What is your rifle recoil limit?

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SpeedAKL

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Let's face of it, most of us like big bad guns or at least the idea of them. At the same time, most of us do not like going to the range and coming home feeling like we've started an altercation with Manny Pacquiao. At what cartridge does a trip to the range stop being fun for you and start being a chore?

I've personally never fired a rifle cartridge more powerful than hotter .30-06 loads, which I didn't mind. All of my abuse comes from heavy 12 gauge loads. I'd be keen to fire a .300WM or .300 Weatherby sometime just to see if I'd enjoy it.
 
For me, it would be anything more than a .308. I'm not saying that I can't or won't shoot anything bigger, it's just that .308 is probably my limit for a "standard" target gun or something that I'd use for a day at the range and I'm not talking about a lightweight model.

The thing is that I have to qualify that. I've spent a little time with a used rifle that's up for sale at my local range. It's a Savage in .300 Win Mag, but it has a long, heavy barrel and is fitted with a very good brake. The felt recoil is probably about 2/3 that of my .308. It's a very well built rifle. I could probably burn out the barrel before I got tired of shooting that rifle. On the other hand, there was a guy out at the range a few weeks ago trying to sight in a crack barrel rifle in .500 S&W. I didn't enjoy shooting that at all. I also got to shoot a dangerous game rifle in .458 Rigby (is that right?) and that plain sucked. Twice was enough to last me a lifetime.
 
12 gauge slugs beat my shoulder up pretty good. Not sure what caliber rifle that translates to though. I could shoot my .243 all day long
 
06 at less than 200 grains is my comfort limit. If an 06 won't kill it, I don't want to be in the woods with it :(

06 and heavy bullets equal short range sessions. I'm over 60 and don't like having my shoulder beat up. Bench time is bad because you are sitting w/o much room to flex. Prone is worse.

Sitting in field position with elbows/knees has more room to rock back, so it's not as bad :)
 
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Any of the magnums over 30 cal are uncomfortable. My favorite deer rifle is a 6 1/4 lb 300 WSM. It isn't pleasant shooting from the bench, but it shoots so well that it is my goto gun. My recoil tolerance ends at the 300 RUM. The worst buttkicking that I have had was a 458 followed closely by my 2 1/4 oz. turkey load.
 
In any Lower 48 hunting, I've never seen the need for more than an '06. Load development and sight in at the benchrest has never particularly bothered me, and in the field I've never noticed the recoil. I've shot cartridges of more power and recoil; tolerable, but I've never been a masochist. :)

H&H let me shoot his .404 Jeffrey, but at 11 pounds it felt about like an '06. I passed on trying his .470 Rigby. :)
 
I think 308 and 12ga - both of which are pretty similar I feel. While I'll happily have a go with some of those elephant guns out there, I don't think I'd want to go above 308/12 ga slugs from a gas semi auto shotgun for any extended period.
 
I am almost 57 and .308 is the largest I shoot anymore, followed by 6.5 Swede, 7mm-08 and .22-250...all the young guys on the mag and short mag kick will learn, less recoil, better accuracy. as for dangerous game rifles...I think adrenaline absorbs most of that.
 
For me the 416-Rem was a real attention getter.:what::what::what: It got my attention so much so that it became more or less a dust collector. I sold off my 338-Win Mag when I acquired a 375 H&H. Certainly over kill for anything in the lower 48.

When I retired from hunting the 375 H&H was sold off. The gentle person who bought it also wanted the 416-Rem so I sold it to them also.:D

My mild cartridges are the 30-06 and 30-30 which I fire on occasion.:)
 
The hardest kicking I can handle repeatedly is my tactical 12 guage with 3" magnum slugs. Now if I am shooting prone on a bi-pod a 7mm rem mag is the limit of what I can accuratly shoot, and I have to keep those range sessions short cause OUCH.
 
The largest I've fired...more than a few rounds...was a .375 H&H Mag and I found it much more comfortable than a 300 Mag (either Win or Wthby). I recently shot a compensated (vented expansion chamber milled into the barrel) .338Mag which felt a lot like a 30-06 and was bearable.

I usually limit myself to the .260 and 7mm-08 class at the upper end and do most of my paper punching with 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm...but then I'm a lightweight
 
I took out my uncle's Sako 300RUM and sighted it in before an elk hunt. With the break on it I didn't mind too much. The same trip I took out a Ruger lightweight in 300WM without a break and without much of a butt pad. That was horrible. One magazine and I was done with it. Another friend of mine had a vintage 1903A3 and that kicked pretty good, too.
 
Recoil limit for what? One round? Twenty?

I know that a hot 180 grainer from a .300 Win in a 8.5 pound sporter is about all I can take for more than ten or twelve rounds and maintain any degree of accuracy with. But three to five rounds of .338 Remington Ultra Mag from a similar weight rifle is tolerable, as long as all I am expected to do with it is ring steel from 100 yards in the offhand position.

I am 6'6" and ~200 pounds, so while I am not really tiny, I am pretty skinny...not a lot of cushion to keep those big fast magnums from shaking my bones around.
 
I didn't care much at all for the .460 Weatherby I shot once!

After that though, my 30-06 felt like a .22.

At almost 67, any hard kicker isn't much fun anymore.
I find the .30 mags unpleasant now.
As are 12 ga Mag turkey loads off the sighting-in bench.

30-06 still doesn't bother me though.

rc
 
Probably a 300 Winchester Mag., or a .45-70 loaded with 500 grain cast bullets. The stocks on trap door Springfields never seem comfortable to my shoulder.
 
The only thing I've ever fired that I don't want to shoot again was 3.5" turkey loads from a pump shotgun.

I've owned 6 lb 300 mags and have shot guns as large as 8mm Rem magnum and 416 Rem mag with no problems. I probably wouldn't want to shoot any of them more than 15-20 times in any one range session though.

From 7 mag on down I rarely notice the recoil.
 
I've fired a .50 BMG upper on an AR, a .458 American (Mauser action) and a Blaser in .375 H&H Mag. So far, I haven't found a rifle where recoil was so bad I didn't like to fire it.

On the other hand, 3" Magnum copper-plated turkey loads out of my 870 Express are unpleasant for me.
 
As I've grown older.....

My first big game rifle was a 7mm Rem. Mag. It was selected for me by my father, and with the broadest application in mind. I was in high school, and quickly found that the first 3-shot group was FAR smaller than any succeeding groups. The rifle had a very nice trigger, but after 10 shots, I could feel every bit of creep.....

I've grown up since then. A 7 mag isn't a big deal for me. A .375 H&H is about my upper limit. Though I have shot a .416 Rem. Mag fairly extensively doing load development for a friend, I wouldn't say that it is enjoyable.

I have a 12 ga. pump shotgun with an aluminum receiver. (no, not a Mossberg) When shooting 3" Magnum buckshot loads, every shot will make me wonder.... "Why am I DOING THIS?????" :confused: I'm going to send the buttstock down to KDF for a mercury recoil reducer to see if that will tame the "ouch" out of it.

I hope to own a .470 NE double rifle before passing from this world. That will be a 9 lb. rifle, so the recoil will be diminished, somewhat.

I find that I need therapy after shooting heavy recoiling rifles and shotguns. Therapy consists of a target session with a .22. The first shot or two will show how much of a flinch I've developed. It allows me to focus on the basics, breath and trigger control. Even 10 min. makes all the difference in the world.
 
+2 on the high brass 12 gage loads in an 870 express.... no thank you.
full throttle loads in a 45-70 are too much also.
i have noticed that i have developed a flinch with my 308 but it's a pretty light rifle at about 6.5 lbs. and not much of a recoil pad.
 
The Winchester 1895 .405WCF with 300gr at 2300fps is pretty comfortable for me, even with the steel buttplate. That is, as long as I'm standing on my hind legs.
 
My limit for pleasurable shooting ended at the .378 Wea Mag. Right around 17 rounds was all I wanted. Give me a .22LR anytime. :D

Geno
 
I haven't found mine yet. I enjoy firing full-power 458 Lott, but like most heavy kicking gun enthusiasts, I know when to stop shooting. There's no need to fire off 50 rounds of 458 in one day.
 
With the blood thinners I take..............
7.62 x 39 with a shoulder pad is as far as I want to go.
No more skeet shooting---------bummer///////// :(:(
 
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