Liking recoil when shooting guns ?

[fpgt72]

Recoil is what does it for you.

Me I want to hit what I aim at, and with a 22, and I am shooting the hearts out of the 8 of hearts at 100 that makes me smile. Doing it with anything else will also make me smile, but not any more or less.

I guess I enjoy the end result, and not how loud I am or how macho everyone around me thinks I am....might be the same thing as lifted trucks and stuff like that.

 

[Sunray]

Felt recoil is subjective and far more about the rifle than the cartridge. A 405 grain BP load out of a 6 pound TrapDoor Carbine, hurts. A .308 out of a semi-auto M-14 or FN does not. Neither does a .30-06 out of an '03A4.
Handguns have muzzle jump, but the felt recoil is nothing.
A 2 gauge punt gun would be about 8-10 feet long and weigh close to 100 pounds.

 

[Schwing]

I am one who is NOT partial to recoil. I know some folks who just don't seem to be bothered by it but it but, not only do I bruise easy, but I have to really watch the flinching. With both rifles and handguns, I tend to start doing it again if I am shooting heavy loads. Then I spend the next 3 weeks dry firing to get rid of it again.

 

[.308 Norma]

I am one who is NOT partial to recoil. I know some folks who just don't seem to be bothered by it but it but, not only do I bruise easy, but I have to really watch the flinching. With both rifles and handguns, I tend to start doing it again if I am shooting heavy loads. Then I spend the next 3 weeks dry firing to get rid of it again.

That's me too. Although most rifles don't bother me, and I don't think I bruise all that easily, a cylinder full of even heavy .357 Magnum loads will have my 69 year old tendonitis elbow scolding me for a week. Fool that I am, a couple of weeks ago I tried out a couple of .45 Colt +P, 325 grain Buffalo Bore loads in my 4.5" Ruger Blackhawk. After those two rounds, both my right wrist and my right elbow were telling me to flinch every time I pulled the trigger - even with light, "cowboy" ammo.
I get a kick (no pun intended) out of some of these folks that claim recoil doesn't matter because "you're never going to feel it anyway" when you're shooting at a deer, elk, or whatever. While I agree with that, I also think the flinch a shooter developed while practicing, or sighting in that gun will still be present when they need to shoot something for real.

 

[XDJ]

I enjoy shooting a bunch of different rounds but sometimes I just need to feel some recoil. At the end of some shooting trips I shoot an Alaskan full of very hot .454 Casulls. Sometimes I'll reload and shoot another six. Or I'll shoot some very hot and heavy .45-70 gvt out of my Guide Gun.

After I shoot the Alaskan or Guide Gun with hot loads, I need to be done for the day. Not because of pain (ok, maybe a little) but anything else I shoot just feels like a let down.

 

[tark]

I think recoil is kind of fun, it lets you know that you have touched off something powerful. Up to a point. If it causes pain, it's no fun. This can happen in two ways. It's just plain heavy recoil, like a .458, and causes bruises..... Not fun. Or it causes discomfort in other ways. I have an Astra 600 that is no fun to shoot. It doesn't really kick any harder that any other 9MM of equal weight, but sharp edges on the grip and bottom of the frame dig into my hand. The violent cycling of the slide because of the blowback action doesn't help.

I have fired several Mini 9MMs that were very uncomfortable to fire. A Kahr comes to mind. But in their defense, they aren't intended to be fired that much.

Guess I'm just a recoil junkie.

 

[hdwhit]

loose noose wrote:
...no one likes to be beat up by heavy recoil.

Amen.

But then, I'm pretty spoiled on that score nowaday. Every rifle I have currently is either 22LR or 223 so recoil isn't much of a concern. About the only thing that "beats me up" is my grandmother's S&W J Frame revolver. The light weight and tiny grip makes shooting 158 grain bullets near max regular (not +P) loading unpleasant.

 

[exbrit49]

I wont say I enjoy recoil but I don't mind it either. I can handle anything up to a 44 magnum with no problem. I have been shooting big calibers for so long that I know they will kick but not hurt me. My range time is usually spent with , fairly warm loads in 357 Magnum up to my hot loads in 45 Colt. If I am using rifles it ranges from my 30/30, My 7.62 SKS and my Enfield in .303. As I said, I know they are going to kick but nothing that will harm me. I used to shoot Black powder competition with 50 caliber and an afternoon of shooting those will bruise a shoulder, no matter how well you have it pulled in to your shoulder. After an afternoon of BP competition I would be on the verge of flinching. An old friend cured me of that.
He would take whatever I was shooting and make me turn my back while he would re-load for me, then pass it back . I would line up on the target and squeeze that trigger. The second or third time he did that, I squeezed the trigger and just heard a click and it was a dry fire. I also realized that the muzzle had gone down at the moment I pulled the trigger. After a couple of times of that happening, (true flinching) I was so embarrassed, that I learned to squeeze the trigger again, with no flinching! no matter what the caliber. It was a great lesson and is applicable to rifles shotguns and pistols.
Don't be afraid of recoil, it's a natural phenomena, Sure I sometime shoot .22 and enjoy it., but I do enjoy shooting the larger calibers.
Try it and you might like it too, and if you do flinch, have someone load for you, so that you never know when a shot is going to go off or not. I guarantee that after a couple of times of click and seeing the muzzle jump, you will start squeezing that trigger and accuracy will improve dramatically.
In summary, shoot whatever you are comfortable with and above all, Enjoy it!

 

[Walkalong]

We "manage" recoil. We "control" our mind and muscles to not let it interfere with the shot.

I like shooting .22 LR and don't get bored after 50 rounds, assuming .22 is what I am in the mood to shoot. I enjoy shooting .44 Mag in my Redhawk in moderation (I'm unlikely to shoot a full 50 rounds), and don't like .44 Mag in a Model 29. I like shooting my low recoil 300 BLK AR, but also like to shoot my .458 Winchester Magnum sometimes.

I am not a recoil junky, never was. I do not like "sharp" recoil in a rifle (Think 7MM Remington Mag in a light rifle), but a certain amount of recoil at times is fun. When I was young I liked the .45 ACP over the 9MM because the 9MM didn't have enough recoil to "feel like I was shooting a gun", but these days I not only like shooting 9MM, but 9MM loads that are less than max.

 

[Walkalong]

In summary, shoot whatever you are comfortable with and above all, Enjoy it!

Agreed.