Kinda sore after range day

[jmorris]

I still remember the weekend I made my first clay throwing machine. We threw 1800 clays in 2 days, several of us had bruises on both shoulders because the strong side got tender enough we switched.

I don't generally have problems with handguns but some of my Contenders don't like the way fingers taste, some of the hard recoiling calibers can feel like the trigger guard chewed them up before spitting them back out.

 

[chicharrones]

If my wrist, forearm, elbow and shoulder ache after an extended range day, I get out a pint mug and fill it with Guinness. Sit back and lift that mug with my right hand and take a sip.
Then my left hand, and continue this routine. It must work because after an hour or so, all the aches go away.

Reminds me of the Beerbell I had back in the day. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256182826582

 

[Noclutch]

Hmm. Very practical idea that's directed to the exact muscle groups. Two metal frame 5" autos with full mags/empty chamber should weigh about right. Kinda like Yosemite Sam but without the wheel guns

Don't get my original post to mean that I'm a slug at all. I have a small farm which is in a constant state of "things to do/fix/build".
Shooting pistols is much more isometric than, say, cleaning the water trough or shoveling some soil or prepping a garden bed or running a chain saw etc....it never ends LOL

 

[doubleh]

Ya'll shoot too much. Twenty, thirty rounds a few times a week or just once a weel is enough for proficiency. Or are you all training for extended, hours long, days long combat. Don't be old fools.

I am not driving a 50 mile round trip just to shoot 30 rounds. I will shoot until I'm tired and deal with it when I get back home.

If my wrist, forearm, elbow and shoulder ache after an extended range day, I get out a pint mug and fill it with Guinness. Sit back and lift that mug with my right hand and take a sip.
Then my left hand, and continue this routine. It must work because after an hour or so, all the aches go away.

I'll bet it does. Word of warning: alcohol tends to irritate your pancreas and the older you get the more likely it will. An unhappy pancreas is not fun to deal with.

 

[sgt127]

Usually, no. I work out pretty hard every other day though.

Couple days ago, I was sighting in an AR. 30 yards. 100 yards and finally carried my 25 pound steel plate out to 200 yards.

Decided to turn on “Map My Walk”.

I walked 1.6 miles. Check targets. Paste targets. And then, toting the plate and base back and forth.



I felt that one.

 

[UncleEd]

For many, years of extended range sessions involving hard kicking handguns (or even not so hard kicking) have slowly damaged arm bone structure which cannot be repaired. Weight lifting workouts will do little good.

Old time target shooters seemed to know this and their calibers of choice were .22s, lightly loaded .38s and .45 ACPs

But then the era of modern day would-be gun fighters was born and the race was on..
Dirty Harry, stand aside.

 

[trackskippy]

When did the "modern age" start?

Ive been shooting in excess of a couple of hundred rounds a week of rifle and handgun calibers since the early 70's (actually shot a lot before that too, but was just getting started ) and still do so. A lot of that was a couple of decades of 50-100 rounds a week of 30-06 and/or 308 and a couple hundred rounds of 45acp. These days, its more 5.56 and 9mm, but still, a fair amount of the .30 cals and a mix of most of the major handgun calibers throughout the year too.

Maybe it isn't the shooting part of things that's the problem?

 

[Mark_Mark]

Stop laughing
If after a good session of working on accuracy and proficiency, have you ever had somewhat sore arms and shoulders?
And then the next day wonder what sort of "cross training" one should do, other than shoot more?
I'm probably addressing this to the older folks like myself here who are on the downside of their physical prime and testosterone levels

only 1 cure for too much estrogen! MEAT!

RARE

 

[Highland Lofts]

I started taking two gallon milk jugs and hold them straight out .
One minute a day for three days.
The next week hold them straight out for two minutes three days a week
Repeat adding a minute untill i get up to holding them straight out for five minutes.
Then I start putting water in them.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I started taking two gallon milk jugs and hold them straight out .
One minute a day for three days.
The next week hold them straight out for two minutes three days a week
Repeat adding a minute untill i get up to holding them straight out for five minutes.
Then I start putting water in them.

NICE ONE

 

[nofendertom]

Mark-Mark --- That's "KNOCK the HORNS OFF" rare !

 

[ms6852]

I started taking two gallon milk jugs and hold them straight out .
One minute a day for three days.
The next week hold them straight out for two minutes three days a week
Repeat adding a minute untill i get up to holding them straight out for five minutes.
Then I start putting water in them.

Had beer bubbles coming out my nose. Took several minutes for my eyes to stop tearing to where I could read the screen.

 

[Highland Lofts]

LMAO

 

[.308 Norma]

Old time target shooters seemed to know this and their calibers of choice were .22s, lightly loaded .38s and .45 ACPs

Ah, that depends on what kind of "target shooting" you're talking about, UncleEd. I figure that my wife and I are "old time target shooters" (I'm almost 77 and she's not far behind) and we both competed in IHMSA "target shooting" back in the late '70s and early '80s. My wife shot in the "Production Revolver" class with a stoutly loaded 10.5" 44 Magnum, while I shot in the "Unlimited" class with a 14" 7mm IHMSA bolt-action, single-shot.

Both handguns kicked pretty darned hard, but my wife's 10.5" 44 Magnum was the worst. That's what it took to be competitive though. If the "targets" didn't tip over, even if they were well hit, they didn't count. And tipping over a 45lb steel "ram" at 200 meters takes a fairly powerful handgun - one that "kicks pretty darned hard."

Furthermore, while there was such a thing as IHMSA .22 rimfire matches (with smaller silhouettes at closer ranges), I never heard of a single large bore IHMSA competitor using "lightly loaded .38s or .45 ACPs." If there were any, I'd bet dollars to donuts they didn't even place in any sanctioned IHMSA silhouette matches.

OTOH, my wife has a shelf lined with IHMSA trophies in the spare bedroom in the basement. And she deals with arthritis in her right thumb joint almost every day now!

No regrets though. My wife is not like that. Besides, the arthritis my wife now deals with could just as easily be the result of some other activity - we were also avid rock climbers back in the '80s and early '90s.

Or maybe the arthritis my wife now deals with isn't the result of any activity at all. Her grandma was all crippled up with arthritis even though I doubt her grandma ever did anything much more strenuous than working in the vegetable garden.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Ah, that depends on what kind of "target shooting" you're talking about, UncleEd. I figure that my wife and I are "old time target shooters" (I'm almost 77 and she's not far behind) and we both competed in IHMSA "target shooting" back in the late '70s and early '80s. My wife shot in the "Production Revolver" class with a stoutly loaded 10.5" 44 Magnum, while I shot in the "Unlimited" class with a 14" 7mm IHMSA bolt-action, single-shot.

Both handguns kicked pretty darned hard, but my wife's 10.5" 44 Magnum was the worst. That's what it took to be competitive though. If the "targets" didn't tip over, even if they were well hit, they didn't count. And tipping over a 45lb steel "ram" at 200 meters takes a fairly powerful handgun - one that "kicks pretty darned hard."

Furthermore, while there was such a thing as IHMSA .22 rimfire matches (with smaller silhouettes at closer ranges), I never heard of a single large bore IHMSA competitor using "lightly loaded .38s and .45 ACPs." If there were any, I'd bet dollars to donuts they didn't even place in any sanctioned IHMSA silhouette matches.

OTOH, my wife has a shelf lined with IHMSA trophies in the spare bedroom in the basement. And she deals with arthritis in her right thumb joint almost every day now!

No regrets though. My wife is not like that. Besides, the arthritis my wife now deals with could just as easily be the result of some other activity - we were also avid rock climbers back in the '80s and early '90s.

Or maybe the arthritis my wife now deals with isn't the result of any activity at all. Her grandma was all crippled up with arthritis even though I doubt her grandma ever did anything much more strenuous than working in the vegetable garden.

I’m not a old timer yet, but shoot .22’s in between guns, and most my guns are loaded to Min charge or below! Paper can’t tell the difference!

Now if I’m in bear country… +P Loads with Hard Cast!

 

[Styx]

Stop laughing
If after a good session of working on accuracy and proficiency, have you ever had somewhat sore arms and shoulders?
And then the next day wonder what sort of "cross training" one should do, other than shoot more?
I'm probably addressing this to the older folks like myself here who are on the downside of their physical prime and testosterone levels

The only time I've been sore after a range visit was when I fired a few cylinders of 357 out of my Ruger LCR. I felt like I had an extra case of arthritis for a week. The other time was after shooting full power 12 gauge out of my Remington 870. I felt like someone had NBL level batting practice on my shoulder. That took a while to heal.

I can handle 9mm, 40s&w, 45acp, AKs, and ARs just fine, and that's what I shoot the most.

 

[doubleh]

I think how bad your arthritis is is somewhat hereditary. My wife's hands are in terrible shape from it and she no longer shoots anything. After I had to start setting up her 380 EZ and hand it to her ready to go she said that was enough and she would just watch. Her mother's hands did the same. My hands have endured much more stress than my wife's and my fingers only stiffened up last year. My father was a farmer that carpentered or mechaniced during the winter and never had hand problems. I can still grip a handgun with no problem. My weak point is my wrist which I put down to arthritis until a recent x-ray revealed I had very little in it. It's something to do with tendons and tunnels. I avoid shooting snappy recoiling handguns now. I can still handle 45 ACP and 45 Colt cowboy loads as long as I don't go overboard about it.

 

[UncleEd]

My postings in this thread have been on the physical damage caused by repetitive shooting of firearms, especially handguns. Doesn't mean not to enjoy firearms. I certainly have but not without a price.

Now regards rifles, especially those with synthetic stocks. Allowing you use proper and adeqaute hearing protection, those "plastic" stocks transmit a certain amount of vibration, it has been reported. And that vibration can contribute to hearing damage, loss.

To whit, no free lunch in our sport or chosen line of self protection. The trick is to minimize those drawbacks or to put it another way, no pain no gain in hard kicking firearms is a stupid viewpoint.

But shooters being shooters, as a Colt exec said years ago, if Colt produced a gun that would tear off an arm, many shhoters would probably thank Colt.

 

[CapnMac]

See, here's just one more reason that we all ought own at least the one Garand.
Forearm curls with that 10 pounds in reps of 5 or ten. Then Pressing vertically, alternating before and behind the head. Shoulder twists, too.

Our forefathers may have had some unscientific calisthenics, but they were effective.

The classic toe-touch, and diagonals are probably more "rotation" than modern kineseology would recommend, though.

Moderation in all things.

 

[chicharrones]

See, here's just one more reason that we all ought own at least the one Garand.
Forearm curls with that 10 pounds in reps of 5 or ten. Then Pressing vertically, alternating before and behind the head. Shoulder twists, too.

Our forefathers may have had some unscientific calisthenics, but they were effective.

The classic toe-touch, and diagonals are probably more "rotation" than modern kineseology would recommend, though.

Moderation in all things.

Looks like a warm up.

 

[CapnMac]

Looks like a warm up.

And works as a "warm down" too, after a range day.

 

[someguy2800]

I can wear out the muscles in my hands pretty easily from firm grip and loading mags, but I can't say I've worn out arms or shoulders.

 

[gwpercle]

I have an idea ... knife , fork and spoon... In matched sets that weigh 2.5 , 5.0 and 7.5 pounds each .
The idea is to use them when I do what I enjoy most ... Eat !
I enjoy eating and do it three times a day ... eat with the knife , fork and spoon weight set...
and get the hands , arms and shoulders a great workout .
Increase the weight as you gain hand , arm and shoulder strength !

I guess if this were a good idea ... the Knife, Fork and Spoon Weighted Workout Set ...
would be on the market .
Gary

 

[halfmoonclip]

I get out a pint mug and fill it with Guinness.

Be a real chump to miss out on a pint, for whatever reason.
We are fortunate to have an indoor range Club range, with no limits on time or visits, so it's not necessary to do a whole lot of blasting at a session.
Thus far, the hardest kicker that gets shot a lot is the BG2.0, and even that isn't that much of a pounder. But I'm a lot more cautious about ugly kickers (M340SC, with magnums, as an example).
Moon

 

[chicharrones]

Interesting that stronger recoiling guns were brought up.

I took my Glock 36 shooting last Thursday and this afternoon. The usual two handed and single handed shooting (strong and weak). I notice after today's session my strong hand wrist felt like I tweaked it a bit. Damn.

And I have a S&W 66-2 that I haven't fired in some time. That gun is likely headed for .38 special only.