Anybody Ever Been Kicked By a Mule?

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Recoil

Hey There:
If there was a really fair way way of judging recoil, a lot fewer of the big guns and magnums would be sold. Many find that out after they get it home.

I tune rifles for accuracy. I hate the .300 win mags. as I must tune them from a bench. Bench shooting with these big guns can hurt after a while.

I now use a lead slead. My .270 win. in a Rem. mountian light weight has a rather stiff recoil frrom the bench. After about 5 rounds the fun is gone.
 
My biggest rifle caliber is 7mm rem mag. I find it quite easy to shoot, but I do wear a Past recoil shield when benching it. Saves the sore shoulder syndrome later on. I'm not recoil shy, though, having shot a lot of geese with 3" magnums. 12 gauge goose loads have made me immune, I think. :D My Mossberg ain't so bad. That old double didn't weigh 7 lbs. It let you know the gun had gone off, put it that way. But, I was young and dumb.
 
I was kicked in the face by an "in Heat Mare" when I was 12, Loosened teeth, broken nose, chipped cheek bones, concussion from hitting the ground with the back of my head. Ground was ok, mare was unhurt, I recovered. 460 Wby, 458 Lott, 458 Win. No problem, I just don't enjoy them and do not shoot heavy recoiling firearms anymore.
 
Never been kicked, but have been stepped on (my foot). Big walking horse. I think he was punishing me for riding him that day; he just wouldn't get off my foot.

Hardest kicker I've fired was a .300 Wby Mag, and I'd still rather do that than get booted by an equine.

jm
 
I've been kicked by a Shetland Pony, and I tell you boys and girls, you don't even want to get kicked by a Shetland Pony.

The worst kicking gun I've ever fired was an old 12 ga single with a LOT of drop to the stock. It recoiled up and drove my thumb into my cheekbone and eyesocket and left a black eye.

I'd shoot a round of trap with that gun before I'd let that pony kick me again.
 
You know now I can't find it but someplace I read an experiment that estimate the power of a mule's kick at around 8,000 FT/lb of energy (due to speed of kick and mass of hoof, leg, body, etc).

compare that to about 2,700 ft/lb of muzzle energy for a typical 12ga shotgun slug.
 
505 Gibbs Express SxS..@ age 11 twice the first and the last time...:what:
 
Ive been kicked by a horse... trust me, nothing you could pony up to your shoulder would feel anything like the horse kick.

We raised registered Quarter Horses, and the best thing I EVER learned is to stay the heck out of the way of those back feet.

A horse can and has cracked bones, shattered a collarbone etc. I would hate to see the man portable rifle that could do that.
 
If you want to go cheap, find the lightest pump action or single shot shotgun and a solid buttplate and feed it with the heaviest slug load.
 
.375H&H in a 7-1/2lb rifle...

I took some tips from H&HHunter from here on THR, and I can handle it without fear or flinching. It's pretty stout, no doubt about it, but I've done load development from the bench with it. I do wear a PAST recoil pad when I shoot it from the bench. Still haven't found THE load, so I have more work to do, but the rifle and I understand each other. We stop after 12 to 15 rounds on a given day. No soreness, no bruising, and no headache or detached retinas. Once I find the load(s) that the rifle likes, I'm going to practice with field positions, particularly standing offhand at 50 yards. I figure that would equate nicely with the realistic use of a .375H&H. Cape Buff or other big African game pointed towards me or thinking about it...
 
I must need a bigger gun. I've fired 3" buckshot shells in my 12 ga., .30-06 bolt actions, and 7.62x54 Mosin's without a problem. I'm only 5' 10" and 130lbs, too.
 
To me , the Yugo M48 mauser is a mule of a recoil. Esp using Turkish dated 1940s ammo.
 
Hey, I'm a recoil wuss, I freely admit it.
HOWEVER
Since I'm forced to stick with the lighter calibers (.243 Winchester) I have become very VERY good with them. :evil:
 
I got butted in the stomach by a goat once,when I was about six. I think it was a kid as well. Comparable to a light trap load in 12 GA, I think.
 
I have been around mules all my life...I have 3 at this time.

I have seen them knock 40 pound dogs for 30 feet...mules are way stronger (and quicker on their feet) than horses...a 1000 lb. mule would drag a 1000 lb. horse all over the place in a "tractor pull"...
Click to expand...

Good post, I have broke and ridden horses and mules for 30 years and I have been stepped on and kicked by both, and thanksfully NO gun I have ever shot has been even close. Worst kick I have rec. from a firearm was probably the old double barrel 12 I shot on a dare. Touching off 2 slugs from a short stocked short barreled 12 is not something I want to do every day.
 
Kicked...

Never by a mule (and that is rather high on my list of things I'd rather witness or read about, thank you) however a big Holstein milk cow with a mean disposition packs one heck of a wallop. Roughly the same amount of force as a mule, I'd hazard--slower kick possibly, but backed up by a more massive animal. Landed face down in the manure gutter, but didn't spill the full milker I'd just removed from her. Embarrassment fades, bruises heal, manure cleans off, but that milk is cash money--don't you spill it!

Had my foot stood on by a horse while grooming him. That was just inadvertent, but as a 10-year-old, it sure hurt! Didn't cry, though.

I have an M-48 Mauser, 8mm, and have also fired a .300 Wby. These rifles can be unpleasant if you don't expect them, but otherwise handleable. I regularly shoot a 3" 12-ga pump at geese with heavy loads. Wouldn't care to shoot a round of trap with that, but again, handleable.

Now, I have fired a .454 Casull revolver--Exactly once, thank you!--and the thump it gave me on the top of my head was every bit as much of a surprise as that cow kick--and I was holding the Casull what I thought was firmly, and of course expected it to fire.

Therefore I nominate the .454 Casull as a member of the "kicks like a mule" club.

We Americans are famous the world over for our use of hyperbole in expression. Our language would be much the poorer if we abandoned such sayings as "kicks like a mule" on the mere technicality that it isn't perfectly, precisely, the truth. I doubt if there is anything in the world that is built like a brick outhouse, either, and it may well be that there never was a brick outhouse in the first place, but that expression has a ring to it, a peculiar and unique Americanism, a conveying of feeling, that, well, has a kick like a mule. So there.
 
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Not by mule but by horse, I've been kicked, bucked, stomped, thrown, bitten, and just plain fallen off. Once a horse I was riding slipped and fell and landed on my foot (which was still in the stirrup) and broke the bones. Another time I was riding at full gallop through a gate not knowing that the horse was accustomed to running through that gate and turning left. Needless to say, he went left and I went straight. Actually, my cousin was on another horse right behind me riding through that same gate and when his horse went left, he almost landed on top of me. Once I was in a race with a lady on horseback and my rotting girth decided then was the time to come loose and I rode the saddle down the side of the horse around to the belly amidst thrashing legs.

It's taken a long time, but I've finally learned and have lived to tell.

Ed
 
My father was a jockey in his younger years before WWII, got to heavy to ride after the war and started into the trade that my grandfather and great grandfather worked at, horseshoeing(farrier) . I worked at this trade after graduating high school and finishing my apprenticeship in1966.

So I've seen a lot of broken bones from the feet of horses I've even shod a few mules, although I've never seen any injuries caused by mules.

I've never seen any broken bones due to the recoil of any firearm, seen bloody noses,shiners, from them but no broken bones.

If someone told me the rifle kicked like a mule, I would decline,no thank you!
 
300 RUM will fit the mule kicking discription. it's the only rifle i've ever fired that almost scope bit me, the sighting bell swept across my eyebrow, so i added some weight to the stock, and tamed it a bit. it's the only real big gun i have and it's all i want. the recoil of the RUM is roughly twice that of a 30-06.
 
Try Any of these

Any rifle that shoots a .458 Lott or .600 Nitro will get the job done for you. I highly recommend that you wear a darn good shoulder pad and make sure nobody is standing behind you when you touch one of these off. :eek:

Also, please be wary of that scope tearing your eyebrow off'n your head or sending your eyeball through the back of your head. :what:

Personally, I love the "Kick like a mule" type guns. Most folks don't last very long with them though and they usually wind up being safe queens or trade fodder. :rolleyes:

They also make a .700 Nitro from what I am told but the guns are all custom made jobs that run in the $30,000.00 range. :scrutiny:

Good luck with them.

Molon Labe,
Joe
:D
 
dstorm1911, That .577 T Rex gets my vote for the "Actually does kick like a mule" award. Some of the shooters are just not ready for it but if you watch, every single shooter is pounded backward about a foot in the blink of an eye. It's not the proverbial shove.

Imagine getting hit by that unexpectedly, maybe in the face. :eek: That's a bad boy.
 
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