Broken Wrists from Heavy Recoil: Actual Reports?

[VirgilCaine]

et's see if this myth can be proved or disproved:

Have you seen anyone ever actually breaking or spraining their wrists firing a sawed-off shotgun or large handgun?

IMO, the worst you would do is smack yourself in the face.

None of this friend of a friend or on a post somewhere, first person reports.

[Yeah, actually we should call the Mythbusters on this. But let's see what everybody says...]

Edit: Not REPEATED firing, just ONE shot. Repeated firing, as RecoilRob shows, of course will create problems.

 

[RecoilRob]

Repeated firing of very hard recoiling pistols CAN do damage to your hand/wrist. I had a 3"629 Lew Horton that I foolishly fired 150 or so rounds of max-loaded 240grn mags in a range session...and my wrist wasn't right for a couple of weeks. It did damage for sure. WAS fun, though I won't do it again.

 

[DENALI]

I can say with certitude that my chronic lateral epchondilitis is the direct result of shooting and so can my orthapod........

 

[loop]

Once fired a six-inch barrel 12 ga. w/pistol grip.
Everyone who shot it dropped it.
Dunno if it actually caused bone damage, but every time it came out from under, um, Joe's truck seat people started favoring their shooting hand...

 

[HOME DEPOT GEORGE]

I was at my local range one day about 3 months ago and had brought my super black hawk and my alaskan. Anyway after a while an off duty cop came over to see what was making all the noise and we got to talking, he said hes never really shot anithing except his duty weapon and asked to try the blackhawk and took a few shots. He then asked to try the alaskan 454 so I agreed and told him that when I shoot it I allow it to roll back with the recoil well he did'nt take my advice and locked his arms and wrists as stiff as I've ever seen anyone shoot, the last I saw he was packing up and leaving and couldn't even carry his range bag with his one arm. I think he sprained his wrist because after he took the shot he almost dropped the gun and grabbed his wrist, he looked to be in quite a lot of pain.

 

[Eric F]

Do a search on youtube for 600 Nitro express pistol. That guy broke something no proof of what but watch his reaction he is seriously hurt for sure.

 

[Jim March]

Long-time gunwriter John Taffin is having horrendous wrist problems late in life. He types in all-uppercase on those forums he still frequents and nobody complains - the shift key is just too painful for him. He was a major early adopter of "handcannon class" loads.

*Cumulative* wrist damage is absolutely positively NO JOKE. It happens. I believe most of our practice should be done with fairly mellow loads...in revolvers call it 350ft/lbs energy in a 26+ ounce gun, ballpark figures. That's equal to a mild 357 (Remmie Golden Saber) or very stout (Buffalo Bore) 38+P in a Ruger SP101. Autoloader guys can stretch that due to less felt recoil with slideguns.

If you shoot 50 rounds a week of fairly strong 357 (read: over 500ft/lbs) in an ultra-light 12oz to 15oz gun, I think you're going to damage yourself. How long it'll take I don't know but I think damage is inevitable.

Hmmmm...look, I did 17 years of computer tech support, sysadmin type stuff, etc. I fought wrist problems at times just from the stress of THAT sort of repetitive motion, and saw a lot of other people go through the same thing. I learned a thing or two about keyboard and mouse ergonomics, and read up on what was also happening to, for example, carpenters doing a lot of hammering. I believe cumulative damage from handgunning is not just possible but likely for some folks, with the trend towards more and more horsepower in smaller and smaller guns.

I don't want to end up 70 years old and limited to 22LR for defense...

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

One shot, or even many, from a hard kicker is not going to literally break bones in your wrist or arm. However, over time, it will certainly cause joint, muscle, tendon, etc. inflammation.

 

[Geno]

Purchase a 15", Encore pistol in .270 Winchester. Put one box of hot handloaded ammunition through it. You may be sore, but it won't "break" you. After hunting with that pistol even the .454 felt like a .38!

Edit to add: When I owned my Encore pistol, I bought a wrap-around wrist brace to secure my wrist. That strap made a significant difference during prolonged afternoon sessions at the range. Now, if I were firing only 10 or so rounds, no problem. But, if you intend to launch 50 rounds of hot .270 Win in an afternoon...either pray or buy a wrist support strap.

Doc2005

 

[CrawdaddyJim]

The one shot broken wrist scenario is hard to prove or disprove.

I would tend to believe in it but with a specific set of circumstances. First would be a person prone to weak bone structure and or small bone size. Second would be gun recoil energy. It would have to be in the 20# plus range with a steep pressure curve. Think fast acceleration powder.

With those circumstances I believe a person would experience a straight line stress fracture or a compression fracture. I doubt you would ever see a complete break or a compound fracture.

 

[Eagle103]

Do a search on youtube for 600 Nitro express pistol. That guy broke something no proof of what but watch his reaction he is seriously hurt for sure.

Here's the one you're talking about.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9lzri8dn7p0

 

[cobrian45]

I think the reason he looks seriously hurt is that the gun hit him in the side of the head as it was egressing from the scene of the stupidity. I don't know if he held on to it long enough for it to break anything but his cranium.

I guided a hunter from Mexico that shot a .45-70 in the Thompson Center Contender line in a handgun. After time at the range and a couple of animals, he was cradling his arm. He said it hurt all the way up to the elbow and my brain said it wasn't surprised. He commented that it wasn't the recoil so much as the twist. When that big bullet hits the rifling and begins twisting, the gun will torque, it's just physics. It was damaging his wrist, I was certain. No breakage, though.

 

[Joe Demko]

The video is kind of blurry, but it looked like the pistol caught him across the head after it flew out of his hand. I think that is where most of his discomfort originated.

 

[MachIVshooter]

One of the local shops here had a gun on consignment. It is a custom bolt action pistol chambered in .458x2" Barnes. It was occasionally brought out to be played with. The pistol had a bit of stock overhanging on the rear, and this guy held it completely perpendicular to his arm. When it recoiled, the pistol rocked back and slammed this "tail" into his wrist. He did end up going to the hospital afterward. IDK if it actually broke his wrist, but he was in a ton of pain.

Anyone who has frequented The Firing Line out here probably knows what gun I'm talking about. It has been there since 1987, though I haven't seen it the last few times I visited.

 

[Constantine-p89]

I have heard that forever but when I was 15 and shot my dad's 44 for the first time guess what: no wrist break.

 

[rcmodel]

Never heard of an actual broken bone.

But I did have an old First Sargent one time who bought a new .44 Blackhawk Flattop and wanted me to take him shooting.

We drove out in the country and he hopped out and braced the Ruger over the top of a hedge fence post with a two hand hold.
Before I could yell "DON'T DO IT!" he let one go.

The butt caught the flesh of his support hand between it and the post top, and he ended up with a Blood Blister the size of a tennis ball hanging off his hand for awhile!

Ouch!

He sold the gun & 49 rounds of ammo about a week later at a big loss!


rcmodel

 

[Gaffer]

Shot a Contender in 45-70 once and only once. I did manage to hang on to it but the action opened and the empty case flew by my head. I still don't know why that happened and I was not about to try and reproduce it. Very unsettling!

 

[DENALI]

No joke this is the big reason I purchased a 9mm pistol. After decades of the big magnums and even my .45 auto my elbows cannot take it anymore. 7 injections and one surgery tend to force the issue onto the path of least resistence........

 

[wheelgunslinger]

Ditto on John Taffin. He uses, I believe, a speech to text program because he has such a hard time typing.

When talking about broken bones, remember that there is plenty of genetic variance between humans. Not everyone's bones are the same density and vary in durability.
It's possible that someone with weaker bones could have had a broken bone from a hand cannon.

I have one fellow gunnie who mangled his back pretty badly by firing a Raging Bull too many times.

I limit my practice with the hand cannons and opt for a similar weapon in .22lr so I can keep on keeping on with the big stuff.
I'm hoping that the phased plasma rifles and handguns of the future have no recoil.

 

[Zoogster]

Most likely you would simply damage the connective tissues and the joints in your wrist and forearm.

Enough force to compress and grind the joints together will over time leave you with essentialy serious arthritis in your wrist and possibly elbows.

 

[PTK]

As the reason this thread started was my picture of my SBSs and SBRs, I figured I should answer as well.

The worst damage I've ever gotten was from touching off two 3" mag slugs at the same time from my lightweight double barreled 12ga w/ 8" barrels. All that happened was, with one hand on the pistol grip and one hand pushing DOWN on the barrels, the very tip of the barrels hit me in the forehead lightly. I fired from the hip, for what it's worth.

 

[harmonic]

The Lord gave us wrist injuries from shooting ultra hard recoiling loads so that our guns have a way of saying, "Hey! You're not the only one those ridiculous loads are hurting!"

 

[Detritus]

I know of one incident of "heavy recoil breaks wrist", but then again he did something stupid, and that PLUS the recoil resulted in the broken bones

classmate from my community college days, came in with a cast on his right wrist/hand. i asked what happned and was told, that He and his brother were trying out his new .44mag revolver, when "joe" decided to see what'd be like to shoot the thing "gansta style". long story short, doc told him the hand position/posture did not allow his arm etc to absorb as much of the recoil as a "tradional stance" would have. thus a broke wrist from a 44mag.

 

[George Hill]

Do a search on youtube for 600 Nitro express pistol. That guy broke something no proof of what but watch his reaction he is seriously hurt for sure.

I know the guy that your talking about. He emails me, I have his phone number. Believe it or not, he wasn't injured.

 

[doc2rn]

I have seen Beretta bite, Scope eye, and Broken wrist from 12g. The worst thing I ever saw was a guy who got WP on his calf.