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

I notice some skirting around the possibility the headache is concussion caused .

In the first few pages there was some pretty firm opinions that it was concussion causation. I didn't intend to upset the apple cart by suggesting exposure to nitro particulates causes headaches...I just mentioned the possibility. Anybody who has ever done any blasting in mine, pit, roadbuilding or quarry will confirm. Of all the hazards in shooting, personally, I would fear detached retina more than anything and thusly avoid hard kickers.

Its not a cure all but when I was shooting 416s and 458s regularly for my job I used a mouth guard like what a football player might use. The kind you boil in water then form to your own teeth while it's still warm.

Seemed to help and it was a permanent part of my going to the range kit.

To further muddy the waters....when in the vicinity of artillery, the Army drilled us to use issue earplugs and hold our hands over our ears contacting the mastoid bone firmly with the thumb pad, and leave the mouth slightly open. Definitely pressure wave concussion in that case.

I never had the problem until after I had a concussion.

Valid observation. Concussion is a traumatic brain injury. TBI’s don’t have to be severe with loss of conscious to cause issues. Seems the trauma can be cumulative. So, more injury, more susceptibility to repeat injury, more sensitivity.

I don’t think the concussion component has been played down that much. It’s definitely part of the equation, although other issues may contribute.

DF

I get a headache just thinking about ever shooting a 378 Wby ever again............most wicked, quick, vicious recoil imaginable.

I have no magnums left in the stable save for DG, just don't nèed them for non-DG.

My range sessions are much more pleasant since.

MM

The .378 also has one of the quickest "recoil velocities," meaning the acceleration of the rifle upon firing--which can even be more important than recoil energy.

The other factor, of course, is whether the rifle's scope hits your head. This may seem obvious but 30 years ago was in Germany on a writer's tour of the then three Zeiss factories. One stop on the week-long tour was an indoor shooting range, and because Zeiss had been criticized (with some justification) for the recoil-resistance of their scopes back then, one of the rifles including was a .416 Rigby with a lower-magnification variable.

The Zeiss folks invited all of us to shoot the rifle, but many passed, including both me and Jim Carmichel--since we'd already shot .416 Rigbys. But one of the others, an older guy whose name I can't remember, puffed up and said sure, he'd shoot the rifle. He shot offhand (the least obnoxious way to shoot a hard kicker), and the scope's objective bell whacked him in the eyebrow hard enough to make him bleed, even though it had a rubber ring around it. He bled a little, and somehow insisted it hadn't hurt him. (Eye relief was often very short in many Euro-scopes back then.)

Nobody else volunteered to shoot the .416, which isn't surprising.

People are different.
The MSG in one Dorito snack chip will set off a migraine in some people.
Likely same with the whiff of gunpowder fumes, nitrates and nitrites in food also cause migraines in some.

I suspect it is a cerebral vascular sensitivity to various stimuli that causes the "gun headache."
Concussive sound waves transmitted to vessels in head might be a trigger too, in some folks, not all.
The full blown "concussion syndrome" of brain bouncing off skull need not occur to get a gun headache.
But if it does occur, some folks are more susceptible to that too.
The outsides of our skulls are different.
Some of us have a pronounced inion at the back of the skull, a bony prominence, feel it when petting your favorite hound.
Other folks have smooth skulls at the back.
The pseudo-science of phrenology read bumps on the skull.
Maybe insides of skulls are different too.
Some skulls handle brain bounce better.

I only got gun headache from the likes of +.50-cal sporting rifles and the 12ga From Hell 3.85" rifle with 1400-gr slugs at 1400 fps (no brake) to 1800 fps (with brake),
Those are also the guns that caused a mild electrical shock sensation to run down my arm, from shoulder to trigger hand.
That one is easy to explain as a love tap on the brachial plexus nerves in the shoulder,
not as painful as a "funny bone" contusion of the ulnar nerve.

I am lucky in just not getting headaches.
The only other times I can think of mild headaches I have had is after a punch to my face in a boxing match made me suddenly sit down hard on my butt.
Fight was over, I was 17 y.o. and have not boxed since, just don't have the speed some do.
I am a slow-twitch endurance athlete type.
I am proudest of 2 miles in 9:25 at age 18 y.o., back when I was an inch taller and 60 pounds lighter.

Also, I tried learning to ski at 60 y.o. Bad idea. Bouncing my helmeted head off the ice one time was enough.
Had a mild headache for a few minutes after that too. Never tried skiing again.

Now the real funny:
Mr. buckstix once argued that a steel plate on a shotgun-style butt was excellent on a hard kicker, better than any recoil pad.

I am calling out Mr. buckstix on that. Wrong.

As Bob Mitchell noted, a benchrest pad of high-density foam rubber, cut from a deer stand seat cushion,
would work well on a .577 Tyrannosaur with a steel butt plate.
I use such a sissy pad for benchrest shooting.
The extra LOP it gives also prevents Weatherby Eyebrow, at the benchrest.
Accept the scope's ER and tunnel vision at the benchrest.
Learn and live.

It is having your .450 #2 Nitro Express double on you. That will rock your world

One of the interesting things about doubles "doubling" is the recoil energy is actually four times as much instead of twice as much.

It would be twice as much IF the gun weighed twice as much--but the gun weighs the same, hence the 4x recoil energy.

In general the 9.3x74R, like it's cousin the 9.3x62, is considered a relatively mild-recoiling round for a medium-bore. But I had an 8-pound 9.3x74R side-by-side double for a few years, and one day it doubled when shooting at a target. It felt more like a friend's .505 Gibbs....

A 460 Weatherby was the rifle that made me cry uncle. The owner casually said to me before I tried it "This is the only rifle I have that kills on one end, and maims on the other". I thought he was kidding. He wasn't.

I'm not a stranger to big bore rifles, with a 375H&H and a 458WinMag in my safe, but that Weatherby was just mean...........

Yes, it gave me a headache, a shoulder ache and a sore neck.

Townsend Whelen had the recoil velocity at 15.4 ft/s, which is pretty close to your number!

Catching the scope between the eyes has always worked for me- several times.

30 rounds from my 458 Lott makes a ring.

I believe it was Carmichel that tells of a PH that used a 460 cut down to 18”. Said it was a real joy to be around when it went off!

In my son's senior year he suffered a massive concussion in football, kid he was tackling ducked his head, they met helmet to helmet it was just one of those things that happen. The other kid staggered abut four yds back and popped back up. My kid dropped like a wing shot quail, out like a light for 15 min. Before the "hit" my son shot a lot of heavy waterfowl loads in 12 gauge as in 3 1/2" . After the "hit" he has downsized to 20 gauge. When I asked him about it he said the "big loads" hurt too much, I asked if it was the shoulder, he said no, I get headaches after two or three shots. He used to shoot my Red Hawk .41 mag, now it gives him headaches as M.D. alluded to due to the barrel cylinder gap concussion. So, I have little doubt that heavy kickers do cause physical injury, and furthermore what is defined a heavykicker is totally the perception of the individual shooter.

You make a great case for cumulative TBI and how that can change one's sensitivity to recoil and to subsequent, even milder insults.

It does change the equation and folks have to adjust to their new tolerance level for recoil, noise, etc.

In essence it's a reset of the baseline of what's tolerable and what's not. We need to listen to our bodies...

DF

4 bores can cause them.
4 bore in action by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]

These days since a bad car wreck have pretty much kept me away from shooting anything. A while back I retired most of my harder kicking rifles and have been playing with the 7x57 load to 7-08 levels. In fact, on Jan 2, 2020 when I had my accident, I was on my way to the range to do a final check of the sights on my Winchester M70 7x57 using the 150 gr. Nosler Partition as my elk load. I did plan to also take my .35 Whelen as back up in case pf problems with the M70. Best laid plans.
Probably the cartridge that has hurt me to most is the .338 Win. Mag. I have a .375 H&H, .404 Jeffery and .416 Rigby Ruger #1 rifles that are more or less retired. The two .338 Win. Mags I have are a post 64 M70 and a stainless classic. Either rifle literally slams me back and forth and I hear a "click" inside my head. After a very few shots I get a vicious headache that takes hours to go away. FWIW, the click sounds a lot like a small branch being broken in two. Dunno if that means anything but it tells me to stop shooting that .338 Win. Mag. The Stainless Classic has a 26" Barrel plus 2.5" of muzzle brake and recoil is no different that the 24" barreled post 64 gun. I have no problem shooting an M70 26" barreled .300 Win. mag. Haven't quite figured that one out yet.
Looks like if and when I start shooting again, it'll be stuff like the .223 Rem.,.243, 7x57, .308 and maybe the 30-06. They've never given me any trouble regarding recoil. I'll limit the .35 Whelen to check shots and an actual hunt should I do another elk hunt. I have given thought to the 7x57 as promary and the 30-06 for back up for the elk unt as I usually just go for a cow for meat.
PJ