Worst 2 I've shot were the S&W 329PD and S&W 500. Both worse than full-snot .454 out of my Ruger Bisley. Bad in different ways.
The 329PD wood grip hits the knob on the knuckle where my thumb goes into the hand. It doesn't bother me much to shoot it once, it's the 2nd shot where the recoil lands on the bruise from the first where things get ugly. I like it a lot as a carry gun for backpacking where I'm not shooting many shots, not plinking, only shooting what has to be killed to save my hide.
The .500 was a weird experience. Shot it .. once. Strange things happened. The recoil was mostly back. Between the bullet being heavy enough to noticeably rotate the gun the opposite way the bullet was being rotated, the blast and brake, the muzzle did a crazy figure 8. At the same time it came straight back HARD. For a split second, everything in my wrist up to mid-forearm seemed liquid, seemed to be bending / flexing in directions / to degrees bone should not bend and flex. I can do without that.
Two others deserve (dis) honerable mention, both Smith and Wessons.
One, a M60 J-frame .357, has rubber grips. Rubber sticks to my hand instead of sliding. The recoil / impact isn't bad but it tries to stretch my skin beyond its elasticity and I wind up bleeding from the web of my hand.
The other, a 4 inch 629, did the same thing, even with wood grips. With factory 180s, I was bleeding after a couple shots so I duct-taped my hand back together and kept shooting. Folks looked at me like I was a little unhinged but the duct tape really did help a lot.
Tom
