Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Guns that have made me say OUCH! What say YOU?

a thompson center single shot in .416, i don't know what it is about that stock design but it makes any larger caliber obnoxious. and i already consider the .416 to be obnoxious in ANY rifle.
Never EVER again.

Iver Johnson single shot 20 guage. 3 rounds will bring tears to your eyes and your cheekbone will hurt for a week.

Fired (one time!) a friend's . 308 Norma Mag. Almost dropped the rifle and had a headache for a week.

80 round match with M1 Garand doesn't bother me a bit.

454 Casull, 15" Encore pistol loaded with 300 grain XTP & near max load of VV-N110. Left some pretty good bruising on the hand after a few shots!

An International Arms Semi Auto 12 Gage Shotgun was the one that beat the holy crap out of me, it was spring loaded and every time I shot it it would leave a black and blue mark on my left shoulder and arm. I tried everything to take the bite out of it but it still got me. The only reason I kept it was it shot a real tight pattern and it won more Turkey Shoots than any other shotgun I owned at the time.

When I was about 12 we were back at Grandpa's farm for Thanksgiving. I decided to take his double barreled 12 gauge out after some pheasants for the first time. Finally got one up close enough that I figured I could hit it, pulled up on the bird and touched the trigger. I was instantly aware, as I was being spun around and knocked towards the ground, that being left handed I'd pulled both triggers at close to the same time... The bruise on my shoulder lasted a couple weeks and went from purple, to green, to yellow, to brown... Thought I'd broken my shoulder...

My friend's dad handed us a rifle one time. He said "Hey try out my new gun." Then he handed us a box of 6 rounds labelled either 500 or 600 gr. I can't remember anymore. I said, "What the hell is this?" he had just purchased a used 458 with a very "forgiving" (note the sarcasm) steel butt plate. The two of us went to the range. Loaded up without thinking and I took the first shot. I've never felt pain like that from a gun in my life. My fingernails hurt.

.378Wby..... offda.

Mossberg 835 3.5" magnum, with 3.5" magnum 00 buckshot.

Most painful was an old 16 ga side by side Ithaca that my grandpa had cut down for my 5 foot tall grandma. Had a Covey of quail bust in front of me, pulled up with that and pulled the trigger... both barrels fired with the buttplate about 2 inches from my shoulder.... the thought still hurts!

Worst beating I've taken to date has been with a Handi-Rifle in 45-70. Loaded up some rounds at the Ruger/Marlin pressure levels. [bleep], that hurt.

my dad told me a story about that Iver Johnson 12 gauge once. he let a friend use it when they went duck hunting. his buddy had the gun resting on his thigh and when he went to raise it to take a shot it went off and kicked him in the nuts. my dad had tiers in his eyes he was laughing to so hard telling me about taking his buddy to the ER with his balls swelled up like grape fruits. but seriously that gun was dangerous you could slap the stock hard and it would go off

TC encore with 150grs worth of pellets a 300 gr bullet and one of those heavy aluminum ram rods is a heavy recoiler. No idea how many grains one of those rods weighs but can testify that the recoil is substantial when the rod is fired along with the 300 gr bullet. I know of 5 other guys who fired their ramrods down range I was the only one that got by without stitches.

Weatherby UL in 300Wby.....I don't miss that one!!

So far the worst has been a Marlin 45-70 GG with Garret 420 gr. flat nose death dealers. I thought I broke my cheekbone.

8 bore BP rifle w/ 350gns FFF swiss and a 850gn round ball,
BOOOMMMM-----SH-T.
Gunner

The worst beating I ever took from a long gun was from a 3 1/2" 10ga. H&R shotgun shooting 2 1/4oz. of lead BB's. That has got to be the most rediculous gun ever designed!!! The worst from a handgun was from a S&W 460 shooting full house loads.
I have fired rifles all the way up to 416 Rigby and none were worse than the two above!

Elk Country

Two most memorable kickers in my collection have been a 378Roy that came in(weighed on a laboratory balance) at 9 lbs with scope-that thing with 300gr partitions would thump me pretty good! Next in line was a Benelli M4 shotgun loaded with 3" buckshot loads-that really kicked hard, for some reason.

I guess third place would be my 340 Accumark;with 250 gr partions @2900fps it boots ya pretty good also.

I still have the 340, so I guess I haven't entirely learned my lesson.

Ruger #1 in 458 win mag, if I had been alone I think I would have cried!!! When I pulled the trigger it actually dazed me for a couple of seconds.. Never again....

I've never tried to shoulder shoot a punt gun!

My 50 cal. Lyman GPR will bite my shoulder with just 70 grains of 3fg. I load 60 grains for target shooting and wear a PAST pad for hunting loads. The but plate on those rifles is designed to hurt you!

The hardest kicking thing I will shoot on purpose is my 870 three inch mag loaded with 2 ounce turkey loads. Even with a good recoil pad and three ounces of lead added to the stock, it's more than I enjoy.

The worst beating I ever took from a gun was goose hunting in rice fields with my Red Label and three inch magnum loads. It was fun the first day.

1) 870 12 gauge with 3" magnums with shotgun fired almost vertical.

2) Weatherby Mark V .300 WM with a 24" light contour barrel.......
sighted in in 3 shots for a friend.

3) Winchester M71 .450 Alaskan fired with 400 grain cast bullet
medium loads.
4) M70 .30 Gibbs, Winchester factory low comb stock and factory butt plate.
This rifle now has a laminated stock/decelerator pad.

The biggest kicker I got is a Ruger RSM in 458 Lott. I'm good for about 20 rounds max before I start getting punchy and have to put it away.

My 475 NE double is a bit short for me and when I use the rear trigger I tend to get a mouthful of the back of my thumb. But it's not that bad a kicker. Just need to get a lace on butt extender.