[TrashPanda]

I thought it would be interesting to see what some people's thoughts are on heavy recoil. Like when does it get to be too much for you to be shooting any given cartridge?

I know there is much more to this like, bullet weight, the load you are shooting, the weight of the rifle, configuration of the stock,etc. But generally speaking, at what cartridge do you think that recoil gets to be too much for you that you are uncomfortable shooting that cartridge?

The largest rifle, recoil wise, that I can recall firing was a .458 WinMag and it was pretty stout to me. I didn't think the .375 Holland I shot was all that bad, but it was headed in that direction and was a heavy rifle, like 11 pounds. Neither was something that I would want to shoot regularly, especially off the bench. And if I did have to pull off a decently long shot with either, the recoil would be on my mind.
I have a .338 WinMag at home that I use a lot. I don't think its too bad and shoot up to a box of shells at the bench with it. So I will say that the .338 Winmag is the biggest rifle cartridge that I will comfortably shoot.
Even at that though, it is much more enjoyable firing lighter cartridges like a .30-06 or 7mm-08.

What is the cartridge that you think is the cutoff, recoil wise, that you comfortably shoot???

 

[Retired_Rusty]

.300 SAV is the largest I have/need in a modern weapons. Every deer I shot with it was a DRT, so I don't feel the need for a larger caliber!

 

[JasonN]

Hard to say for me....so many variables. I owned an A-bolt in 300WSM that was a bear to shoot....near max loads with 180gr pills in a very light rifle. My 444 gets to be a bit much when I'm really driving 325gr plus cast lead but it's still not as bad as the 300 was....and there's no recoil pad on it.

 

[Strut10]

I really haven't found it yet.

I have a BPS 10 ga that isn't much fun. But that's a function of fit for me.

Anything burning 90+ grains of smokeless is going to begin to approach the upper limits of what a lot of folks would call "fun".

I have noticed that there is a learning curve and a break-in period for the shooter. Usually, the first couple/few shots taken out of a mudhole stompin' rifle are the worst.

 

[tpr25]

Mosin Nagant M44 carbine.

Not even remotely fun to shoot, except for massive fireballs.

 

[Laylow]

I think off a bench we would all flinch after shots with larger calibers, but in the heat of battle I never really noticed any recoil. I sighted in a buddy's 300 ulta mag for him since he couldn't take the hit. Off the bench it was a good whack. he shot an elk and never felt a thing.

 

[TRAPJAW]

My rem 700 35 Whelen is pretty stout. With the factory pad I could get about 6 rounds down range before I had to give my shoulder a week to recover. Got a Simms pad now, that gets me to about 12 before the same result. I've decided nothing heavier than that, ever. If it has MAGNUM in the name I'm walking away. Go ahead and call me a wuss, I'm fine with that.

Like laylow said, a lot is the situation and adrenaline. I never noticed the recoil from my double 10ga. One day I took it to the range to pattern and was literally almost knocked off the bench.

 

[GermanHillHunter]

Honestly Im one of those guys that despises recoil. I have a 358 win that I won't shoot anymore. I don't even like shooting my 30-06. I use it for bear though. I'm going to start shooting the 35 rem for bear. I hunt deer with a 250 sav, and a 222. At least for me, when I'm shooting my deer rifles I don't have that thought of recoil and I don't flinch at all at sight in.Those guns are both tack drivers and have killed every deer I ever shot with them without a hiccup.

 

[willyp]

My limit,right now,is the 30-06. I may go back to my 308 Win.but it isn't much different in recoil than an 06?

 

[aubie515]

Suppressor is what you seek, OP.

Suppressors not only save your hearing, but it reduces recoil and muffs the muzzle flash.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I absolutely hate recoil. I shoot black powder guns in part due to reduced recoil. Years back, I went to a Black Powder silhouetter competition near Shippensburg. I took an original trapdoor springfield and took 50 rounds of freshly loaded cartridges with 500 grain bullets loaded a bit beyond normal OAL so that the bullet would be pressed into the rifling as the action was closed. I fired about 40 rounds and did fair in the match. My arm was black and blue from the collar bone to the elbow for a week. From all the stock slapping, I had a black and blue mark on my lower cheek where my fingers kept jamming back into my cheek from the recoil. That was enough. Fortunately, I was never cursed with "scope eye". However, I have seen it happen to others a few times.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

About a famous African hunter. "He was a rifleman icon and a valued expert in firearms. Early in his hunting career, in the mid-1870s, Selous favoured a four bore black powder muzzleloader for killing elephant, a 13 lb short-barreled musket firing a quarter-pound bullet at with as much as 20 drams (540 grains) of black powder, one of the largest hunting caliber fabricated, literally a small hand cannon. He could wield it even from horseback. Between 1874 and 1876 he slew exactly seventy-eight elephants with that gun, but eventually there was a double loading incident together with other recoil problems from it, and he finally gave it up as too "upsetting my nerve".

 

[jimsdad]

I can shoot a 30/06 or an 8mm all day, but offhand - not off the bench. The largest weapon I ever fired was a .375 H&H and after 4 shots it was abusive. Oh wait, there was that 3.5 Rocket launcher I fired while not having a good hold on it

.

 

[Strut10]

It becomes obvious fairly quickly that there are as many answers to this topic as there are posters.

Recoil, in itself, is objective. There is a mathematical formula. It's physics......pure and simple. Recoil TOLERANCE, however, is as subjective as the day is long.

I have seen grown men refuse to even pull the trigger on rifles that an 11 year old boy snuggled into the bench and begged for more ammo. To each his own. I don't see a guy who can't tolerate a .300 Mag as a wuss. On the flip side, a fellow who'll run a box of .458 Mag from the bench in a T-shirt as a hero, either. Just is what it is....

 

[huntined]

I have a 458Win Mag I shoot a lot but only about 10 to 15 rounds at one time at the range. My buddies have 338Win mags that are nice to shoot a box of shells thought. That being said, the worst recoiling gun I have is a light weight 3.5 inch 12ga pump. That thing is brutal with heavy goose loads.

 

[northwoods]

My .338 mag is sharp but bearable, and +P loads out of my 45-70 are stout ,but the rem 700 in 300 ultra mag 180 gr loads were absolutely brutal to me off the bench. 338 win mag is about my comfortable limit, but never had the chance to shoot anything like a .375h&h or a 458 win mag.

 

[Peck Hill Will]

I am good to shoot my .30-06 for 20 shots working up loads. I don't care for much more than that, and have no need for more than that. I do notice that I handle recoil better when I am shooting often-like every weekend. Haven't done that in a few years.

Will

 

[6-DASHER]

My 7mm mag is about it, the .338 is misery !

 

[Gunnermhr]

Recoil I believe is something you can "train" yourself to become tolorant of. The more often you shoot the more you can comfortably handle. When I shot trap and skeet it it was nothing to shoot 250 rounds in an evening, for sure the first time out if you did that you'd be black and blue from front to back.

Obviously that doesn't apply to everything, you're not going to shoot a 50 Cal without a break. I had a 375 H&H that after the 3rd shot you realized how much recoil it really was. I have a 300 Tomahawk, 300 RUM improved that I refuse to shoot without a break.

Maybe the best answer is whatever you can shoot that doesn't create bad habits and flinching. If if causes you to do those things it's too much recoil. Some that can mean a 243 and others a 460 weatherby. Which by the way isn't very much fun to shoot at all.

A 50 Cal on the other hand is like surviving a car wreck, first when it goes off you see a white flash, providing you don't anticipate the shot and close your eyes when you squeeze the trigger, then all becomes dark for a split second, after you realize what happened you need to stretch your face because of the concussion from the rearward facing break. Those who have shot one understand exactly what I'm describing, those that haven't need to experience it at least once. I don't own one but every time I get the opertunity to shoot one I do. Felt recoil is very tolerable

 

[aubie515]

It all depends on what 50 cal you are talking about...50BMG is very mild if you have an effective brake or suppressor.

Once again you people should look into suppressors. I know this forum is a bit dated, but suppressors really do assist with many things and recoil is one of those things.

Recoil I believe is something you can "train" yourself to become tolorant of. The more often you shoot the more you can comfortably handle. When I shot trap and skeet it it was nothing to shoot 250 rounds in an evening, for sure the first time out if you did that you'd be black and blue from front to back.

Obviously that doesn't apply to everything, you're not going to shoot a 50 Cal without a break. I had a 375 H&H that after the 3rd shot you realized how much recoil it really was. I have a 300 Tomahawk, 300 RUM improved that I refuse to shoot without a break.

Maybe the best answer is whatever you can shoot that doesn't create bad habits and flinching. If if causes you to do those things it's too much recoil. Some that can mean a 243 and others a 460 weatherby. Which by the way isn't very much fun to shoot at all.

A 50 Cal on the other hand is like surviving a car wreck, first when it goes off you see a white flash, providing you don't anticipate the shot and close your eyes when you squeeze the trigger, then all becomes dark for a split second, after you realize what happened you need to stretch your face because of the concussion from the rearward facing break. Those who have shot one understand exactly what I'm describing, those that haven't need to experience it at least once. I don't own one but every time I get the opertunity to shoot one I do. Felt recoil is very tolerable