It's kind of funny that I don't remember that gun hurting that bad when I was in my 20s

Well for me the only one was a Mossberg 500 20ga. youth with 3in. slugs. Short story son was 10 he was gonna hunt with his little 20ga. that is what he wanted so.. I put a 2.5x Pentax Lightseeker plus scope on it. Sighting it in he wanted to do it his self so ok ... at 50 yards he got things pretty close and the "groups" weren't as good as I wanted to see so I was gonna shot a group. Now keep in mind this was a YOUTH model gun and I am just barley on the short side of 6'5" a 37in sleeve length that combo like to have tore me up!!! He hunted with a 30-06 that year and got him a doe.