Recoil...the worst?

[300WSM]

All this recoil talk from my 30-378 post to someone talking 45-70 and 450 marlin ....had me curious as to what some of the worst you folks have shot.

I've shot all the weatherby rifles with no brake minus the 378 and 460 and many upon many other canons...458 win mag...

the worst one for me was a lever in 450 marlin. Maybe it was the angle of the rifle but that thing was the worst rifle I ever squeezed the trigger from. I'm a healthy 240 lb dude and no rifle ever bothered me badly. That thing was rough. Afterward I remember thinking damn that was a kicking thing. I've never felt that way about a rifle. .458 win mag to a 340 weatherby mark V. I've shot a .458 Lott and none of them booted me as hard as that lever 450 marlin.

 

[Guy Miner]

A .450 Ackley magnum - on a Winchester Model 70, built for a fellow several inches shorter than me.

That thing cleared my sinuses! :grin: It was tougher than any .50 BMG rifle I've shot, but the .50's all had huge muzzle brakes. Not the .450 Ackley... It was loaded with 500 gr bullets in the 2300 - 2400 fps range. Pretty stout.

You're right though - a stout loaded .45/70 or .450 Marlin kicks pretty good. Light rifles and quite an angle to the stock. Not the greatest for coping with heavy recoil. My strongest kicking .45/70 loads featured a 425 gr cast bullet at about 1950 fps. It was okay, but not something I wanted to sit down and shoot all afternoon!

The .375 H&H Number One is a peach in comparison.

Guy

 

[nvbroncrider]

Well I know one I'd never want to be close to is the .975 JDJ. That is brutal watching it. As for one I've shot a Savage 99 carbine in 308 weighs about 5 1/4 with an 18" barrel metal butt plate and it definitely wakes you up. I'll shoot 250's all day outta my 338 and won't be sore but anything more than 8 or 9 outta that Savage and I don't want no more.

 

[1Shot]

The worst kicking gun I have ever fired and I have fired some of the big bores already mentioned is a Remington 870 shotgun with composite stock with 3 1/2" 2 oz #4 turkey loads. I just had to have one when they first came out. It was my Christmas gift to me. I had on a t-shirt and heavy shirt with a M-65 field jacket with the heavy liner in it on. I went out to a field in front of the house with a box and some targets to she how it patterned. I set the box up and sat down on the ground and braced my arms on my knees. At the first shot it rolled me over on my back and I am 6' 2" and weigh 210. After 5 shots even with the heavy clothing I had to quit because my shoulder had taken enough. I know a guy in NC that deer hunts with a gun just like mine with buck shot for deer. He says that he will not shoot any more doe because it is just not worth the punishment. LOL I put a Sims recoil pad on and use a .665 ported choke and it helped tame some of the recoil.

 

[Dr. Vette]

The worst kicking gun I have ever fired and I have fired some of the big bores already mentioned is a Remington 870 shotgun with composite stock with 3 1/2" 2 oz #4 turkey loads.

I was going to say the same thing.
So far no rifle has kicked or hurt as much as 12 gauge with turkey loads.

I'd rather shoot my unbraked 340 Wby than pattern my turkey gun. Of course, having said that, I have not shot our 338-378 without a brake. :shock:

 

[Thebear_78]

My 375 RUM with the scope detached weighs in at 6 lbs 5 oz and before I put the vias break on it it was uncomfortable to shoot. Especially from the bench. Scoped its 7 lbs 10 oz and still very brisk without the break. Managable but still impressive, scope detached is more than I liked though, with the vias break it is still quite "peppy" but much better than it was.

270gr TSX @ 3000fps

 

[Mortis]

Now this is a bit odd.... but a 300WSM when I had torn muscles in my shoulder was terrible.... topped off with a 45-70 a couple hours later.

But the worse smack I ever got came from a 7mm-08 Browning Micro-Medallion. A 160 grain projo loaded hot. But it was my fault..... I was shooting mid-power 140's earlier and did not hunker down into the rifle..... caught me high up on the bones instead of in the pocket.... hurt like the dickens.

I'm not a recoil freak.....but not gonna tempt providence either...

 

[FOTIS]

378 wby 270 factory at 3220 fps....no MB!

 

[FOTIS]

The worst kicking gun I have ever fired and I have fired some of the big bores already mentioned is a Remington 870 shotgun with composite stock with 3 1/2" 2 oz #4 turkey loads.

YUP that one hurts like hell also~

 

[Kodiak]

The worst kicking gun I have ever fired and I have fired some of the big bores already mentioned is a Remington 870 shotgun with composite stock with 3 1/2" 2 oz #4 turkey loads.

YUP that one hurts like hell also~

I use that same shotgun and load to shoot the turkey, no extra shooting :roll:

 

[HTDUCK]

Mine was a 300 Win Mag Browning ABolt.
I'm not a big guy, 5'11'' and 170 lbs. Not recoil shy at all.
For some reason that rifle slapped the daylights out of me. Three rounds from the bench and I had a headache.
Gave it to my brother who had a brake put on it.

I duck and goose hunt alot too and often shoot a Browning Gold 10 ga.
First hunt I took it on we were hunting from layout blinds.
I popped up out of the blind and ended up with a goose call between my shoulder and the rear stock.
That hurt so bad Creedmore (who was next to me ) felt it.
He reminded me of it last weekend when we were shooting sporting clays. :mrgreen:

 

[Guy Miner]

"a goose call between my shoulder and the rear stock"

OUCH!

 

[Mortis]

Try a single shot 12 gauge.....no recoil pad and a slug.....

And the moron backed against a tree before he fired it......

Yeah...some of my running mates when I was young were not real bright at times.

 

[FOTIS]

Yikes.

Reminds me of a story. True story!
Guy #1 goes out and buys a new 45-70 stainless guide gun. Cost him about $600. He decides to swap the recoil pad on it to a thicker prefit and takes it out on the range. After the first 2, 3 shots he is literally in massive pain and there is a cut with some minor bleeding in his shoulder pocket. Another shooter (guy #2) goes up to him to see if he is ok and Guy #1 says that the little monster has destroyed his shoulder. Guy #2 said there is something wrong and it should not be doing this. Guy #1 says "I do not care I want to get rid of this thing." Guy #2 says how much and guy #1 said "300.00 and it is yours."
To make a long story short Guy #2 took it home checked it out and after a while removed the forgotten screwdriver bit embedded in the screwdriver hole of the pad.

Gun shoots great even with Garrett loads! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[DrMike]

Yikes.

Reminds me of a story. True story!
Guy #1 goes out and buys a new 45-70 stainless guide gun. Cost him about $600. He decides to swap the recoil pad on it to a thicker prefit and takes it out on the range. After the first 2, 3 shots he is literally in massive pain and there is a cut with some minor bleeding in his shoulder pocket. Another shooter (guy #2) goes up to him to see if he is ok and Guy #1 says that the little monster has destroyed his shoulder. Guy #2 said there is something wrong and it should not be doing this. Guy #1 says "I do not care I want to get rid of this thing." Guy #2 says how much and guy #1 said "300.00 and it is yours."
To make a long story short Guy #2 took it home checked it out and after a while removed the forgotten screwdriver bit embedded in the screwdriver hole of the pad.

Gun shoots great even with Garrett loads! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

A real bargain. :grin:

 

[buckfever]

I would have to say a little single shot 12 gauge was the hardest kicking gun I'v shot it only took one shot to figure out that was enough.

 

[DrMike]

I've shot my share of rifles that produced some recoil. The worst day I ever had was breaking in and testing two 7.82 Warbirds, two 338-378s and a 30-378. At the end of the day, having danced with that crowd, I was wasted. The most vicious rifle I ever shot was a custom rifle a fellow commissioned. It was a 270WSM with a twenty inch barrel and a muzzle brake. How rough can that be? The stock had a very short LOP and the design allowed that rifle to twist every time I torched it off. It broke two sets of ear muffs in one afternoon. The fellow that built it wanted it as a sheep rifle. He was very definite and would accept no recommendations from the gunsmiths or from me. He got what he wanted, and didn't like it after he got it.

 

[BK]

It wasn't necessarily the hardest kicking, but the most painful gun I've shot is a .410 pump (yeah, I know) that I shot a round of trap with. That little demon whacked me in the cheekbone every time I shot it. I looked like I had been training with Mike Tyson when I was done. (I think the fact that I had gone duck hunting that morning and had blasted through a couple of boxes of 3" mag 12 gauge shell might have added to it...)

Well, maybe a 2-1/2" Model 19 Smith with hot-loaded 125gr. JHPs (and tiny factory wood grips) might be up there...

I'm thinking my Rigby is going to be a pussycat in comparison...

 

[Oldtrader3]

The .300 WM A-Bolt is a kicker for sure, worse than the .340 Bee. The worst that I have ever fired was a .378 Weatherby with no brake.

 

[alaska100]

I shot an old 577 N.E. with a 750 gr bullet a few months ago and I have no idea how anyone hunts with one of those things. I also shot a 10 gauge shotgun that is owned by the same fellow and that wasnt fun either. But the most recoil from a firearm that we actually use is the 458 Lott