Techniques for heavy recoiling rifles

[fourfive8]

Brickburn’s video was the best instructional video I’ve seen....it proves that even strong arms from riding camels all day will not protect against heavy recoil unless one uses proper technique...FWB

Those youtube vids have been out a few years now and I laugh out loud every time I watch them. This version is particularly good because of the music. I am not going to fault the shooters too much as that is one mean caliber to shoot... no matter the person or technique. Ouch! Over 10,000 ft lbs muzzle energy with the 750 gr bullet with a commensurate heavy recoil effect is going to leave a mark!

 

[flatwater bill]

I do not recall the cartridge specifics, but it was obviously a real beast. Still, it is apparent that some in the video had no business shooting any rifle without some instruction ..,,difficult not to laugh at that vid......FWB

 

[colorado]

I think it is largely a subjective thing, there is no universal answer.

My preference is to have a hunting rifle balance between my hands. Some like muzzle heavy. Never met anyone who liked a rifle butt-heavy!

I think I'm in the minority, but I like my bolt action rifles to balance in the middle of the magazine. Regardless of the weight of the rifle, they seem to handle light and lively, yet still point well. I do a lot of my hunting still hunting in the dark timber. Shots are quick and off hand, often leading elk or deer at 30 yards or less. Exciting way to hunt.

 

[tarbe]

I think I'm in the minority, but I like my bolt action rifles to balance in the middle of the magazine.

Me too. Between the hands! So there are at least two of us.

 

[mdwest]

Make that 3...

 

[Red Leg]

Absolutely - shotguns and rifles - between the hands.

 

[crs]

Having read the above, I wonder how I ever learned to shoot a Daisy Pump, much less a double rifle or sporting clays.

Truly, the only instruction ever given to me was how to break a clay bird at the exact highest point in flight. Do not ask me how, just go break it.

 

[Alistair]

I'm actually of the opinion that the best tool for training with a heavier rifle is an o/u 12 bore.

The recoil can be similar if you so choose, and perhaps more importantly, much of the technique is more transferable than a light normal rifle.

To whit; you'll shoot the big rifle mostly standing, you'll be shooting it dynamically and will probably be using a low power optic or even irons.

The shotgun trains you in the skills for this type of shooting. Stock fit. Consistent mount. Eye and head positioning. Stance. It also promotes a more fluid style of shooting and stance which (imo) is beneficial with heavier rifles.

The rifle should of course have similar dimensions to the training shotgun of course, at least in terms of lop and cast. Drop at heel is also useful if it's similar as is balance.

In terms of actual specifics, I don't think too hard about the actual pressure into my shoulder. For foot position I'm again using shotgun skills, stepping into the target during the mount and going from there (although perhaps marginally more square on than would be typical if shooting clays). Either way, you don't want to be swiveling at the hips to be on aim.

I want to set up and consistently mount the rifle in such a way that it gives good sight picture, gives acceptable scope clearance and a good cheek weld. By doing this, you automatically mitigate a lot of the less fun outcomes such as bruised cheek, scope bite, bruised shoulder. Because it's really quite difficult to mount a well fitted rifle properly and get those results.

A shotgun also doesn't promote bad habits such as 'fighting' the rifle to stay on aim, faffing about over a shot for too long or trying to force the recoil into submission through brute force or by tensing up significantly. You just can't do that and still get a smooth swing, so you don't train to do it.

Beyond that, I tend to lean into the gun a fair bit (which mounting and shooting a rabbit clay from low ready automatically forces you to do) and squeeze into the shoulder a bit with the bottom three fingers of the rear hand (leaving the thumb and index finger loose for good trigger control). That 'lean' into the rifle automatically provides the forward force from the shoulder. Hard to say how much force is in my grip really, but about the same as I would with a shotgun I guess, maybe a little more. Firm sure. But not excessive by any means (if you're pulling back so hard you see extra wobble or can no longer swing the rifle smoothly, that's (imo) too much).

You'll then roll back with the rifle with the recoil without losing stability.

There's other bits and pieces you can also get from a shotgun. How to avoid bruising your knuckle on the front trigger or guard for example.

A large number of clays, especially rabbit or low going away trap targets will promote these fundamentals quite well. And once you've got them engrained as muscle habit, you'll do them automatically for the rifle and can concentrate on the actual shooting (which is of course different to the shotgun) without worrying overmuch about the specifics of mount or stance.

This is what I did when I was shooting running boar competitions anyway. And it served me quite well with my 375 and with various other rifles I had a go with.

Other personal opinions. Shooting from a bench or prone is at best pointless, at worse counterproductive if it causes a flinch. As is shooting vast quantities of rounds in one go. 3 -5 without a break and no more than 20 in a single session is plenty for me and I'm sure many others.

Other suggestions. Ching sling. A ching sling, set up and used properly will automatically give you about the right amount of rearward pressure, simply through isometric tension. I value this tool at lot.

So theres my rambling. Only my own experience and opinion of course, but it works for me.

 

[VertigoBE]

Thank you @Alistair and all others that chimed in a few years ago. Such advice is invaluable!

 

[Alistair]

Oops, bit of thread necromancy here it seems.

No matter, it's all just as valid in 2022 as it was in 2018...

 

[colorado]

After a couple of years trying various things. I shoot my 500 Jeffery just like I shoot the 270 I've had for 40 plus years. Just takes me a little longer to get back on target. I don't shoot it much from the bench though.

 

[Rrrgcy]

Isnt that how everyone should hold every gun irrespective of calibre?

I didn't realise holding a gun was a skill, must be some interesting people out there!

Perhaps transferable skills to the hunt.
In general, my 80’s army time taught trigger hand’s elbow out laterally wingman style and the butt in shoulder pocket (or way out on the shoulder). I look back and think how “bad.“ Many years later doing civvie Uncle Sam, tactically (we) kept our head up and put the butt high and centerline as you might (certainly not even anywhere near the shoulder pocket) and always w elbows down, grasping under the barrel, all elbows pointed to respective hips. For humans, not game. I look at this as “good.”

Later the training rage became support arm out laterally from the barrel and pocketing the forend up front using your hand with the “C-cup.” When that became the vogue we trained it limitedly only for the exposure; that technique was left to our individual choice if we wished to integrate the style. I didn’t. I like my support arm elbow well bent and pointed down, and centered, too. Everything sucked in tight and centered, I guess. Also that to me is the better technique for sub and machine gun work.

Also, with rifle up, we went from walking smoothly/quickly a la Groucho-Marx style (to level the head and gun//sidearm/rifle/carbine/subgun) to just plain walking normally. I imagine these techniques can apply when walking in tight bush expecting a flush or charge. I’m always centering my rifle butt high when walking and expecting game flush. I’d probably do the same with dangerous game but never hunted DG animals.

Sniper stuff was purely focused on prone, though we did other positions of course.

In analogy, always trained handguns to use our trigger finger’s first pad (ahead of the joint about 3/4” back from fingertip) and to always use a trigger reset for shooting, including trying to do so for repetitive fast fire. Then came a vogue to “mash” the trigger finger by using the actual joint or even the front of the second pad On the trigger face! Weird. Being our choice how to “evolve” I chose to remain captain caveman with these new techniques.

I believe you just fall back to what you’re most comfortable with having done in repetitious training.

 

[Backyardsniper]

ive taught plenty of people to shoot large bore rifles but its not the easiest thing to teach without being there in person.

some helpful tips:
1. don't shoot a rifle that isn't balanced and weighted properly unless you like pain.
2. plant your feet as if you are attempting to push a heavy object.
3. shift your center of balance forward onto your leading foot.
4. ensure the entire butt of the rifle has contact with your shoulder. this can be tricky and having a second person helps a lot!
5. pull the gun firmly into the shoulder. this doesn't need to be white knuckle pulling but someone shouldn't be able to force a finger between the stock and your shoulder.
6. the bigger the gun, the less tolerant it will be of mistakes in shooting technique.
7. with proper technique even the largest guns will not be painful to shoot. assuming they are of correct weight and have proper balance.

-matt

^
What he said! I shoot a lot and I shoot a lot of heavy recoiling rifles. I have a 416 rigby that is in the 9.5-10lb range and it is down right pleasant. I shoot a 8.5lb 460wby and you better have your shit together when you torch it off. It is a very shootable very accurate rifle but it is "sporty". If.you have your feet positioned properly and your weight forward and roll with it then its not too bad, but when practicing from awkward positions it can be a bit unpleasant. Limit the number of rounds per session and make them count. I like to use a shot timer and practice getting on the shooting sticks and getting off 1 well aimed shot. Then I will get in one or two rounds of 1 well aimed shot off the sticks and then emptying the mag as quickly as I can do so and still keep them in a "kill zone" sized group. Approx 3 or 4 inches.

 

[albravo]

Bringing this thread back with a slight twist-- what about technique to control muzzle rise for the sake of accuracy?

I have no experience with anything larger than a 9.3x62 but I have done a lot of work to improve my shooting of light (5-6 lb) rifles in smaller calibers and I know accuracy really hinges on my ability to keep that muzzle from jumping. I gave my leadsled away quite a while ago because I found that when a rifle can't move backwards that energy often translates into muzzle rise and accuracy suffers.

I'm moving up to .375H&H and want to start with the right technique. Is it just a firm grip on the stock or do people actively pull down to counter the jump? I'll be shooting off a bench to do load development but then I will migrate to shooting sticks.

 

[Red Leg]

Probably the best advice I could give after rereading this thread is to use a .375. It is what I use when actually hunting Africa, and I have a number of 40 something alternatives.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Bringing this thread back with a slight twist-- what about technique to control muzzle rise for the sake of accuracy?

I have no experience with anything larger than a 9.3x62 but I have done a lot of work to improve my shooting of light (5-6 lb) rifles in smaller calibers and I know accuracy really hinges on my ability to keep that muzzle from jumping. I gave my leadsled away quite a while ago because I found that when a rifle can't move backwards that energy often translates into muzzle rise and accuracy suffers.

I'm moving up to .375H&H and want to start with the right technique. Is it just a firm grip on the stock or do people actively pull down to counter the jump? I'll be shooting off a bench to do load development but then I will migrate to shooting sticks.

Get a gun with some weight to it. The latest fad for lightweight rifles and shotguns is nonsense. I'm not Hulk Hogan and I can carry a ten pound gun all day long. Weight with balance is the key. A synthetic stocked big bore rifle can be made heavier by adding weight inside the butt but that doesn't help much with balance and muzzle jump. Brake or can is another answer but both have drawbacks.

 

[Tam Dl]

I know accuracy really hinges on my ability to keep that muzzle from jumping. I gave my leadsled away quite a while ago because I found that when a rifle can't move backwards that energy often translates into muzzle rise and accuracy suffers.

A lot of people do well with Leadsleds, but there is a reason why they are not used in benchrest shooting, to put it mildly.

Generally, the rifle does not start to move rearward until well after the bullet has left the building. There are a lot of specific processes, and nomenclature involved, and the recoil is in process as the bullet moves forward, but because of the disparity in weight the rifle does actually move rearward, let alone rear up, until the bullet is long gone. while the things you are trying to control while shooting off the rest may not be a problem, it is more likely that they are creating inconsistency, than that they are helping.

 

[Tam Dl]

I like to start with the end in sight. The problem with general purpose rifles like, the 375 H&H (excellent choices by the way) is that one now has every single imaginable objective to consider. At some point the objectives that might be the same as those for a varmint benchrest rifle would be entirely appropriate (if not to the degree, or the specific techniques); but at some point accuracy/groups could be paramount. At other times the most brutal imaginable rebuff to an incoming animal might be all that maters. Conceptually, these things could live in the same round. Practically; focusing on rifle management; practical field positions and shooting; knowing what my rifle can do; and knowing what shots I can attempt is far more important.

I can work with a rifle that shoots 2" groups off the bench, or 1/2" groups, and I really wouldn't care which it is, as long as there is no competition involved. AND as long as I know what the rifle and I can do. After all, I shoot, as many do, everything from longbows, to high powered rifles. I have to know what I can put on target, and then just manage that. Head math is almost as important as the gear I have.

I would rather spend trigger time behind the rifle than a ton of load development time. Though I still have to know what the rifle will do...

 

[Boone66]

In my limited experience those who try to stop the rifle take a beating I’m a big guy 300+# and was told by a very small lady that the trick was to roll with it holding tight enough to keep it under control but letting it move whole upper body.
She will shoot anything and do it well.
Shawn

I found this out with a 8 bore, just hold on for the ride and control the muzzle.

 

[grand veneur]

Regardless of the shooting position, I shoot in the same way with a rifle caliber 7mm rem Mag as well as with a rifle caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum or 500 Jeffery.

You have to keep in all cases a close eye on the target, especially at the moment you pull the trigger. What then happens depends on the caliber and you certainly have to hold tighter a big bore rifle than a rifle of smaller caliber, but I am not aware of any additional shooting technic for big bore rifles. If you don't shoot accurately with your big bore rifle, it's more likely that you have a problem with it, especially with the recoil.