Big bore recoil

[Jamie D Van Roekel]

I have been shooting 3 in. Slugs for many moons out a 870 and 11-87. The recoil out of my 375 RUM and Rigby with high pressure loads are a pussy cat compared to the slugs. A shotgun is meant to be pointed not aimed, so the fit is designed that way. I feel the felt recoil to the shoulder, chin, cheek bone, and neck are much more comfortable with a rifle.

 

[Nhoro]

My 13 and 11 year old sons have shot a 458 win mag. Then a month or so later were at it again fireforming some brass for a friend. They seem to be eager for more ! There is a good thump and it is not painless but I am not really scared to shoot my Lott but I do need to concentrate on the fundamentals. A flinch is the usual effect of heavy recoil not pain or damage to your body

 

[uplander01]

My experience has been that a regular guy that has done a fair bit of shooting in his life can handle about 60-70 or so ft lbs of thump without getting to weirded out, its when you get into the 80's and 90's that it really gets your attention. I've been re-introducing a 470 NE and 500J into my arsenal and it does take some getting used to. Pays dividends to get ahold of a Evo Shield recoil shirt , makes it possible to shoot a lot in one session with no sensitivity. Without the recoil protection on my shoulder I'm done after about 10 rounds of either one. I played football for a lot of years so my upper back and shoulders have seen better days. Key for me is good firm pressure sat all contact points and concentrate, it takes practice.

 

[Sabattiboy]

My experience has been that a regular guy that has done a fair bit of shooting in his life can handle about 60-70 or so ft lbs of thump without getting to weirded out, its when you get into the 80's and 90's that it really gets your attention. I've been re-introducing a 470 NE and 500J into my arsenal and it does take some getting used to. Pays dividends to get ahold of a Evo Shield recoil shirt , makes it possible to shoot a lot in one session with no sensitivity. Without the recoil protection on my shoulder I'm done after about 10 rounds of either one. I played football for a lot of years so my upper back and shoulders have seen better days. Key for me is good firm pressure sat all contact points and concentrate, it takes practice.

I've never been one to back away from recoil but getting hammered too many times in one session is bound to create a hard to get rid of flinch. I have one myself. I can usually get the first bbl off on target with my 500 NE DR but have to make a fake run at the second trigger several times before I can get it off on target. This might not be a problem in a DG situation where my attention is focused but it is not good to count on that.
I watched a guy at the range one day and he was shooting a 375 RUM and 204 Ruger. On a range break I ask if he was going to hunt. He said he had a bear tag. He shot the 204 then threw in a 375 RUM now and then to keep from getting trained by the heavy recoil of the 375 RUM. I thought that was pretty smart.

 

[Tanks]

...
I watched a guy at the range one day and he was shooting a 375 RUM and 204 Ruger. On a range break I ask if he was going to hunt. He said he had a bear tag. He shot the 204 then threw in a 375 RUM now and then to keep from getting trained by the heavy recoil of the 375 RUM. I thought that was pretty smart.

That is how I train. Shoot a small bore first concentrating on fundamentals. Then, the big bore and finish with the small bore again.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Big bore recoil, for me, causes euphoria and a desperate desire to empty my wallet in search of more ammo and bigger guns. Then I joined the big bore addiction group on AH…but they tend to fuel the addiction

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

A good example of how recoil is managed:
Watch a young girl who has never shot a shotgun, shoot the 12 gauge that the stock is to long she has no proper idea on how to hold the shotgun so she goes into what I call the pregnant woman stance of course her head is up in the air stock probably resting against her upper arm. Bang, we know what happens and the father laughs.

Then you have the junior trap shooter, who shoots 25 to 100rds. with a shotgun that properly fits them and they have learned how to stance with cheek to the stock. Bang-dead bird!

 

[SFRanger7GP]

The bench is the worst place to shoot any hard kicking firearm. I have shot on a lot of ranges and without exception. all have benches and chairs that were obviously not designed for any body style on this planet. When I was a kid working at a big range in Texas, John Wooters and some of his buddies showed up at our range to shoot prior to going on safari in Africa. John Wooters asked me to bring him sandbags until he told me to stop. He stacked them up on the bench making a big U wall until he could shoot standing up. He let me shoot his 416 Rigby and told me had I shot it from the bench, I could have developed an incurable flinch.

Safe shooting.

 

[WAB]

The double gun regulators shoot from a standing bench. I’ve shot from H&H’s bench in London. It’s every bit as solid as a sitting bench, but allows your body to absorb recoil like you’re shouting from sticks. It’s a mystery to me why this isn’t the standard bench configuration.

 

[PARA45]

@WAB, do you happen to have a picture of the standing bench?

 

[Beck]

The .458 Lott will be roughly 80-90 ft. lb. of felt recoil, depending on the weight of the rifle. A twelve gauge is usually somewhere in the 50's. With the exception of my .470, all of my big rifles are magna ported. Many people may disagree with this decision for fear of hurting their PH's ears - I consistently hunt with one PH, and I have asked if the noise bothers him - "It's your job to shoot straight, it's my job to take care of my ears" - The recoil relief helps me shoot more accurately - plus I don't have enough brain cells left to shoot that .450 rigby without some recoil reduction.

Note the magna port people do very nice work, return the rifles quickly, and the porting makes a noticeable difference

Just my two cents

 

[SFRanger7GP]

I bought one of the MTM standing benches and it was not very stable.

 

[Daniel Cary]

I've posted this before, but .. I had almost pooled lividity surrounding the top & back of the shoulder, post 9 shots.

 

[WAB]

@WAB, do you happen to have a picture of the standing bench?

No, it is U shaped with a high front, padded all around. You step into it and your arms and the rifle are rested in the padded U. It is rock solid.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

A Google search produced the following:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.sportsmansguide.com%2Fadimgs%2Fl%2F1%2F161103_ts.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FNIWaKKMFWog%2Fhqdefault.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsecureservercdn.net%2F166.62.110.72%2Fjg3.ca7.myftpupload.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2FMTM-High-Low-Shooting-Table-HLST_02.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1

I use the MTM shown in the center photo. It is cheap and effective.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

The MTM has pretty much been replaced for my shooting with the 2-point rest African Shoot Sticks from a site sponsor, @African Sporting Creations:

Fly's Eye® Tripod Shooting Sticks

Check out the deal on Fly's Eye® Tripod Shooting Sticks at African Sporting Creations

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[BourbonTrail]

I've posted this before, but .. I had almost pooled lividity surrounding the top & back of the shoulder, post 9 shots.

View attachment 460596

Which caliber were you using?

 

[WyoBull]

I have the Primos Jim Shockey Edition tripod shooting sticks. You seem them being used frequently in Africa nowadays.
While I don't own a big bore, when I go to the range I shoot my 375 H&H off the sticks to practice for real life hunting.
The only time I have shot it from the bench was when I zeroed it for 100 yards.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Read Kevin Robertson's book Africa's Most Dangerous. In that you can compare the felt recoil vs. the knockdown power of all popular DG cartridges (9.3 up to .700 NE I believe.)

 

[Nhoro]

I've posted this before, but .. I had almost pooled lividity surrounding the top & back of the shoulder, post 9 shots.

View attachment 460596

I have had a shoulder look like that after 14 shots with a 458 win mag. But other times I have had no mark at all. I think sometimes you just burst a particular blood vessel and it looks terrible. Mine didn't hurt much.