Big bore recoil

[Daniel Cary]

Reading all these comments has me excited to try my Ruger No. 1 in 450 No2 NE. I can imagine it will feel like being back on the Rugby pitch. Should have it and be ready to put it through the paces in a couple weeks.

That's a beautiful No.1

 

[ET1775]

That's a beautiful No.1

Thank you, the one I have already is the .375 H&H. The .450 No2 NE 3 1/2" is in stainless. Still at the gunsmith.

 

[Daniel Cary]

Always wanted one. Since the age of accountability, I've considered it one of the finest looking. I'll never claim to know much, however. Recoil: We recorded 1sts with the 470's 500's, bad form, flinching, etc. it's okay.

The 500 Jeffery, however. As much as I'll perceive it as instinctive, in practice I'm still taken back. No matter how controlled or measured I may feel, there is an expectation.

9lbs & 10lbs though. Considered light in the shorts.

 

[cajunchefray]

Shooting the .500 Jeffery, you have to "lean into it" a bit. As our South African brethren would say, "give shoulder". Left foot forward, a firm but not tight grip, and roll with it.

I am interested what @IvW knows is the proper stance and method for using a .500 Jeffery.

 

[Daniel Cary]

Shooting the .500 Jeffery, you have to "lean into it" a bit. As our South African brethren would say, "give shoulder". Left foot forward, a firm but not tight grip, and roll with it.

I am interested what @IvW knows is the proper stance and method for using a .500 Jeffery.

It really took a lot of years in practice & NA to acclimate with, the cartridge is astonishing. But the stories members have shared with the Jeffery & encounters along the way has been an intrigue in itself.

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[Ontario Hunter]

It really took a lot of years in practice & NA to acclimate with, the cartridge is astonishing. But the stories members have shared with the Jeffery & encounters along the way has been an intrigue in itself.

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I must say I would be hesitant to arm myself with a dangerous game rifle that can put me literally off my feet if I don't take care to position myself affirmatively before firing. Many times (make that countless times) I have nearly went over when firing a twelve gauge at pheasants that erupted unexpectedly and I was either on the wrong foot or feet tangled in grass. My ten pound Browning A5 auto undoubtedly has significantly less recoil than a 500 Jeffery rifle. So, the question comes to mind: is there such a thing as too much gun?

 

[CoElkHunter]

I must say I would be hesitant to arm myself with a dangerous game rifle that can put me literally off my feet if I don't take care to position myself affirmatively before firing. Many times (make that countless times) I have nearly went over when firing a twelve gauge at pheasants that erupted unexpectedly and I was either on the wrong foot or feet tangled in grass. My ten pound Browning A5 auto undoubtedly has significantly less recoil than a 500 Jeffery rifle. So, the question comes to mind: is there such a thing as too much gun?

"My TEN pound Browning A5"? 10lbs?, what's a matter with you! LOL I ditched my 8.2lb Remington 11-87 for a 7.2lb Remington V3 semi auto. MUCH nicer carrying all day when hunting pheasants.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

"My TEN pound Browning A5"? 10lbs?, what's a matter with you! LOL I ditched my 8.2lb Remington 11-87 for a 7.2lb Remington V3 semi auto. MUCH nicer carrying all day when hunting pheasants.

I have a history of multiple retina detachments. The weight mitigates recoil. Carrying a bit of weight is good exercise. Won't be getting much exercise in the field if I'm blind. Besides the health factor, I swing a heavy shotgun better than a light one.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I must say I would be hesitant to arm myself with a dangerous game rifle that can put me literally off my feet if I don't take care to position myself affirmatively before firing. Many times (make that countless times) I have nearly went over when firing a twelve gauge at pheasants that erupted unexpectedly and I was either on the wrong foot or feet tangled in grass. My ten pound Browning A5 auto undoubtedly has significantly less recoil than a 500 Jeffery rifle. So, the question comes to mind: is there such a thing as too much gun?

I used to shoot a Browning pump in 10 gauge and those heavy 2 1/2 oz loads of @ or BB really kicked my butt my CZ550 in 458 is much nicer

 

[Philip Glass]

Let me start by saying that I am an absolute novice with big bore rifles. I can shoot a 300wm or 8x68S all day without problems but recently got a chance to shoot a friend's .458 winchester with a 500 gr bullet and it felt like a truck had smashed into my shoulder after just one shot. I am, however, also quite intruiged by the 40 calibers and have always wanted a 404J, 416 Rigby or even the 458 win truck. So I have two questions. 1) can recoil management be "learned" and improved? 2) How do those three cartridges compare recoil wise? All things being equal that is, I realise weight and stock fit etc play a massive role as well. Would appreciate your insights.

I was just like you. Very recoil averse. I decided I was going to hunt DG and had to get over that. Many different guns and lots of practice Are what it takes. Get a shoulder pad and make sure you are shooting rifles that fit your length of pull. Get with an AH'er in your area and shoot some of their rifles. Most of us are here to help if we can.

 

[serdog]

With talk of fit. About how much are we talking to get a custom fit stock? I thinking of something in the .375,.404,.416 class and I am hyper aware of fit so just wondering the price tag after all we are talking a gun for use on a $15k hunt (plus with Bison and Moose in Gizz country it not like it will be a safe Queen). I don't care about nice wood it will be a working gun that going to get it knocks on old mining roads looking for Moose

 

[Daniel Cary]

I must say I would be hesitant to arm myself with a dangerous game rifle that can put me literally off my feet if I don't take care to position myself affirmatively before firing. Many times (make that countless times) I have nearly went over when firing a twelve gauge at pheasants that erupted unexpectedly and I was either on the wrong foot or feet tangled in grass. My ten pound Browning A5 auto undoubtedly has significantly less recoil than a 500 Jeffery rifle. So, the question comes to mind: is there such a thing as too much gun?

I attest! .. suffered an injury with a shotgun, landed on my thumb. I couldn't recall or recreate how or what in the world happened? Life.

 

[Daniel Cary]

With talk of fit. About how much are we talking to get a custom fit stock? I thinking of something in the .375,.404,.416 class and I am hyper aware of fit so just wondering the price tag after all we are talking a gun for use on a $15k hunt (plus with Bison and Moose in Gizz country it not like it will be a safe Queen). I don't care about nice wood it will be a working gun that going to get it knocks on old mining roads looking for Moose

I've never been fit. From new rifles, 2nd hand, or customs. I can tell what's feels a little short, etc. I thought a Ruger was damaged, it was cosmetic. The cost for a custom stock for the particular model would've been 5 fold the worth.

What rifle are you looking at? I'm sure someone can help from there.

 

[Puddle]

I used to shoot a Browning pump in 10 gauge and those heavy 2 1/2 oz loads of @ or BB really kicked my butt my CZ550 in 458 is much nicer

My dad was a big believer in practical experience as the best education.

We were out shooting jack rabbits when he handed me the 12-gauge double barrel. I swung that shotgun and managed to double it on my first try, and at 11 years old it promptly planted me on my butt. Walking up to me grinning, my dad asked if the shotgun was still ok.

It took more than a little while to work out that flinch...

 

[Ontario Hunter]

With talk of fit. About how much are we talking to get a custom fit stock? I thinking of something in the .375,.404,.416 class and I am hyper aware of fit so just wondering the price tag after all we are talking a gun for use on a $15k hunt (plus with Bison and Moose in Gizz country it not like it will be a safe Queen). I don't care about nice wood it will be a working gun that going to get it knocks on old mining roads looking for Moose

Most adjustment is in length of pull (distance between trigger and butt of stock). As often as not the problem is LOP is too short. If not concerned about cosmetics, a quick solution is slip-on recoil pad. However, avoid the squishy soft ones (e.g. Limsaver). They collapse too easily during recoil and can cause trigger guard to whack your index finger. Also, soft sided recoil pads don't stay put on the rifle. For LOP that is too long (e.g. shooters who are short and/or have short arms) the solution is shortening the stock. That can be more complicated. Requires some skill with shop equipment or a gunsmith.

How much to alter a gun for proper fit? Really, for a rifle it's less critical than for a shotgun used for wingshooting. However, for a hard recoiling, quick acquisition rifle used to shoot dangerous game it may be critical. The test I use for a shotgun is mount the shotgun quickly and shoot at the patterning board. If the pattern is high, the stock needs to be lengthened. And vice versa. For a rifle I would suggest removing the scope and doing the following: close eyes, mount the gun, open shooting eye and see where the barrel is positioned. If looking up the barrel (e.g. front sight is high), then the stock is too short. This is the typical misfit resulting in sharp recoil. Or the comb may be too high. The latter might require significantly altering the stock. Be aware that adding a scope will require lifting your head for acquisition. If the stock is too straight, the shooter may have a tendency to position the butt too low on the shoulder when acquiring the scope. Then recoil causes it to jump into his face rather than push the shoulder. It's why I choose low scope rings. I want to be sure I'm down on the gun when it's fired. Keeps the butt high on my shoulder. Another trick is to adjust scope eye relief so that it requires a tight fit to the shoulder to acquire full field of view. I adjusted eye relief on my heavy recoil 404J by sliding scope in the rings to where full view was automatic when I mounted the gun quickly. Marked a spot on the tube with colored pencil then moved the scope ahead just a bit, leveled, and tightened screws. A compulsory tighter fit to the shoulder is good for helping mitigate recoil for most big game situations. Perhaps not so much for dangerous game where full view acquisition is required very quickly. For those guns get a long eye relief scope and deal with recoil in other ways. Which is what I have done. New "tactical" scope should be here next week. I don't shoot the gun enough for it to make me jumpy so recoil mitigation has never been an issue. Getting my one remaining good eye bashed with the scope was the issue.

 

[Tanks]

... I adjusted eye relief on my heavy recoil 404J ...

Heavy recoil .404J

I guess it is all relative.

 

[Daniel Cary]

Most adjustment is in length of pull (distance between trigger and butt of stock). As often as not the problem is LOP is too short. If not concerned about cosmetics, a quick solution is slip-on recoil pad. However, avoid the squishy soft ones (e.g. Limsaver). They collapse too easily during recoil and can cause trigger guard to whack your index finger. Also, soft sided recoil pads don't stay put on the rifle. For LOP that is too long (e.g. shooters who are short and/or have short arms) the solution is shortening the stock. That can be more complicated. Requires some skill with shop equipment or a gunsmith.

How much to alter a gun for proper fit? Really, for a rifle it's less critical than for a shotgun used for wingshooting. However, for a hard recoiling, quick acquisition rifle used to shoot dangerous game it may be critical. The test I use for a shotgun is mount the shotgun quickly and shoot at the patterning board. If the pattern is high, the stock needs to be lengthened. And vice versa. For a rifle I would suggest removing the scope and doing the following: close eyes, mount the gun, open shooting eye and see where the barrel is positioned. If looking up the barrel (e.g. front sight is high), then the stock is too short. This is the typical misfit resulting in sharp recoil. Or the comb may be too high. The latter might require significantly altering the stock. Be aware that adding a scope will require lifting your head for acquisition. If the stock is too straight, the shooter may have a tendency to position the butt too low on the shoulder when acquiring the scope. Then recoil causes it to jump into his face rather than push the shoulder. It's why I choose low scope rings. I want to be sure I'm down on the gun when it's fired. Keeps the butt high on my shoulder. Another trick is to adjust scope eye relief so that it requires a tight fit to the shoulder to acquire full field of view. I adjusted eye relief on my heavy recoil 404J by sliding scope in the rings to where full view was automatic when I mounted the gun quickly. Marked a spot on the tube with colored pencil then moved the scope ahead just a bit, leveled, and tightened screws. A compulsory tighter fit to the shoulder is good for helping mitigate recoil for most big game situations. Perhaps not so much for dangerous game where full view acquisition is required very quickly. For those guns get a long eye relief scope and deal with recoil in other ways. Which is what I have done. New "tactical" scope should be here next week. I don't shoot the gun enough for it to make me jumpy so recoil mitigation has never been an issue. Getting my one remaining good eye bashed with the scope was the issue.

Good write up, thank you. I've often wondered why some used rifles would have such a significant Drop, comb-heel.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Heavy recoil .404J

I guess it is all relative.

When your retinas start falling apart, your theories on relativity will fall apart too. Been there. You better know the symptoms. All the money in the world won't buy you new retinas if you wreck what you have. I can now scrape out 20/50 corrected in my left eye if the optometrist gives me several minutes to read the line. But I could never drive or shoot with it. No way. I can see with that eye but my brain can't tell what I'm seeing. Just bits and pieces. Too much scar tissue. I'm thankful I have any vision at all. At one time the prognosis for both eyes was black ... literally not figuratively.

 

[CoElkHunter]

When your retinas start falling apart, your theories on relativity will fall apart too. Been there. You better know the symptoms. All the money in the world won't buy you new retinas if you wreck what you have. I can now scrape out 20/50 corrected in my left eye if the optometrist gives me several minutes to read the line. But I could never drive or shoot with it. No way. I can see with that eye but my brain can't tell what I'm seeing. Just bits and pieces. Too much scar tissue. I'm thankful I have any vision at all. At one time the prognosis for both eyes was black ... literally not figuratively.

I'm very sorry to hear this. I hope you are doing everything you can to mitigate any further issues.

 

[Daniel Cary]

Some days "everything" feels like recoil!