Mac's Precision
Member
Recoil is a mind over matter issue. If you don't mind....it doesn't matter.
There are very few guns that have adequate recoil to do physical damage to the shooter. There are exceptions...."Baby Cakes" from an earlier post being one. .700 Nitro likely has the ability to do physical damage to shoulder joints if not cause excessive bruising to the muscle tissue.
The laws of physics apply.. 100 FT/lbs energy either moves 100 pounds one foot...or one pound 100 feet. Most guns in the common hunting calibers will fall in the 20-45 feet pound ranges. The same applies....moving that weight one foot. The action will cause an equal and opposite reaction. Energy out the muzzle...energy into your shoulder and or hand.
Now some of that will be dispursed by your flexible body down thru the legs and into the ground. Some energy is consumed by muzzle climb as it fights gravity. Some energy will be dispursed by moving you backward a portion of that foot distance. The less you recoil...by flexing..the more energy you eat.
It is as simple as that. Once you do the math in your head and realize that the recoil isn't going to send you to another zip code you can then focus on where the bullet is supposed to go.
Now...recoil or "kick" as many like to call it....is often magnified by all the scary dynamic things going on. Sound is the most offensive combined with felt concussion. The bigger the caliber...the more people become aware of the concussion and it's effects. A person can take a relitively tame caliber like .223 and attach a very agressive muzzle brake that directs some blast backward. It will make the rifle SEEM much more intimidating due to the sheer volume of noise. Many shooters can handle large bore boomers better with 31 nrr ear plugs combined with 28 nrr ear muffs over them. The total noise reduction will be great enough to tame the beast in many cases.
Further the shooting experience will seem much more offensive if the shooter fires with his / her mouth open. Exposing your inner ear areas to concussion via your open mouth can be unpleasant. There was never a better suggestion from many a range master "shut up...and shoot!"
As an 80 pound shooter...you should probably steer clear of things with 50+ foot pounds of recoil as they will probably knock you down. Proper posture will be required to handle such a monster. Stance and torso lean as well as foot placement ...will be critical to manage recoil forces. You should be able to shoot up to moderate 45-70.. 338 Win Mag as those are probably no greater than 50 feet pounds. You might not want to experience .416 Remington or the largest .460 Weatherby loadings as those exceed your body weight in foot pounds energy.
I would guess that a bigger issue that recoil would be finding the muscle strength to support massive calibers as the are offered in fairly heavy firearms. You can probably shoot larger calibers off a bipod or sand bags than you can hold up.
Everyone has limits of tolerence to recoil, blast, nerve stimulation etc. With handguns it is important that a proper grip is obtained to reduce the amount of movement the pistol can exhibit at the moment of recoil. One need not crush the gun to the point of causing shakes...but rather use enough grip to assure that the gun moves very little in the hand. "Seating" the gun deep enough is key as gaps above the web of the thumb amplify handgun movement. The more a gun moves independantly of the shooter the more it seems intimidating. Handgun movement is perceived as too much nerve stimulus as your hands and fingers have many nerve ends. More movment ....MUST be more recoil. Actually no. Recoil is consitent from a given loading...proper managment allows for higher volumes of shooting in that caliber.
IN many cases people that fail to be successful with shooting are often missing the boat in the aspects of grip and posture. Hollywood has done more to fill peoples head with poor posture and technique than any other source.
Now all that being said... I have my limits too. I am a big guy..6'04" and 295 pounds. I have some loads for my 1895 Marlin in 45-70 that push a 400 grain jacketed soft point to 2000 fps. I can handle 6 to 8 of them....and I would like to be done. I don't recoil much but rather I end up eating a lot of energy. Similarly I have a friend with a Browning A-bolt light weight with synthetic stock in .338 Win Mag. I put a box thru it...from the bench. It isn't nice yet he at his 150 pounds..handled it better. I'll shoot anything once...maybe twice if I don't have to stop and look for my glasses or fillings.
I would much rather go out and shoot some soft target loads all afternoon. Mellow 38 Specials....or target 45acp will be fine... certainly if they are nice and slow...about 750 fps.
Cheers
Mac.
There are very few guns that have adequate recoil to do physical damage to the shooter. There are exceptions...."Baby Cakes" from an earlier post being one. .700 Nitro likely has the ability to do physical damage to shoulder joints if not cause excessive bruising to the muscle tissue.
The laws of physics apply.. 100 FT/lbs energy either moves 100 pounds one foot...or one pound 100 feet. Most guns in the common hunting calibers will fall in the 20-45 feet pound ranges. The same applies....moving that weight one foot. The action will cause an equal and opposite reaction. Energy out the muzzle...energy into your shoulder and or hand.
Now some of that will be dispursed by your flexible body down thru the legs and into the ground. Some energy is consumed by muzzle climb as it fights gravity. Some energy will be dispursed by moving you backward a portion of that foot distance. The less you recoil...by flexing..the more energy you eat.
It is as simple as that. Once you do the math in your head and realize that the recoil isn't going to send you to another zip code you can then focus on where the bullet is supposed to go.
Now...recoil or "kick" as many like to call it....is often magnified by all the scary dynamic things going on. Sound is the most offensive combined with felt concussion. The bigger the caliber...the more people become aware of the concussion and it's effects. A person can take a relitively tame caliber like .223 and attach a very agressive muzzle brake that directs some blast backward. It will make the rifle SEEM much more intimidating due to the sheer volume of noise. Many shooters can handle large bore boomers better with 31 nrr ear plugs combined with 28 nrr ear muffs over them. The total noise reduction will be great enough to tame the beast in many cases.
Further the shooting experience will seem much more offensive if the shooter fires with his / her mouth open. Exposing your inner ear areas to concussion via your open mouth can be unpleasant. There was never a better suggestion from many a range master "shut up...and shoot!"
As an 80 pound shooter...you should probably steer clear of things with 50+ foot pounds of recoil as they will probably knock you down. Proper posture will be required to handle such a monster. Stance and torso lean as well as foot placement ...will be critical to manage recoil forces. You should be able to shoot up to moderate 45-70.. 338 Win Mag as those are probably no greater than 50 feet pounds. You might not want to experience .416 Remington or the largest .460 Weatherby loadings as those exceed your body weight in foot pounds energy.
I would guess that a bigger issue that recoil would be finding the muscle strength to support massive calibers as the are offered in fairly heavy firearms. You can probably shoot larger calibers off a bipod or sand bags than you can hold up.
Everyone has limits of tolerence to recoil, blast, nerve stimulation etc. With handguns it is important that a proper grip is obtained to reduce the amount of movement the pistol can exhibit at the moment of recoil. One need not crush the gun to the point of causing shakes...but rather use enough grip to assure that the gun moves very little in the hand. "Seating" the gun deep enough is key as gaps above the web of the thumb amplify handgun movement. The more a gun moves independantly of the shooter the more it seems intimidating. Handgun movement is perceived as too much nerve stimulus as your hands and fingers have many nerve ends. More movment ....MUST be more recoil. Actually no. Recoil is consitent from a given loading...proper managment allows for higher volumes of shooting in that caliber.
IN many cases people that fail to be successful with shooting are often missing the boat in the aspects of grip and posture. Hollywood has done more to fill peoples head with poor posture and technique than any other source.
Now all that being said... I have my limits too. I am a big guy..6'04" and 295 pounds. I have some loads for my 1895 Marlin in 45-70 that push a 400 grain jacketed soft point to 2000 fps. I can handle 6 to 8 of them....and I would like to be done. I don't recoil much but rather I end up eating a lot of energy. Similarly I have a friend with a Browning A-bolt light weight with synthetic stock in .338 Win Mag. I put a box thru it...from the bench. It isn't nice yet he at his 150 pounds..handled it better. I'll shoot anything once...maybe twice if I don't have to stop and look for my glasses or fillings.
I would much rather go out and shoot some soft target loads all afternoon. Mellow 38 Specials....or target 45acp will be fine... certainly if they are nice and slow...about 750 fps. Cheers
Mac.
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