Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What is a recoil headache?

Recoil can do it. So can muzzle blast. I cannot be anywhere near a muzzle brake. Having had many concussions recoil/blast headaches are a main priority for me at the range. Calling blast or recoil "concussive" is 100% accurate.

i never understood why someone needs a brake for hunting big game ? even my skinny little adult daughter does not feel the pain when she has shot her husband`s 7 mag. at a deer.

I never understood why someone would not use anything available to mitigate recoil and noise in a firearm. Even real men and women shoot better with less recoil/muzzleblast and it is much more enjoyable. Neither hair cell (in ear) nor retinas can be strengthend through machismo. Headaches are not awesome, either.

I have gotten them sighting in rifles for other people. No idea, if it was the recoil, the fumes or whatever. All I know is, my silenced .308s with 130 TTSX will kill anything I might shoot at and I get to do my part :-)

Honestly never understood that reasoning. Rifle should be shot way more often than just at game.

Lifelong allergy/headache sufferer.
.300 winmag was sometimes tolerable.
Other times gave me a wicked headache.

Im older now and won't even chance it.
Lighter kickers for me.

Haven't had a migraine for years (knock on wood).
But last 4 days have been blah.

I never liked amusement rides either.
Snot slosh is a thing LOL

Interesting topic. jack O'Connor addressed the problem in one of his books. I think it was, "THE HUNTING RIFLE" where he thought some people had their brains addled by the hard kicking rifles, He opined that the recoil gave the shooter a mild concussion.

Over the years I've shot many rifles chamber to various cartridges ranging from the .22 Hornet to the .416 Rigby. Frankly, the only one that has ever seriously given me a problem is/was the .338 Win. Mag. I never shot some of the bigger rounds much so I don't remember if I had problems with them.

The only way I can describe what went on when shooting the .338 is the rifle fires, I feel the recoil but hear/feel a sharp clicking sound inside my head. Instant headache. I think the recoil effect is such that my body is literally snapped back and forth in a rapid manner and my brain bounces back and forth in th process.

It has been said that as one ages, the brain shrinks a little as the years go by. That probably aggravates the situation. Hell! What do I know? anyway that's what I think happens when one shooting something with substantial recoil. Probably why I've been working almost exclusively with the 7x57.
PJ

I was at the range with my son Sunday helping him knock the dust off his rifle shooting skills (he's an occasional deer hunter but fanatical waterfowl hunter), we were shooting suppressed 308s. There were boomers on our left and right and I went home with what I call a percussion headache. I don't think it's from recoil and we were shooting suppressed with good hearing protection. I'm convinced it was our shooting neighbors but can't say for sure, it happened last time I was there too!

Mule Deer, I'm wondering why Eileen has not had a rifle fitted with suppresser yet? I tried my first last year and I now own three, won't hunt without one, my lonely Model 70s never leave the safe these days!

A few years ago I shared the range with a 30-378 Weatherby shooter. His rifle was equipped with a Swiss cheese muzzle brake and the report was obnoxious. I was using plugs and muffs, so it didn't sound as loud but the pressure wave moving down the firing line was like a slap to the face and I could feel it in my sinuses.

"Really the best case scenario is to wear both "over ear" and "in ear" when shooting anything big."
I have been wearing double ear protection for years due to my fear of losing hearing, when I was growing up and until early twenties didn't care much but now I do, I also use Caldwell shoulder strap pad when shooting to protect the shoulder.

You don't have to be knocked unconscious to have a traumatic brain injury. Mild TBI's can become cumulative, can cause issues over time. People so disposed can become more sensitive to repeat physical insults.

I think you have to listen to your body. If recoil causes headaches, it's trying to tell you something.

Engineering around physical problems is well known in industry. Gadgets can often be designed to relieve employees from situations or functions that can cause physical problems or injuries.

So, as is the accepted process in industry, we should work to "engineer" our situations to minimize symptoms caused by known irritants.

As described by many, with recoil headaches you cut down on recoil, blast and noise to a comfort level you and your body can live with.

Then, one would think with less kinetic energy, less power, less blast, one would have to become a better marksman. Go figure....

There are a number of Fire members who have described dropping a power level or two for their everyday hunting ordinance based on a number of issues.

Sometimes less is more.... Just depends.

Speaking of, your president, asked by a reporter if he wore briefs or boxers, thought for a moment then answered, "Just Depends"....

Whoops....

Yeah....

DF

I was at a range years ago, two guys posted up to me on my left, they were shooting a Browning BAR in 338 WM with a BOSS brake. My teeth literally hurt when they launched a projectile from that blue metal and wood travesty. To make matters more fun for me, the hot brass from the BAR auto came slinging onto my bench and sometimes on me. They solved the problem with the non-shooting friend holding a metal trash can lid using it as a shield to block brass from landing on me!

The discussion about fumes is interesting. Sometimes I touch off a few rounds out of my office window. Center fire revolvers in particular, even very light .38 special loads, tend to give me a lingering headache if I dont hang the gun out the window.

A while back I read about folks getting headaches from cooking certain smoked meats….I used to get them when I would fry bacon- we now cook it in the oven. The headaches are very similar.

Soooo….I guess in true campfire fashion….someone asked about recoil headaches and the solution is to put some gunpowder on your hard hat and quit frying bacon.

If I had to quit frying bacon I'd be very sad.

You pilgrims don't know beans about concussion until you see the grass flatten 30 yards in front of the revetment every time 'Long Tom', 155mm M-2 goes off. Makes it easy to catch grasshoppers.
And another thing, put a pinch of double base powder between cheek and gum and rub your hardhat band with bacon grease for all day satisfaction. I gots other medical advice too, jus' axe me.

Yeah, you can see why African PH's hate muzzle brakes.

I have one rifle with a brake. It's an Ed Brown Damara in .300 Win Mag. Ed said his light weight magnums shot better groups with a brake and he may be right.

I was shooting this rifle on a bench. There was a piece of paper lying near the muzzle. The blast shredded that piece of piece of paper. Amazing.

DF

So a question for the experts, and this may deserve its own thread. If a person was going to build a few rifles to shoot that wouldn’t cause the headaches what would be the top choices? I’ve been hating recoil more and more but still enjoy shooting and would like to have my kids do more of it without the side effects.

It depends on the kind of shooting you'll want to do. For example, if you like to clang steel a fast twist 223 will reach out pretty far yet have very little recoil.

I would be interested to see if anyone experiences recoil headaches when shooting handguns.

With enough blast and noise, maybe.

But I would think rifles would be more of a problem for those guys, especially big, bad ones.

DF