Felt Recoil - what has been your experience

[deewayne2003]

Felt recoil is so subjective and I believe that proper fit of the rifle, proper form & mental state being the dominant factors with the latter of the 3 being most important.

Example: If you go into a fight convinced that you’re going to lose then you have already defeated yourself.

I distinctly remember guiding a client on a whitetail hunt that showed up with a brand new Kimber .270wsm with a muzzle brake…I asked why he had a muzzle brake installed on a .270wsm?

With a smirking face of arrogance/you idiot look on his face he rudely replied ….
“To help with the KICK DUHHH!”

After witnessing him shooting minute of Mellon groups from the bench @100yds, I broke out the .22 and we worked on some fundamentals.

On the other hand I’ve coached a 12yo girl that ended up shooting her fathers .300win better than her father and she thought the recoil was fun.

 

[BJH65]

Shooting 10-11 lb rifles chambered in 416 Rem Mag, 416 Rigby, 458 Win Mag and 458 Lott, felt recoil has all felt similar to me. All tolerable to me and fine for hunting. I should point out when practicing and sighting in, I religiously wear a PAST recoil pad. I still feel I’m able to judge recoil without the pain and of course we all know when shooting at game, we don’t feel the recoil.

Rare Breed makes some excellent points and rifle weight plays a role. The rifle with the worst felt recoil that I possess and it’s not even close, is my Remington Custom Shop North American 375 RUM at a weight of 7.5 lbs with scope. The various online recoil calculators reveal anywhere from 67 to 77 ft lbs of recoil. Not sure why the variance, they all differ a little?

I thought using my my custom 235 Grain TSX 375 RUM handloads at 3200 fps would have less felt recoil with the lower bullet weight but not so, they felt the same as 300 grain loads! Even wearing my PAST recoil pad, I felt like I was getting punched in the shoulder by Mike Tyson or George Forman! Perhaps the quicker recoil impulse? Hell, my CZ 416 Rigby is downright pleasant in comparison.

This custom 375 RUM was to be my do it all North American rifle from long distance elk hunting and everything else from deer to brown bear and moose. I ended up taking elk, bison and large boar with it but, and this was entirely my fault, I shot an elk across a canyon from the prone position, loosely holding my 375 RUM, and after the first shot, I reloaded but couldn’t see since I had blood cascading down my face!

I have a scar between my eyes to this day. Probably should have went in for stitches instead of slapping a butterfly bandage on it, thus ending any hope for a modeling career. So in a fit of anger, I had a gunsmith install a KDF muzzle brake reducing the felt recoil to that of a 300 Win Mag only problem was the muzzle blast will peel paint and the sound will make you deaf without hearing protection!

In hindsight, I never needed a muzzle brake for that lightweight 375 RUM. All the game I’ve taken with it has been without a muzzle brake and no pain was felt. I simply made a poor decision shooting from prone that one time. Most any other shooting position I would have been fine, especially off sticks. I should also point out, Leupold doesn’t sell their scopes with a rubber eye cup, so that scope cut me like a scalpel. I subsequently ordered and screwed on a rubber eyecup from Leupold, removed the muzzle brake and screwed the thread protector in.

Several mention the violent recoil of shotguns with turkey loads. I have a 3.5 “ 12 ga Remington 870 and to me felt recoil doesn’t feel as much as my big bore African rifles. I recently acquired a nice Brno 375 H&H, and it was downright pleasant to shoot even without my PAST recoil pad. Perhaps due to all the shooting I’ve done recently with my 416 Rigby and 458 Lott.

 

[DWB]

I think @saswart just needs to man up and grow a pair

My 450 Rigby was a learning curve and took some getting used to. Dubbed that the Chiropractor...

My new 500 Jeffery with Silvers Recoil pad makes the 450 feel tame...

 

[Tucketed]

Very subjective. I believe a lot of it is how we “flex” or don’t flex on the shot. My brother in law has a difficult time zeroing TSS turkey loads. I have no issue same gun and loads but I let my body move with the shot he muscles it but then I shoot more mid-heavy bore than he does.

 

[SStomcat]

I sold my 416RM because it was very close to my recoil tolerance level and chose to go with a lightweight 375H&H as my DG rifle for this reason.

That said, I truly believe that my 7 lb SBE3 shooting Federal TSS, 3.5", 2 1/4 oz, 7 shot loads hits faster and harder than the 416RM did. The advantage being that I only shoot the SBE3 once or twice a year. The recoil from the 416 felt slower and less violent.

The 416 recoil looks a big step up from the 375, just by looking the scope is coming perilously close to your eye.

Are you firing in your back yard?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I’m one strange man. The recoil of a .600 Nitro Express doesn’t bother me in the slightest. But the recoil of a .460 Weatherby Magnum is unpleasant to me.

My daughter is even stranger.

She (left hand side) was 14 when this photo was taken. Father (who took the photo) and I (right hand side) had taken her & my son (center) to hunt greylag geese with us above the Bay of Bengal. She accidentally touched off both triggers on my father’s 12 gauge 3” Magnum Midland Gun Co. boxlock extractor “Demon Duck” side by side (loaded with two Eley Magnum 46 gram BB shells), while taking a pass shot at greylag geese. She didn’t notice the recoil at all.

But the recoil of a 7mm Remington Magnum makes her feel uncomfortable.

 

[grand veneur]

By shooting various big bore rifles you notice that there are different recoils.

I can also confirm that the recoil of a double rifle caliber 577 Nitro Express or 600 Nitro Express is much more tolerable than that of a rifle caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum or above all that of a not too heavy rifle caliber 500 Jeffery. But I don't want to claim that big bore double rifles are better to handle than big bore bolt action rifles. The weight of this big bore double rifles and the strong recoil that does not stop make shooting also not that easy.

 

[Green Chile]

Recoil velocity is a major factor. That’s why the big Weatherbys are nasty. It’s a quick, hard recoil. If you ever get scared of your gun, it will take a long time to beat that feeling. It’s psychological fear. Get off the bench and don’t shoot a whole box at a time. Bad habits form quickly and take forever to fix.

 

[BeeMaa]

The 416 recoil looks a big step up from the 375, just by looking the scope is coming perilously close to your eye.

Are you firing in your back yard?

The 416RM is a significant step up from any .375/9.3 caliber. The scope came close, but proper gun fit, technique and scope placement is the key.

To me it comes down to three primary reasons felt recoil might be higher in a lower caliber versus higher
1. gun fit is not good for the lighter caliber.
2. The total gun weight is too light for the lighter caliber versus higher.
3. The powder used to achieve a targeted FPS requires higher load weights. An example being my 470 achieving 2150 FPS with only 80 grains of IMR3031 versus 114 grains of H4831SC to achieve the same FPS with the latter kicking you hard versus much less with the former.

Going with your #1 (gun fit) is the shape of the buttpad. The Sako and Blaser buttpads are thinner and shorter than those from Kimber and CZ. So all other things being equal, the Sako and Blaser will impart the same force over a smaller area making it "feel" worse than the Kimber or CZ.

It's almost like Art at A-Square knew what he was doing with the coil check stock.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Speaking of fitment:

I did notice the felt recoil change between two 470’s that had a 1lb and 1” LOP change between them. The lighter gun with longer LOP was much easier to recover from between shots.

Worst recoiling gun I ever shot was a Sako Brown Bear in 416 Rigby. I bruised my shoulder, my jaw bone, and made my teeth hurt so bad I went to the dentist.

I’ve shot a 100 ft-lb recoil 50 cal that was modest by comparison. It still made it impossible to tell if I hit the target, but I didn’t want to throw it on the ground afterwards. The gun only weighed 9.25lbs, but it was a decent fitting CZ 550.

A model 70 458 WM is a dream to shoot compared to either of those.

 

[Green Chile]

A friend had a 7# 450 Ackley Improved with a cheap Tupperware stock. It hit so hard that I could feel the recoil pad compress and the stock would hit you after that. I said if we keep shooting that it’s going to detach a retina. Another friend shot it and couldn’t quit cussing for several minutes afterwards. Stupid gun.

Some of the worst are the old Hawken style BP rifles with the curved metal butt plates. Load one up heavy and it could physically hurt you with that huge dropped comb and wicked butt plate.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

For my job I have to carry a Remington 870 Police Magnum while in the field, and I have to qualify to do so annually. For my money the Brenneke Black Magics in that gun kick the hardest of anything I have ever shot. I enjoy qualifying day each year - it's fun - and I soot it well. But I feel it, and some years I notice bruising in the days after.

A caveat is that I don't shoot any true big bores like some of you. The closest I get is hot loads in my .45-70.

 

[Green Chile]

Hot loads in the light lever actions generate a lot of recoil and that’s a bad stock design for recoil mitigation. I took my first elephant with a Marlin guide gun converted to 50 Alaskan. That little gun (was my daily carry in the Alaskan bush) had stout recoil. I destroyed multiple tube mag springs and shot the end cap off the mag tube more than once as well as shearing the screws that held the mag tube. We went well beyond the design of that gun. It worked for ele but I wouldn’t do it all over again.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Very good points made in previous posts but as usual, I will try to complicate the obvious…

There is calculated recoil and then there is how each shooter perceives recoil.
Along with stock design and gun fit of similar weight rifles, these and perhaps other factors may contribute to shooters’ felt/perceived recoil.

Shooters' form can make recoil easy or hard to deal with. Is the shooter's body stiff or does their body bend like a willow from recoil?

Factors of perceived / felt recoil include but may not be limited to;

• Recoil energy
• Recoil velocity
• Recoil acceleration (slow/fast powders and rate of acceleration of chamber pressure (curve))
• Increase in atmospheric pressure level as measured in decibels of sound and the total duration of the overpressure. The total units of overpressure (decibels X duration) can wear out the best of shooters. This isn't part of any recoil formula but overpressure takes it toll on a shooter!
  • If you don’t believe me, try a round of sporting clays with an 8 gauge shotgun firing 1.5 ounce loads. Great fun and the clay targets will disappear! If you are like me, one round per day will be your limit!
  • The US military limits the number of times per day one may fire a rocket launcher due to the accumulative effects of overpressure on the brain.

Finally, for all of the above and perhaps more there is how you and how I perceive the effects on our bodys in an instant in time. For some, the recoil of a 10 lb 375 H&H may seem high while others’ recoil tolerance may allow them to enjoy shooting a "properly weighted" 505 Gibbs! We are all different...

 

[Rare Breed]

Speaking of fitment:

I did notice the felt recoil change between two 470’s that had a 1lb and 1” LOP change between them. The lighter gun with longer LOP was much easier to recover from between shots.

Worst recoiling gun I ever shot was a Sako Brown Bear in 416 Rigby. I bruised my shoulder, my jaw bone, and made my teeth hurt so bad I went to the dentist.

I’ve shot a 100 ft-lb recoil 50 cal that was modest by comparison. It still made it impossible to tell if I hit the target, but I didn’t want to throw it on the ground afterwards. The gun only weighed 9.25lbs, but it was a decent fitting CZ 550.

A model 70 458 WM is a dream to shoot compared to either of those.

Felt your pain. My first DR was a poor fitting way to light for caliber Rizzini 470 NE that just about kicked me to death before I learned the fundamentals of DRs

 

[Rare Breed]

Very good points made in previous posts but as usual, I will try to complicate the obvious…

There is calculated recoil and then there is how each shooter perceives recoil.
Along with stock design and gun fit of similar weight rifles, these and perhaps other factors may contribute to shooters’ felt/perceived recoil.

Shooters' form can make recoil easy or hard to deal with. Is the shooter's body stiff or does their body bend like a willow from recoil?

Factors of perceived / felt recoil include but may not be limited to;

• Recoil energy
• Recoil velocity
• Recoil acceleration (slow/fast powders and rate of acceleration of chamber pressure (curve))
• Increase in atmospheric pressure level as measured in decibels of sound and the total duration of the overpressure. The total units of overpressure (decibels X duration) can wear out the best of shooters. This isn't part of any recoil formula but overpressure takes it toll on a shooter!
  • If you don’t believe me, try a round of sporting clays with an 8 gauge shotgun firing 1.5 ounce loads. Great fun and the clay targets will disappear! If you are like me, one round per day will be your limit!
  • The US military limits the number of times per day one may fire a rocket launcher due to the accumulative effects of overpressure on the brain.

Finally, for all of the above and perhaps more there is how you and how I perceive the effects on our bodys in an instant in time. For some, the recoil of a 10 lb 375 H&H may seem high while others’ recoil tolerance may allow them to enjoy shooting a "properly weighted" 505 Gibbs! We are all different...

Mark you never complicate anything my friend although I know you said that with tongue in cheek…always so appreciate your well researched and thought out response!

 

[colorado]

CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery. Recoil is but a maiden's kiss.

 

[swashington]

I am very new to big bore shooting. Today I took my 300wm to the range for sighting in the new Nightforce scope I put on it and after 10 rounds had that rifle at 3/4 MOA. Very pleased with myself I decided to pull out my new Ruger Model 1 in 416 RM. Having never shot a big bore before I was a little apprehensive but loaded a round shouldered it and held on like a bull rider getting ready to leave the chute. The trigger broke and recoil hit me and at first I was stunned. Never felt that fast of a recoil, but it wasn't that bad. I shot two more rounds just for fun to make sure it wasn't adrenaline making me brave. Nope it really wasn't that bad to shoot.
The difficult thing is shooting a 10.5lb rifle off hand. All of my previous hunting rifles were 7.5 to 8lbs and much easier to aim off hand. Looks like I will be shooting a lot to get ready for my 2026 trip.

That being said my worst recoil ever felt is still my 270WSM in a Tikka T3 lite. Loaded with a scope that is still only 7.5 lbs and it just doesn't handle well. After 3 shots I start to flinch. Needless to say that one stays in the safe as I just don't like to shoot it.

 

[MS 9x56]

Maybe I am just a masochist, my first big game rifles were shotguns. I learned proper holding form and trigger control. I can't say that I enjoy recoil, but it just doesn't bother me. You never feel it when shooting at game anyway. My 2 brothers never wanted to hunt deer as they were afraid of the recoil. My son and daughter are also not bothered by recoil.

 

[BeeMaa]

I am very new to big bore shooting. Today I took my 300wm to the range for sighting in the new Nightforce scope I put on it and after 10 rounds had that rifle at 3/4 MOA. Very pleased with myself I decided to pull out my new Ruger Model 1 in 416 RM. Having never shot a big bore before I was a little apprehensive but loaded a round shouldered it and held on like a bull rider getting ready to leave the chute. The trigger broke and recoil hit me and at first I was stunned. Never felt that fast of a recoil, but it wasn't that bad. I shot two more rounds just for fun to make sure it wasn't adrenaline making me brave. Nope it really wasn't that bad to shoot.
The difficult thing is shooting a 10.5lb rifle off hand. All of my previous hunting rifles were 7.5 to 8lbs and much easier to aim off hand. Looks like I will be shooting a lot to get ready for my 2026 trip.

That being said my worst recoil ever felt is still my 270WSM in a Tikka T3 lite. Loaded with a scope that is still only 7.5 lbs and it just doesn't handle well. After 3 shots I start to flinch. Needless to say that one stays in the safe as I just don't like to shoot it.

FYI - Ruger No 1’s aren’t known for having a stock that is recoil friendly. Mostly due to rifle fit and the inherent light weight.