Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your worst recoil experience?

12ga 3.5” turkey load in a mossberg 500 pos pump.

Mossberg 12 gauge 3” plastic stock turkey gun. Never shot a rifle that kicked as much.

Both triggers at once in a 20 gauge double barrel. First time I ever shot a shotgun. And I wasn’t very big. I don’t remember any pain. But it was an experience.

I had an 1895 Browning lever rebored to make it a 35 Whelen. I put about 2 boxes of ammo through it one day at the bench. I had a bruise the size of a dinner platter.

I eventually sold it and replaced it with a BLR in 358 Win and haven't looked back.

Dan

.300 Weatherby always kicked like a mule, I had a tall, long necked friend who shot one. Every time he shot that rifle he ended up with a bloody lip, it kicked so hard that the knuckle of his thumb busted him in the mouth.

Browning BPS 10 gauge with 3 1/2” 1 3/4oz rifled slugs seated off the bench. Ouch.

That’s felony child abuse in 37 states

Lahti L-39 20mm. Shooting WWII ammo, the first shot didn't go off, which really ratcheted up the suspense...

When I first started hunting deer with a handgun in Iowa I thought the .454 Casull was the answer to my question. And it worked great on a few deer for me. I used 320 gr. cast bullets with max loads. Didn't have a chrono at the time. IIRC it was 28 gr. of H110 behind that bullet. As a pistol it wasn't absolutely brutal, though I ended up going to a .357 Maximum in a successful effort to reduce recoil. Anyway, one day I decided, because I was young and dumb, to see what that .454 Casull felt like set up with the buttstock on it. Bad, bad idea. Thing kicked like a damned mule! The only other worse recoil experience I can think of is when I decided to put a 3" shell with a maximum load of #2 lead shot in it through the single shot H&R 12 gauge that I started my wingshooting experience with. That was a monster also. The most powder I've ever burned was working up loads for a friend's .338/.378 Wby and also my first experience shooting a rifle with a muzzle brake. I dreaded pulling the trigger the first time, but the brake worked a treat and it felt like I was shooting a .308 Win, with a bonus shockwave and gas blowback from the brake, but I got used to it quickly.

Sako 375 H&H Carbine full stock. Shot it four times off the bench with some "leftover" Safari 300gr handloads. I swear it hurt me between my shoulder blades it kicked so hard. I stood up after those 4 and said never again.
#2 Mossberg 3 1/2" 12ga. turkey load. One and done.

Four and a half pound Contender Carbine in 45-70. After each shot the rifle would be pointing up and to the right after having bounced off of my face.

I have an original 1895 Winchester in 30-06 with the crescent butt. The first time I shot it was with some factory 180 gr bullets. It was hot and I only had a tee shirt on. I didn't know about putting the butt high on my arm and had bruises and bloody spots on my chest. I still shoot it a couple of times a year, but with cast bullets at around 1800 fps and padding on my arm.

I think for me is my 45-120 Shiloh sharps with steel recoil pad

Single action 44 magnum, those smooth wood grips are not made for 44 mag recoil, felt like the gun was gonna jump out of my hands.

Twisted up on a hill taking a running shot on a deer with my 458 when I was a kid. Pulled the stock off my shoulder and let a 500 grainer rip a full tilt. Deer stopped to see if I was ok and then bounded off.

#1 don't remember the make of it, but when I was in high school a bud had a single shot 10 gauge he said was his "goose gun". That thing hurt.

#2 another pards Rem 600 in 350 mag. No recoil pad. That was pretty testy off the bench.

# Ruger #3 in 45-70 with full house loads.

Remington 700 300 RUM, totally was not expecting how vicious that thing was.

I had Rossi 12ga coach gun that wasn't fun at all. It had a steel buttplate and with magnum shells it hurt. Didn't keep it very long. Partner had a single shot 50 bmg that wasn't a lot of fun either. He shot a grizz with it up the Talkeetna river one time and got scope bit kinda bad. He sold it shortly thereafter.

Mine is a toss up between a .416 Rigby and a .458 Lott....

I can't explain it bud another guy's 270 with 150 gr winchester silver tips in a marlin xl7 I think it was... Now I've never shot huge calibers but this thing kicked more than any 12 Guage slug, 45-70 or anything else.

H & R break open single shot in 10 gauge. Brutal recoil. - Sherwood

Baikal single shot 308. The stock was a weird euro style that was very good at putting all the recoil of that barely 5lb rifle right into your face. Owned it for about 4 days. I learned stock design matters with that one.