Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Largest rifle youv'e ever shot

It was a .460 for Petes sake double ...fired 2 rds and thought it to much gun for woodchucks so I handed it back !

This.
I thought I would try a 3 1/2” turkey load.....obnoxious is the only way to describe it.

50 cal. US ARMY

shot a 50 bmg a few times, including launching a couple of prairie dogs with it.

Whoops...

Scatter gun, not rifle...



DF

3 different 50 BMG's all w/Brake from a bipod would be the "largest".

.416Wby MK V Classic-Mark without the brake would be the largest "hunting rifle" and it was unpleasant off-hand, I was glad I'd never have to sight in the scope from a bench as it wasn't mine.

Worst recoil was a Laminated English-Stocked H&R 3.5" 12ga shooting 2.25oz lead turkey loads into the test bbl of the gun-shop I worked in during college. 1 shot and my whole right arm went numb. Once was enough.

I generally shoot animals and targets rather than rifles.

.416 Rigby

90 MM tank gun

DF, I got a Rem 870 that shoots 3" magnums and I had to try them on ducks. That was my first and last time. I've never shot the 3 1/2" mags, so I can just imagine how that kicks. Got a friend that deer hunts with a 3 1/2" 10 ga. H&R break neck single shot. Shot gun is light as can be. Hand loads his own buckshot. I wont shoot it!

Yo buddy gotta be a real hoss to shoot that thing more than once...

I know, I know, scatter guns, not rifles....



DF

While not the largest caliber I have shot- an unbraked .378 weatherby with massive doses of IMR4831 would have to be the most violent. It was much worse than my .416 Rigby. With each round it would squeeze a 25 lb bag of shot out that was put between me and the rifle. I can see where a little too much of that rifle would put a person in need of getting their retinas reattached!

Since shotguns have already been illegally mentioned I'll use one as an example. Just ran some easy numbers on a 10 gauge 2 1/4 oz load at 1200 fps from a 9 pound gun (my pump) vs a 500 gr bullet at 2100 fps from a 9 pound rifle, maybe a .458 Win. .458 came in at 69 ft lb of recoil energy and 22.2 fps of recoil velocity. 10 gauge came in at 65 ft lbs recoil energy and 21.5 fps of recoil velocity without accounting for wad weight.

Then just for chuckles I ran the same 10 gauge numbers for a 12 gauge 3 1/2" 2 1/4 oz load from a 7 1/2 lb Mossberg pump. 78 ft lb recoil enegy and 25.9 fps recoil velocity. Do you really hate turkeys that bad?? Right after I bought the Browning pump a couple of guys I hunted with decided to get in on the Mossbergs. I declined the opportunity to fire such a machine. Enthusiastically.

Numbers came from HERE

Was fun watching guys the day I shot that Weatherby 460.
It was at a hands-on manufactures gun show.

Many major manufacturers were there and you could for a buck or so shoot just about any domestic firearm made at the time.

That 460 was riight at 10 pounds they told me, a scoped rifle with a recoil pad on the butt, this was before I ever saw a muzzle break, we shot it standing.
I figured it would take about five before it would hurt much, but I only shot it once.
You couldn't shoot more than once without waiting in line again, and it wasn't a short line at the Weatherby tent

It lifted my lead foot off the ground, but it really wasn't that bad.
I watched my cousin shoot and he looked about like I felt but then we had both shot a lot all our lives.

It was hurting some guys you could tell but I only really remember one. He must have stood with his feet side by side because that gun turned him 3/4 of the way around before the Weatherby guy standing next to him grabbed the gun so he didn't drop it.
As he walked by afterward you could see the pain in his eyes but he was doing a good job of hiding it and began to reach for his shoulder but stopped himself. poor guy was in pain for sure

I have shot many, many groups under 3/4" with the .460, including 5 Barnes X's into .6" at the 100.
Sometimes people need to remind themselves that it was designed by mortal man to be shot by mortal man.
It is just a rifle........

Have owned a couple of 458 Win Mags. A 95 Marlin with some 485 gr flat nosed hard cast that kicks at both ends. The heaviest kicker is my .58 muzzleloader made in the early 70s. A Remington rolling block, .58 Douglas barrel, breachplug with nipple in the middle for a #11 Remington cap. Two round balls patched, one after the other and 120 gr 3F black powder. They print side by side at fifty yards. The other load is cast of dead soft lead from an altered mini-ball mould with the base plug cut way down in a lathe. 120 gr 3f and two steps back when you touch the trigger. Next time I will use 2F. I actually like the mini and double patched ball loads equally. But the two ball load seems to hit harder? Don't know why? 705 gr. Mini should kill at both ends with alacrity! Oh yeah, the 460 Roy a friend allowed me to shoot. The first shot I flinched but the second one I was ready. Targets were pieces of sidewalk the city had dumped. I actually found one of the 500 gr bullets after shooting. The concrete was a mess and the bullet had definitely had struck a solid object. Wouldn't want that shot at me. But I could grin after shooting a cape buffalo, I think. Rusty