What is your rifle recoil limit?

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While not a rifle, my limit is probably at 12g slugs in a light gun.

I have no desire to shoot more than one, but I'll tolerate more in a heavier gun.

The biggest cartridge I've ever fired in a bolt gun was .30-06, and that was fine. But, my father in law has a lightweight .270 that I don't enjoy shooting more than a couple times. My Savage .270 is fine for me though.

The weight of the rifle has a great bearing on the felt recoil, IME.
 
if it were not for the m1 garand, i most likely wouldnt shoot 30-06 much.

my mosin is fun to shoot, but ammo is so cheap that you can easily shoot a lot of it up quick. 100 rounds or so of it and it starts to wear on me.

the biggest round that i really enjoy is 308, (and 30-06 if its coming from an m1)
 
I fired one shot from a .300 Weatherby Magnum and I was done with it. That's when I was going through 25-50 rounds of 7.62x54R or 8mm every weekend range session. 8mm Mauser is about the most I want to deal with on a regular basis, especially in a rifle with a steel buttplate.

jm
 
I grew up shooting a 30-06, so I guess I'm used to it. I don't find that a 7 mm Rem Mag kicks worse to amount to anything.

I have hunted with 300 Mags of different types, and I can shoot them OK. But, it is unpleasant. So, I think 7 Rem Mag is as heavy as I'll go in the future.
 
For some reason my WASR in 7.62x39 beats the heck out of me. Probably the short stock. But I can shoot the M44 without issue.

The recoil pulse of the AK is very sharp, wheras the 7.62x54r seems like a tug. It's kinda hard to explain.

Oh yea, and the Garand seems pretty soft to me.
 
I have a couple of .338 Lapua Mag. rifles. They don't kick as much as I thought they would, but they are on the heavy side (12 and 15 lbs) and they have muzzle brakes. If you put a 30-06 in a 5 lb. rifle, I'm sure that it would kick harder.
 
Nothing I won't give a try, though in rifles the heaviest I've shot has been .30-06/8mm Mauser levels. I have however, shot 3.5" 12ga buckshot and turkey loads without issue.
 
I spent 30 years shooting a .25-06, not much recoil and never punished me at all. Of the rifles I have the 2 killers are a Win 94 in .30-30 and a .300 H&H mag.

I do have a Win Stealth in .308 that is almost as pleasant to shoot as the .25, but it is a heavy rifle.
 
Felt recoil is very subjective. Since surgery on my right shoulder last year, I don't like much of anything on the bench but can easily shoot a .416 Remington Mag standing up. Likewise my .375 H&H. When doing load work, I typically use a sandbag between my shoulder and the butt to spread the load as well as attenuate the impulse. It's like adding weight to the rifle.

Practice is done using Trailboss. It's God's gift to old farts like me.

On the other hand, I can shoot very large calibers in my Contender all day long. .35 Remington, .375 Win, .375JDJ no problem at all. And yes recoil is STOUT.
 
I have to say, though this is the rifle forum, 12-gauge high-brass or magnum loads out of a pump gun are just plain nasty! We shooters often complain about excessive rifle recoil yet think little of beating ourselves with artillery-grade 12-gauge loads because in some cases they are the only tool for the job. 3-inch magnum 00 from a lightweight pump gun produces around 60 ft-lbs of recoil according the chuck hawks recoil calculator. To give you an idea, that's THREE TIMES the recoil energy of a .30-06 with 180-grain pills out of a standard-weight bolt rifle. I also have never found that shotgun recoil is more of a "shove" than a "snap" as some claim....12ga slugs, even 2.75-in ones, feel far more abrupt to me than a heavy .30-06 load with a decent stock on the gun.
 
577 NE is the biggest for me. I've shot a lot of big bore rifles: 416, 458, 460, 470 etc. I am paying for it now as my doctor has advised me to avoid guns with high recoil owning to shoulder problems, probably much exacerbated by said guns.

These days I tend to stay under 308, with the occasional 458 WM just for old time sake. While there is definite appeal to shooting something that can take down any animal on the planet, it's not without cost in terms of wear and tear on the body.
 
I've fired a .470 NE... get a firm grip or it will knock your glasses off. Still, it was FUN!
 
.308 feels good, 30-06 is ok for a few shots, 12ga slugs ok few shots, 7mmRem-mag too much punch to call fun.. my 243 pump is a joy to shoot (my AR is jealous)
 
3 or 4 rounds through a 45-70 double rifle

I also only want to put 150-200 rounds at a time through my Mausers or Enfields
 
A light 30'06 (synth stock) can be a lot, right up there w/ 12ga slugs (which really aren't much fun).
 
I shoot 7.62X54R out of a 91/30 and 8X57 out of a 98K Mauser all day long with no problems.

Grew up with a 30-06 Garand I bought from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago way back in the 50's at age 16, for $89.95 shipped and used it as my go-to hunting rifle all the way up 'til I enlisted in the Army in 1961. Sold it for "beer money" at the time and been kicking myself in the butt ever since for not keeping it.

Worst one I ever shot and would never even consider doing it again was a Greener double rifle in 500 Nitro Express. Fired one round. Dang thing did not have a recoil pad on it and even wearing a heavy jacket, standing, with it pulled in real tight, my shoulder was sore for almost a month.
 
The hardest recoiling rounds that I have fired are the .375 H&H and hot .45-70 loads. I don't mind either in a reasonable quantity, but I wouldn't want any more recoil than that. I do think that the recoil in my friend's Browning in .270 WSM with a light stock felt like it was worse than my Ruger No. 1 in .375 H&H. I don't much care to shoot that rifle again.
 
high recoil velocity bothers me more than high recoil energy. I have a greater tolerance for standard 12 ga slugs than I do for the .270.

That being said, the most miserable recoil I've felt yet was due to 3.5" lightfield commander slugs.
 
It's all about the platform. Hot .45-70's out of a light trail gun are brutal, as are 12 ga. magnum slugs out of trail shotguns. Those Mannlicher straight pull carbines are no walk in the park.

Worst recoil to date was from a short-loaded roundball in a .54 smooth rifle. That bruised some ribs.
 
I have hunted with 300 Mags of different types, and I can shoot them OK. But, it is unpleasant. So, I think 7 Rem Mag is as heavy as I'll go in the future.
Click to expand...

I'm right there with you. The 7mm Rem Mag out of a sporter weight rifle feels like a slightly sharper 06, which isn't bad. I have put 25 to 30 rounds of 7mm Rem Mag through my M700 BDL from the bench and/or prone on several occasions and not felt abused. The .300 Win out of the same weight rifle is tolerable in limited doses--I know I could shoot one accurately enough for long enough to accomplish pretty much anything I needed to in the field--but it isn't pleasant for me.

So my relative recoil chart goes like this:

.223 and under: what recoil?
7.62x39: leisurely
.308 (M1A): pleasant--enough to feel like you have a man's gun--not enough to hurt you
7mm Rem Mag: fine, we'll make an afternoon of it
.300 Win: tolerable, but I probably won't need an entire box of rounds in a setting
.338 RUM: intense--limited doses

Anything bigger better be on a cart.
 
I calibrated my tolerance with a 35 Whelen. 200 gr. bullets were fine--about like a 30-06 with hot 180 gr. loads. 225 gr bullets were OK (about like my 300 Weatherby with 180's), but 250 gr. bullets were too much. I reconfirmed this while shooting up some old handloads.

I use an old scuba weight belt to add weight to the heavy stuff like 375 H&H and a lightweight 460 S&W carbine with 240's and up.
 
For range shooting with unscoped rifles it goes something like this:

.375 Ruger Alaskan - Love it for about 1 box.

.416 Ruger Alaskan - Love it for about 1/2 box, then my cheek starts getting sore.

375 H&H with Hornady HEAVY MAGNUM loads in a Ruger Magnum with OEM "recoil pad" - It takes about 5 shots before I can believe it actually hit me as hard as it felt like it did the first 4 times. Then I am ready to put it away.
 
If I have the Past Recoil shield on my sholder, under the shirt so I won't be called a wussie, it doesn't much matter since that literally takes away the recoil. Without it a 308, 303, 30-06 will start to become uncomfortable in a thin shirt. 45-70 loaded at max is very bad from shot one. Handguns don't seem to bother but I havent tried one of the new 50's yet.
 
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