Can heavy recoil cause serious injury or is it just a phobia?

Status
Not open for further replies.
While I was applying for a pistol permit a couple of years ago there was a guy in front of me with his arm in a sling. He told the receptionist they didn’t need to process his CCW permit anymore he just sold the gun he was going to carry. A 4" S&W 500, it fractured his forearm!! Granted he was about 60 or 65, but still one handed he said. Imagine that.

I have had a scope or two try to bite me, and I did fire a shot gun with the pistol grips one time that bruised my hand, I guess all that recoil was not intened for ones hand from a 3 1/2.
 
It seems like I read on the side of a Taurus Raging Bull that improper holding during firing can cause broken bones. Or words to that effect.

I have also HEARD that repeated firings of 12 gage sgns (as in skeet, trap,etc) can cause detached retinas. Also, I believe it was John Taffin, of magnum revolver fame, that wrote about how the shooting of magnum handgun rounds had damaged his hands and arms.

Most of the destruction is usually irrepairable, such as nerve damage.
 
I'm not "afraid" of recall, but I do think that one should be aware of the recoil potential of the gun they are choosing to shoot and be prepared.
I have a Rubin-Schmidt K-31. It is not considered to be a super high powered gun, but after a few rounds with the steel buttplate it can have a shoulder hurting.
With a high powered, high "kick" rifle, using a good buttpad and even a cheekpad makes good sense.
My buttpad is a Shooterspad made by Yakpads. It has foam-like layers as well as a gel insert. Really absorbs the recoil, and adds a little bit of length, too. I also have a slip on cheek pad which is thick and comfortable.
 
busdriver72: "I have a Rubin-Schmidt K-31."

Schmidt came before Rubin, just as Pride came before the Fall, and Curious George the President ran ahead of the Man in the Yellow Hat.
 
As you get older, your tissues become less elastic, and retina detachment could really happen on a big big boomer. A bad hold can also result in shoulder dislocation, absolutely, yes, especially as you get older and/or are a slightly built person (or have a previous injury to the shoulder).
 
I have a 40# and a 60# daughter. I could put them behind a single shot 10ga and test the theory. On second thought, no thanks.
I know I have had 40+ broken bones in my life and none of them are from a firearm. And I have used the .50BMG.
That said my collar bones and both shoulder blades as well as my cheek bones are extremely recoil sensitive so I limit my own guns to 7x57 level and hanguns to 45ACP.
The hardest kicker in the house right now is a Rossi 20ga I just gave my 8yr old. It hurts me to shoot once because of the light weight and heavy loads (from my own 20). Yet she is still alive and shooting.
 
A 4" S&W 500, it fractured his forearm!! Granted he was about 60 or 65, but still one handed he said. Imagine that.
Click to expand...
Man, I would NEVER attempt to shoot my 500 Mag single-handed (not unless I had some REALLY CALM handloads!).

That would break my wrist and/or arm for sure.

I once had a friend who was sighting in his scoped 308 at the range. I kept telling him, don't get so close, the scope will bite you. Bang, the scope cut a half-round cut in his forhead. Load up the car, go to the ER.

Six stitches later and the next day we went to the range again.

I told him hold the gun tight to your shoulder and keep your face away from the scope. Bang!
The scope hit him the exact way it did the day before. There was blood all over the place.

He jumped up and was screaming and yelling that there is something wrong with that gun! I fired it and showed him how far I was keeping my face from the scope. Then off to the ER again to get sewn up. After that, he never fired that gun again that year.

Granted, it was an older gun with an older scope and the eye relief was a bit too close for comfort, however he was a newby. At that point, I had shot over tens of thousands of rounds in my life.
 
Last edited:
When I was in college in the early 80's, I read a paper about a man who had suffered a collapsed lung from the recoil of a big bore that I will not mention here. The story was that he was on safari in Africa and could not be taken to a hospital in time to save him. I always wondered if the whole thing was on the up and up, but considering the source, I tend to believe it.
 
What is one person's "phobia" is another person's ADDICTION!

I think I'm ADDICTED to HEAVY RECOIL!:cool:
 
I was living in Kodiak and had a really nice Marlin 1895GG in 45-70 that I had some very stiff hand loads for. I invited the head chef of the Buskin River Inn to go salmon fishing with me and he wanted to "Shoot the cowboy gun" , the first round made his eyes bug out and I coached him to keep it tight to his shoulder and keep his cheek on the buttstock for #2. That was all he could take. Later that night he had to go to the ER , the ENTIRE right side of his upper body, from his neck to the top of his abdomen was BLACK, it looked like he had been in a bad car wreck. They prescribed what I think was some anti-coagulants and percocets. The doctor at Kodiak Island Hospital was a friend of mine too (small town, wink wink) , a hunter, fisherman and shooter. When Mike told him what happend and who he was with he said the Doc laughed and laughed , (Good Alaskan Bedside manners given the circumstances, nobody died). I did not do this to him intentionally, hell, I shot the thing all the time without ill effect but am considerably more experienced and bigger physically than he was. Darnedest thing I have EVER seen related to sport shooting.

As the "inspector" says above, it IS addicting to see how much you can take. IMHO danged lightweight , even MEdiumWeight .338 Mags kick worse than ANYTHING, including BIG bore African guns.....I simply love harnessing and directing that much energy, cutting 12", 25-30' tall cottonwoods down with three shots....
 
Last edited:
One of our members here told me that he suffered some sort of nerve damage in his hand after shooting 3" 12 gauge Magnum loads out of a Lupara.

I suppose that would do it.
 
I have noticed that big men tend to take more of a beating from recoil than smaller men. This is because a large man has more inertia and it takes longer for the mass of his body to move so he soaks up more of the recoil energy. A smaller man carries less mass in his upper torso and will go with the flow.
 
As you get older, your tissues become less elastic, and retina detachment could really happen on a big big boomer. A bad hold can also result in shoulder dislocation, absolutely, yes, especially as you get older and/or are a slightly built person (or have a previous injury to the shoulder).
Click to expand...

What about cumulative effects on nerves, joints, or tendons?
 
I have read about some of the serious large bore handgunners particularly those involved in the creation of some of the large revolver rounds, who have major nerve damage and wrist problems. John Taffin comes to mind, he can be found on Leverguns.com
bw
 
One of our members here told me that he suffered some sort of nerve damage in his hand after shooting 3" 12 gauge Magnum loads out of a Lupara.

I suppose that would do it.
Click to expand...

Yep. My hand still doesn't work right, to this day. :(
 
I have come across one decent medical journal article regarding rifle-related nerve injury. It was written in the 70's. Physician's last name was something like Wannamaker ?????.

He detailed 3 men. I remember one had fired an African rifle a few times and one had fired a shotgun for a season. I don't recall what the third man had fired.

The conclusion was that the 3 of them had developed nerve injury involving the upper branch of the brachial plexus, which is a type of meshwork of nerves between the neck and arm.

There have been a few other medical journal articles detailing miscellaneous injuries, such as a piinched ulnar nerve at the elbow from shooting prone, but the 70's era article was the most interesting.

Will
 
I hate having to deal with the recoil, but learned to ride em. But I know at a certain velocity enough is enough and Im happy.

The Human Body is prone to wear and tear over the years. Stuff that will stay put will not after 50 years. When I stopped driving 18 wheelers, I had found bad concrete roads to affect internal holding tissues of the heart and some other areas that just got torn up inside by the vibration. If you applied me to bad concrete and for me it's too much.

Recoil is either going to detach my retinas, pull a neck muscle, throw a shoulder out or twist a muscle/pull a nerve somewhere as I have bone spurs to deal with.

But the one thing I do fear is bone loss. I have been told by doctor that if that happens to me (Hasnt yet...) even coughing in bed will be enough to break a bone somewhere.

But in the meantime I enjoy the shoots. There will be a recoil too many someday in the future. But.. from the looks of the Xrays, Ive got a long time before that happens.

And I will tell you that I spent three days on a air driven jack hammer in a confined space, about 30 hours of teeth rattling, brain scrambling hours of joy. I came out of that space very sick. But the job got done.

I was a ball of tingly pins and needles for two years after. Even now I still am, and that was 10 years ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
Big Recoil
2
Replies
44
Views
2K
maskedman504
M
E
  • Locked
Difference In Recoil?
Replies
22
Views
953
newfalguy101
N
tark
  • Locked
worst recoiling rifle
2 3
Replies
74
Views
8K
texgunner
T
T
  • Locked
1911 weight/recoil question
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
LiveLife
LiveLife
W
  • Locked
Ready, Aimed And Fearless Guns And Gun Owners Aren't Scary, Our Linda Learns - But Gu
Replies
6
Views
785
TonyB
T
Back
Top