Recoil limit

[Frederik]

Lately I have seen quite a few threads about recoil and people asking and comparing recoil between calibers.
Seems to me there is a definite view on felt recoil and limits to what people feel comfortable to hunt and shoot with.

First of all I have this opinion and theory I compare big bores to cars.
A 2 liter engine car will get you from point A to B with no issues
A good old V8 will also get you from point A to B with no issues but it will be more fun and more thrill.

Can anyone learn to drive a 2 liter car as fast as possible to get from A to B thats fairly easy?
Can anyone learn how to handle the V8 beast to get from A to B as fast as possible thats a different beast?

We are all created different no two humans are 100% the same even twins we all experience life different.
That is the beauty of our existence and why there are so many opinions out there and why we are allowed to choose for ourselves.

To get back to recoil learn and make the best of what you can handle. A precise shot out of a 375 on an animal is much better than a marginal shot with a 500.
It took me a long time but I finally own a big bore in my CZ 550 Lott before I finally had my hands on it I was thinking recoil reducers and better recoil pads etc.
But shooting my 375 Musgrave over 26 years learned me to push the 375 Limits and shoot precisly as I didnt have another choice.

I have shot now about 180 rounds through my Lott in less than a year and am still learning it but its not going to bad. (Mid May would be 1 year)
I never got to change anything factory spec on the CZ 550 its still stock standard and pushing 480gr bullets at 2300fps is easily managed much better than expected.
However after shooting 23 shots out of it at our last BASA competition I definitely felt that I fired something big that day.
Shooting a 505 Gibss on that same day it was nice and good fun but realizing afterwards I think I found my comfortable limit to enjoy big bores while still keeping good accuracy which in te end is much more important than what you shoot with. I would not have ebjoyed shooting 23 shots with the 505 on that comp.

We owe it to the animals that we hunt for a quick kill nobody is perfect and hunting has too many scenarios involved that it would turn out perfect evertime with every shot. Hunt long enough and you will wound and loose animals even if you are the best shot in the world.

I would rather hunt with someone who knows and enjoys his rifle than have a look of despair when asking to go to the range and check zero.
Learn your limit and its not impossible to go over it and have a new limit but don't lie to yourself.

 

[AZDAVE]

You are so correct in that everyone has a different recoil limit and what they perceive as recoil. I have found that if someone is willing to work at it that I can get them to shoot at the 375 level. (About %60 of the people the other 40% not) when you go up from there the number starts to decrease fairly quickly. Like you said a 375 in the vitals shot by someone that is confident of the rifle and not scared of it. Vs the wounded with a 458-577 that the owner winces every time he or she picks it up.

 

[Tanks]

You are so correct in that everyone has a different recoil limit and what they perceive as recoil. ...

Yep, I let my Sporting Clays coach shoot my new Caesar Guerini Invictus III yesterday. His response afterwards was that it beat the crap out of him after 6 shots (he still hit all the birds). Now, this is a guy who has hundreds of championships to his name last one being the UT State champion last year.

I have the factory recoil pad on mine and I am very comfortable with it. He uses a GraCoil recoil reduction system on his personal guns that makes them feel like a .22 so not used to anything that has much recoil.

It is just a matter of exposure.

 

[mark-hunter]

My firiend bought merkel helix, 300 win mag.
we went to zero it.

Hi fired 8 to 10 shots, and got the bruise on the shoulder.
I fired 8-12-16 shots, no bruise.

We are similarly built.
But when he adjusted his position, and how he shoulders the rifle, no more further recoil problem.

So, with new rifle, a part of problem would be familiarisation with new stock, getting used to it, and learning to shoulder it properly.

 

[Andrew Short]

You’re absolutely correct in the fact that we are all different in the amount of recoil that we can handle comfortably.
I think that is multi factorial. I think it’s largely how one grew up, what you were exposed to, in terms of firearms that were available.
For me, I grew up deer hunting with 12 gauge shotguns and comfortably shot slugs/buck shot. While turkey hunting I shoot a 3 1/2Inch turkey load which is a not a low level of recoil. I shoot a 300 WSM for deer and it’s easy peasy when compared two 3 1/2 inch shotgun.

I do believe that a shooter can become acustom to heavier recoiling rifles with exposure.

 

[MS 9x56]

I agree with both of the above posts. I too grew up hunting deer with a shotgun with slugs. You either learn proper holding and trigger control or you get belted in the cheek or chin. I know it is a learned skill. Gun fit is a major contributor to felt recoil also.I have found that even though I am of average height, I have long arms and a length of pull of 13 7/8 to 14" fits me best. Took me a couple of years and a couple of bloody noses to get that figured out. Most off the shelf guns are too short lop for me so first thing I always do is add a spacer. Has worked well for me for 40 years and a couple of dozen guns. Only gun it didn't really help much was a Mossberg 835 ulti-mag that I believe had to do with the shape of the recoil pad.

 

[colorado]

My recoil limit when shooting my 500 Jeffery is still fun, is a 570g bullet at 2300 fps. I've loaded them to 2510 fps but fun index is zero!

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Lately I have seen quite a few threads about recoil and people asking and comparing recoil between calibers.
Seems to me there is a definite view on felt recoil and limits to what people feel comfortable to hunt and shoot with.

First of all I have this opinion and theory I compare big bores to cars.
A 2 liter engine car will get you from point A to B with no issues
A good old V8 will also get you from point A to B with no issues but it will be more fun and more thrill.

Can anyone learn to drive a 2 liter car as fast as possible to get from A to B thats fairly easy?
Can anyone learn how to handle the V8 beast to get from A to B as fast as possible thats a different beast?

We are all created different no two humans are 100% the same even twins we all experience life different.
That is the beauty of our existence and why there are so many opinions out there and why we are allowed to choose for ourselves.

To get back to recoil learn and make the best of what you can handle. A precise shot out of a 375 on an animal is much better than a marginal shot with a 500.
It took me a long time but I finally own a big bore in my CZ 550 Lott before I finally had my hands on it I was thinking recoil reducers and better recoil pads etc.
But shooting my 375 Musgrave over 26 years learned me to push the 375 Limits and shoot precisly as I didnt have another choice.

I have shot now about 180 rounds through my Lott in less than a year and am still learning it but its not going to bad. (Mid May would be 1 year)
I never got to change anything factory spec on the CZ 550 its still stock standard and pushing 480gr bullets at 2300fps is easily managed much better than expected.
However after shooting 23 shots out of it at our last BASA competition I definitely felt that I fired something big that day.
Shooting a 505 Gibss on that same day it was nice and good fun but realizing afterwards I think I found my comfortable limit to enjoy big bores while still keeping good accuracy which in te end is much more important than what you shoot with. I would not have ebjoyed shooting 23 shots with the 505 on that comp.

We owe it to the animals that we hunt for a quick kill nobody is perfect and hunting has too many scenarios involved that it would turn out perfect evertime with every shot. Hunt long enough and you will wound and loose animals even if you are the best shot in the world.

I would rather hunt with someone who knows and enjoys his rifle than have a look of despair when asking to go to the range and check zero.
Learn your limit and its not impossible to go over it and have a new limit but don't lie to yourself.

@Frederick
To me recoil tolerances have a lot to do with stock design more than actual recoil. I have fired up to 460 Weatherby and 378 Weatherby down to the humble 22.
Even the bug weatherby wasn't that objectionable. My 35 Whelen and 444 marlin are loaded warm and are pleasant to shoot.
On the other hand a mates marlin 44 mag and my old Boito 410 shotgun belted me black and blue. The stocks were wrong and belted me up the chops horribly. After firing the 44 mag I went back to my 444 on a No4 SMLE because it was more comfortable to shoot.
Bob

 

[fourfive8]

Somewhere around 75 ft lbs maybe a little more. Not an 8 lb rifle and not a 15 lb rifle- an average 11lb +/- rifle with reasonably straight stock with factory solid rubber butt and no brake. More than that seems too much.

 

[Tanks]

Somewhere around 75 ft lbs maybe a little more. Not an 8 lb rifle and not a 15 lb rifle- an average 11lb +/- rifle with reasonably straight stock with factory solid rubber butt and no brake. More than that seems too much.

That's a double rifle in .500 NE, so you are good to go for anything.

 

[Vintageguy]

@Frederick
To me recoil tolerances have a lot to do with stock design more than actual recoil. I have fired up to 460 Weatherby and 378 Weatherby down to the humble 22.
Even the bug weatherby wasn't that objectionable. My 35 Whelen and 444 marlin are loaded warm and are pleasant to shoot.
On the other hand a mates marlin 44 mag and my old Boito 410 shotgun belted me black and blue. The stocks were wrong and belted me up the chops horribly. After firing the 44 mag I went back to my 444 on a No4 SMLE because it was more comfortable to shoot.
Bob

I agree, the worst kicking gun I’ve ever owned was actually a 270! My 375 is a pussy cat compared to it. A savage 110e, my first centerfire rifle bought as a kid with chore money. It kicked like a pissed off mule and gave 2 1/2 inch groups on a good day. It had an ugly maple stock with a Monte Carlo comb so I changed it to a Bell and Carlson composite with plain comb. That changed everything, it was a very pleasant rifle to shoot and started giving three shot cloverleafs. Since then 40 years of experience has taught me stock design is most of felt recoil with many different guns.

 

[baxterb]

My brother won't shoot my .338. Says an 06 with 180gr is his top limit. I like a good thump every now and then.

 

[Badboymelvin]

I just used the shooters calculator to work out the recoil of my .458WM...
My rifle weighs 9lb and shooting the 550gn Woodleigh pushed by 73gn of BM2 for 2080fps it came in at 80ft/lbs of recoil!!
That my friends is my absolute limit!

Russ

 

[MS 9x56]

Worst kicking gun I ever shot was a 338 win mag in a remington 700 with a synthetic stock. It was a friends gun so I only shot it once. He said he couldn’t get it to shoot good groups. I did the old load behind his back truck and found he was flinching badly. He got a past pad for his shoulder.

 

[BeeMaa]

My worst isn't even a rifle, but a shotgun.
Benelli SBE2 weighing 7# with Turkey loads is brutal for me.
I'm good for about 3 shots off sticks before I give it up.
Much worse than my .375 or 416, although they weigh much more.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

My worst isn't even a rifle, but a shotgun.
Benelli SBE2 weighing 7# with Turkey loads is brutal for me.
I'm good for about 3 shots off sticks before I give it up.
Much worse than my .375 or 416, although they weigh much more.

I am with you! Worst recoil I have ever had was with Benelli SBE loaded with 3 1/2 inch Federal OOBuckshot for hogs. My 458 Lott is a pussy cat compared to that.

 

[Frederik]

Thank you all for commenting and I forgot to mention in my first post that stock must be a fit.
What was trying to get you is what are you comfortable with to shoot with and what is your max for a full day of shooting.

I would say that 505 Gibbs with 600gr bullet would be awesome to hunt with at 2200fps for dangerous game but to get confidence in the setup you need to practise and that is why I started the post.
Yes I don't mind te recoil of the 505 but would I be smiling after shooting 15 shots at the range???

 

[colorado]

Last time I went to the range I put my first round with the 500 Jeffery in the bullseye offhand at 50 yards. I said good enough, and spent the next hour or so shooting a scuba tank at 800 yards with my 270 Weatherby (which has no recoil after shooting the 500)

 

[AZDAVE]

@colorado I had to smile as I stopped my load development of my 500 at 2300, Recoil is tolerable. At 2500 the fun factor took the train to the coast. Shot 9 round last weekend to confirm everything is on.

On a small foot note I tried working up loads for the 570CEB solid and my rifle doesn't like them at all. No matter the velocity they keyholed into the target at 50 every time. where the woodleigh 535 softs, 570 woodleigh and hornaday softs and solids all shoot great.

 

[colorado]

Woodleighs are great bullets. I'd stay away from the Hornady's, A-Frames and TSX's are nice too 570g at 2300 fps will kill just about anything with a well placed bullet!