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

Had a co-worker back in the early 90s who picked up a Sako
mannlicher carbine in 375 for practically nothing, he didnt
keep it very long.

Got in a hurry reloading my CVA .54 cal carbine and shot the ramrod out of it with a 425 gr buffalo bullet chasing it down the barrel backed with 80 grains of pyrodex. That [bleep]' really, really hurt! Thank God the gun stayed together.

Another vote for the 3.5" 12 here. Buckshot seemed to hurt the worst.

a 7.5lb 338 LM.... shot it twice. First round hurt like a bastard... second round made my arm go numb for a half hour... It was my fathers and all he did was call me a puzzy afterwards... though he didn't bother shooting it and sold it not long after.

Only other one was a Savage 110 in 243... that POS bruised the chit out of me...

I was about 13 years old and weighted about 135 lb's. Shot a 300 Weatherby off the shooting bench.

A lightweight 505 Gibbs, it made my 416 Remington I shot next feel like a 22..............dj

.500 A-Square. Ordered one for a customer along with a bunch of A-Square 600 gr loads. They didn't have properly stamped brass at the time and were using necked up .460 Wby. brass. The customer, being an anal sort, decided to just shoot up all the ammo in order to have it properly fireformed to his chamber and like a moron, I agreed to help. Over the course of a couple days, I shot about 60 rounds...not fun.

Actually the worst pain I ever experienced firing a gun was with a cheap, Spanish built 12ga hammer gun that someone had cut the stock off to form a pistol grip. He brought it in wanting to sell it on consignment and I had to make sure it functioned ok before I took it in. I took it back on the range, loaded both barrels, cocked both hammers and fired it from the hip. Both barrels fired at the same time and one of the hammers ripped my shirt and dug deep into my side. Blood spurted and I let loose with a flurry of obscenities. Still have the scar.

One of the first rifles I bought for myself as a young adult, A real pretty Wby mark V delux in 460 Wby. I found on the used rack at a little gun shop in Aberdeen. I fired about 5 factoy rounds through it and that was all I could take. At the shot I seen a white flash and was knocked silly for a minute. I traded in a nice 300wby and still gave a weeks pay for that rifle, then took it back to the shop I bought it to trade in on another rifle, the shop owner took pity on a 19 yr old kid and gave me my old rifle and money back.

Was looking at a 6 lb Rem KS in 375 for sale today and then saw this thread. Someone's looking out for me.

I shot two boxes of shells through a Stoeger 12 ga. with a stock that fit me poorly and had my right cheekbone so swollen that I couldn't see out of my eye. Felt like I'd been in a heck of a beatdown after that one.

As for rifles I've never shot any big boomers but I did experience some pain from a lightweight Browning A-bolt in 7mm Remington Magnum once. I walked up to a whitetail buck I'd shot in the neck from about 175 yards away thinking he was dead. I had the rifle in my right hand as I was finishing taking my backpack off my left shoulder. As I approached from behind the buck used the last drop of life in him to suddenly lunge forward. I instinctively flipped off the tang safety and finished him off "Rifleman style" wielding that light 7 mag like a pistol. That is something I will NEVER EVER do again! It's amazing how much combination recoil and muzzle flip a gun like that creates without something solid holding it back.

A 378 wm, and a ruger 338.

I reworked some Hornady .458 500 grain round nose bullets to flat points to try in my Marlin 45-70 and worked up to the top loads listed for the Marlin. It was slightly less than enjoyable from the bench. Offhand didn't really bother me much with them. They shot awesome by the way but I went back to my Remington 405's at 1750 fps. Much more enjoyable to shoot.

I do remember a round of skeet with an Ithaca 37 Featherweight 16 gauge and the only ammo in town was a box of 1 1/4 ounce 7 1/2's. My buddies shooting with me said my head looked like a high speed bobble doll. I recall I didn't make my best score ever on that round.

The only gun to ever give me a flinch was a Freedom Arms 454 Casull whose owner was loading substantial loads, even by Casull standards. One cylinder full and I was very flinchy with handguns for about 6 months. I had to start over again with a 22 and work my way back up to where I wasn't flinching any more. I still don't shoot a handgun as well as I did before that day.

Mart

tang safety Ruger 77 in 338 WM with a 250 gr. Sierra spitzer or Mossberg 835 with 3.5" turkey load. Ruger's long gone but the Mossberg's still around because it 'reaches right out there'.


270

I can identify with that one! Another 'worst' for me was with my CRESCENT SHAPED STEEL buttplate equipped 54 Caliber Lyman Great Plains rifle. Only the top and bottom 'points' of the buttplate contacted my rather substaintial shoulder. Took it out for its first sight in and loaded up 120grs of 2F behind a 500 and some odd grain conical bullet. OUCH! Those steel tips on that crescent buttplate dug/created 2 brand new armpits for me. Another "Never do THAT again" type of personal revelation.

Marty my freind, you are forgetting your attempt to do in a coyote a few deer seasons ago along the snake river breaks with your then brand new 300 H&H Inquiring minds need to hear that story! <G>

1) .300 Weatherby MKV with the 24 inch lighter option barrel.

2) .450 Alaskan Winchester 71 conversion, cast bullet 80% load.

M77R 338 WM

Make that a plastic stocked, rifle sighted NEF with 3 1/2 inch turkey loads. Damn!

Winchester 1886 extra-light with a stout 45-70 GOVT load. Love steel butt-plates!

378Roy shooting a HOT load of 270's in a Mark V Deluxe. Not fun