Hardest kicking gun you've ever shot?

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Long gun - H&R single shot 10 gauge with slug

Handgun - Smith and Wesson airweight .357 mag loaded with full throttle loads. I've shot a .50 Desert Eagle and a Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger and neither kicked liked that dang airweight. You pulled the trigger and it hurt.
 
This is an easy one. Don't remember the brand of gun but it was a single crack barral 10 gauge 3 1/2 magnum 36" goose getter. I shot it once!!!!!!!!


The doctor said I would be ok just don't do it again.:rolleyes:
 
First place, a Zephyr Thunderbird 10 gauge SxS imported by Stoeger in the '60s. I was a 16 year old, and touched off both barrels at once on passing geese in the sand dunes below Sandbridge, Virginia. Killed a goose, and almost did me in as well. The guy who owned it grabbed the gun as I went by down the back side of a dune.
Second, 378 Weatherby. Just viscious. The rubber fitted scope objective still put a big cut in my eyebrow - tons of blood. Turned me off to anything bigger than a .257 Weatherby for 30 years.
 
When I was 13 or so my Grandparents bought me a 20 Gauge Remington 870 Youth Express. I started with slugs since that's all the range would allow. The thing crushed my shoulder and I had a huge bruise for a couple of days. However, when I actually went hunting I used Buckshot. Much to my surprise it had virtually zero recoil. Since then I haven't shot anything... including ,30-06 that even came close. Grandpa also let me shoot .357 mags the first time I ever shot a pistol (after some .38's) which also helped get used to handgun recoil. Pretty good deal on my end :D
 
12ga 3" Remington Nitro Magnum Max #4 out of a Mossberg 500 24" bore-bbl.

Ouch!

My Father-in-law gave me those shells because he'd had quite enough of them too...

Les
 
1 & 7/8s oz 3" magnum 12 guage turkey loads in my 18" aluminum framed defender. Hurt my shoulder, my cheek bone, all over. Pretty orange muzzle blast kept me coming back for more. Like, 3 more. Then that was enough.

Edit for more pain---S&W 340 Scandium; 158 gr. full-house .357 mag loads. 1 was enough. More than enough. It is a .38 special now, and forever more shall be.
 
I used to do a lot of bench sighting of 12 ga slug loads. I'm no stranger to recoil that hurts. Heck, I even owned a 10ga single barrel that I had cut down and chocked down to be a turkey buster. But in terms of sheer pain when firing, nothing compares to a humble .44 mag Timberwolf slide action with "adjustable" stock that used to regularly implant my right thumb into my right eye orbit. It's specific recoil signature imparted an amazingly painful blow directly to the right cheek bone, that often deflected right up into the eye area. Holy Smokes that was painful, and all from a nominal "handgun" round that was exacerbated by a really, really badly designed carbine stock. I doubt anybody can appreciate it that didn't actually suffer from it. Man, I wanted that gun so bad before I had it, then I tried sooooo hard to like it, but it got to the point that I was flinching before I ever got it loaded. I went back to saner things like firing 12ga Brenneke slugs off the bench from lightweight Wingmasters and firing .338s and such. Much more pleasant.
 
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Remington mdl 700 ADL 300 Win. mag. 3 shots and I was ready to howl. I found a slip on rubber butt pad at the local gunsmithy shop and could run round after round thru it then, but with no butt, pad you would have had to shoot me with it to pull the trigger a forth time.
 
I have a few I guess,
1. NEF single shot 12 ga, those kick everyone
2. My buddies Mosin Nagant was one of the most unpleasant things that I have ever shot
3. M60 with the bipod set too low so it was on my collar bone, I had a bruise the size and shape of the buttplate from that one!
 
My most painful memory was shooting five consecutive Remington 2 3/4 inch "Slugger" foster slugs from a light as a feather NEF single shot 12 gauge Pardner across sandbags on a 50 yard range.
Christ that hurt!!
A very inaccurate slug shooter as well.
Never even hit the 12"x 16" target.
 
Some OLD Winchester bolt in .300 win mag, a cheap scope with no eye relief on top knocked me stupid on the 2nd shot.

shotgun-wise, a PGO Ithaca 37 clone. I made the mistake of trying to hold it up and use the sights. back of the gun right to the mouth.

handgun? a Ruger Blackhawk in .45LC just didnt know what to expect.
 
handgun= that s&w 500 thing after emptying two cylinders i thought my trigger finger was broken

rifle= when i was 10 and decided i wanted to shoot my dads old howa 7mm mag, or my ruger44 carbine loaded with full house rounds. Each shot isnt so bad but after a few shots you realize you are hurtin.

shotgun= cant really think of any particluar gun that whooped me but i can remember being young and wanting to shoot 12ga over my 410 dove hunting i tried 3 different 12's and all three beat me near to death.
 
I've never been recoil shy, at least not until age and arthritis has made me become more aware of my limitations. But the most unpleasant, downright painful, recoil experience I've had was finding the right slug combination for a scoped Remington 870 12 ga for a "shotgun only" hunt in Illinois a few years back. I shot several different brands of slugs over a few weeks prior to the trip searching for the best setup ( it ended up being Brenneke) at ranges from 25 to 125 yds. Prone, offhand, sitting, bagged, till I was confident that I could make the shot under most conditions. My shoulder was sore for a month. But it paid off, I got my deer and havent shot a slug since. Not even my 7mm Rem.Mag or my 45/70 are that brutal.
 
An old and very lightly built Beretta 12 g single shot, weighed about 4 or 5 lb.
I used it for rabbits with little Eley 2 inch cartridges, and it was great fun.
But it had a 3 inch chamber, and I just had to try them, never again 15 years later and I still shudder when I think of it, and will always wonder if it was the cause of all the shoulder problems and surgeries I have had over the last few years :eek:

Neil. :)
 
chas08,


if you don't mind, how are you coping with the recoil these days? Age is starting to catch up with me physically, and I need to look towards that. I rue the day I ever consider moving out of the 12 gauge realm. Let's hope it never comes!
 
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if you don't mind, how are you coping with the recoil these days?
Click to expand...
I don't mind at all. I'm 54 yrs old and have arthritis in my right shoulder. I don't shoot for recreation (especially the larger calibers I own) as much as I once did. I've had good recoil pads put on all my heavy hitters. I still shoot my 10ga on Geese and a 12ga on Ducks. In recent years I've shifted from pumps, SxS's and O/U's to gas operated semi-autos. I don't often hunt two days in a row anymore. On a typical day I may only shoot 10-15 rounds. I can usually tolerate that without any meds, but when the shoulder starts hurting nothing works for me like the over the counter painkiller "ALLEVE". Except for, good sour mash whiskey or single malt scotch, providing the hunting/driving is over for the day and in moderation of course.;):D
 
Having pulled both triggers as a lad as well, that DOES impart a push to the shoulder. However, firing an 8 gauge industrial gun, even on a tripod, gave me room for pause. That was a monster
 
Rifled slugs out of a 20 gauge Franchi 48. A 5 1/2 pound gun with a plastic buttplate shooting 3/4 oz of lead at 1500 fps. Ouchy.
 
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