Which has been the most unpleasant handgun you have shot ?

[Archie]

Hard to pick a winner.....

I had a S&W M19 long ago... used full house magnum ammo in it and Herrett Shooting Star grips. Single rounds weren't bad, but the effect was cumulative.
S&W M25 firing hardball with Shooting Stars was similar. Both revolvers shot like rifles, but beat and beat and beat my hand.

Was issued a match grade 45 one year (1976) for the Western Division Matches. It shot much better than I did, but hammer bit. I can still feel the lump where the scar was.

Heavy recoil per shot? I once shot two rounds out of an over/under derringer in 45ACP. Hardball. I'm still happy they weren't something like +P. That was painful and the shift of the pistol was serious. I could probably made a solid body hit out to ... five or six feet.

Then I shot two rounds from a howdah pistol. Imagine, if you will, the two shot High Standard DA derringer, sized up to chamber two rounds of .577 Snyder. The barrels are about 7 inches long and the pistol weighs about four pounds. The owner of the pistol shot 28 guage shotgun ammo through it.
I have a picture of me shooting it somewhere... I ripped the arm seam of my shirt.

With any kind of luck, there will be worse ones yet!

 

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

Got a couple.

Springfield Armory S.A.S.S. Looks about like so. This one's a .223, but mine are considerably bigger, with correspondingly heavier barrels:



Shooting the .308 Win. is bad. It hurts. The .358 Win. is MUCH WORSE. Bruises after 4-5 shots. Imprints the mainspring checkering on your palm. No scopes on mine, so they weigh less.

Runner-up is The Monster. American Derrringer Model 8, chambered for 7.62 X 39. Example:



Stings like Hell won't have, but not as bad as the .358. Doesn't shove you around, or try to bury itself in your head. Light bullets make all the difference.

In comparison, my buddy's .454 SRH is a breeze to shoot. My Mountain Gun is a positive pussycat, even with those UMC Yellow-box softpoints. I have a steel .41 Tracker that's pretty bad, but it just doesn't compare.

 

[dd-b]

For me personally it was my Colt Government Mk. IV series 70. I owned it from 1981 until last year, but I never found it pleasant or comfortable to shoot.

I don't mind .357, I enjoyed shooting a friends .44 snubbie and the same friend's .45 Super; I'm not super-sensitive to recoil or noise or anything. But the .45 just wasn't my friend.

 

[Ian]

The worst I've fired was a Dan Wesson .44 mag single-handed. Maybe I was holding it badly, but it gave my whole arm a good jarring. Compared to that, a .45 win mag LAR Grizzly is wimpy, and a 1911 is downright soft and fuzzy.

 

[tex_n_cal]

Another vote for the .50 DE. The grip to me was just like a 2x4 - my thumb got all the brunt of the recoil.

The 10" .44 mag Contender with hot loads kicks hard, straight back into the palm of you hand. It also was pretty inaccurate, to my disgust.

I've shot a .454 SRH, with full tilt loads, and it was memorable. Lots of muzzle whip, and it whacked the palm of my hand hard. I want a .480

I was surprised at the kick of a Walther PPK I shot recently. I do fine with normal pistol calibers, even hot .44's and .45 Colts, but that PPK ended my longstanding desire for one of them.

I want an XP100R in full length 7mm-08

Worst muzzle blast? An XP100 in .22-250, loaded with lots of Varget.

 

[happy old sailor]

see a number of mentions on the .380 NAA Backup. me too.

was a happy day when some dude thought it was the "cutest" little thing he had ever seen. same thing i thought when i bought it. he made an offer that included a small profit to me. had a handful of money vice a handful of pain. happy day indeed.

 

[357Man]

Most uncomfortable handgunning experience

Several; I recently shot one of the S&W titanium snubbies with 158 grain .357 loads. I didn't make it through all five in the cylinder, I stopped at two, and I am not recoil sensitive.

Second, TC Contender in .45-70, 500 grain HOT handloads. Even with the muzzle break, it was a killer. Also, same gun, .375 JDJ with muzzle break - I shot it offhand, with iron sights. It came straight back with almost no muzzle rise, and darn near knocked me over (handloads with 300 grain Sierra boattails).

 

[Gunner45]

FEG PA-63 in 9Makarov. That little commie pistol hurt the web of my hand worse that my .44 mag ever has. One box, and I was ready to go back to shooting the 44, just to give my hand a break.


Gunner45

 

[RCL]

Most unpleasnat handgun I ever shot was a T/C Contender in .44 Mag, even using Winchester "white box". I don't know what it was about that gun, but it would leave my fingers bruised and bloodied. Felt recoil was more than my FA .454 with heavy loads. That thing just did not fit me.

 

[Owen]

TC Encore in .454 Casull. I had blood rushing out of my knuckle for 10 minutes

 

[Dr.Rob]

Call me a wuss but the 454 casull is just too much gun for me.

Let's not even get started on the 30-06 Encore.

I had the shakes for days.

 

[Grizzly]

mine was a T/C contender in 7x30 waters with a muzzle brake
the reciol was managable but getting slapped in the face with the blast of hot gas was quickly tiresome

 

[OldFatGuy]

AMT .45 Backup gets a vote. I have one. Not fun to shoot, but I do use it, and will keep it.

My new .47-70 10" BFR is a fun gun to shoot. Recoil isn't that bad. 4" S&W .44 mag is worse.

 

[CGofMP]

yer gonna laugh...

But i really disliked the Beretta Jetfire .25 automatic.

I have fired lots of high powered handguns and felt BIG recoil but that stupid little Jetfire has such a sharp SMACKING little recoil .....

Bleah...

Charles

 

[JJohnston015]

.50 AE Desert Eagle. Wasn't mine, and I almost dropped it. Never really did have a decent hold on the 2x4 sized grip to begin with.

3" M29. Mine, and not for sale, because it hits like the bullets are self-guided, even with the recoil & short sight radius.

M342 airweight. Recoil is very snappy due to the light weight, and as mentioned earlier, the "ball peen hammer effect" on the palm.

 

[YodaVader]

"The 10" .44 mag Contender with hot loads kicks hard, straight back into the palm of you hand. It also was pretty inaccurate, to my disgust."

Yeah I know where you are coming from! I have fired many 44 Magnum rounds through S&W and Ruger revolvers (6.5" -7.5" mostly) and even from the bench and they were not even close to the 10" TC 44 in FELT RECOIL! Although the TC 44 barrel I owned was fairly accurate - fianlly resorted to wearing a padded glove to shoot that thing!

A Glock 17 was the most unpleasant gun to shoot that did not cause actual pain. The ergonomics of that gun are all wrong for me. Did not not care for the pointing characteristics , muzzle flip for such a modest cartridge and the terrible trigger. Never liked Glocks since.

 

[Bob C]

A TC Contender in .44 Magnum with a octagon 10" barrell and full l;oads. Much worse than a 14" 35 Remington.

 

[gbran]

Big Bores

Hot ammo in handguns do two things; Kick and push (or bite and shove). Titanium .357's kick and bite and are very unpleasant. Hot rounds out of my SRH .454 kick worse that some .475 & 500 Linebaughs, which do kick, but certainly push a lot harder. Rate of burn vs. weight? Don't forget ergonomics. My titanium .357 Taurus trigger guard rested against the backside of my finger and hurt like hell when shooting.

 

[Rexzila]

The most unpleasant gun I had through the year was a Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special. I loved the concept of having a large bore in a small package. But the darn thing always bit my hand, I traded it for an old Colt Police Positive. I have passed on quite a few guns over the years. As mentioned by many a PPk will give you stitches on the back of your hand it you have thick mitts like mine. The bottom of the slide coming back on the web of your hand will cut it like sushi. I have a Beretta Tomcat that would of had the same problem, but I changed to Pierce Wrap Around grips which solves it. The moral of the story...always find an example to shoot before you buy something....that is what gun ranges are for.

 

[Pappy John]

NAA mini-revolver in .22lr. Big hands mean a one finger grip. And to top it off, the first time I tried to shoot one I was inexperienced with any type of handgun. The first couple of shots left the gun standing straight up in my hand so I thought it would be a brilliant idea to shift my grip for a better grasp, using my middle finger on the trigger with my forefinger bracing the gun alongside the cylinder...with the tip of course right next to the cylinder gap. Can you say blood blister? :banghead:

 

[Kobun]

Grisly .45 Win Mag.
It had a bunch of sharp edges and it cut my hand badly. I bled all over the gun but finished the mag.
I told the owner to get the sharp edges rounded, but he wanted to keep it in original condition! :banghead:
Gees... The recoil wasn't bad, but that gun sucked!

 

[benewton]

I've gotta back MJRW: .380 Sigma's truely suck.

I went back to my ,44 Bulldog for relief after a mag full of .380s.

 

[goon]

It was most likely my Ruger Blackhawk 45LC. I bought it for a hunting/outdoor gun, so I loaded some pretty stiff handloads for it. The recoil itself wasn't that bad, but because of the shape of the grip and my long fngers and big hands, the triggerguard would smack me in the knuckle of my middle finger every time.
After about 5 rounds, I would have a pretty wicked bruise where that thing kept hitting me. In order to get rid of the problem, I had to load standard loads for it. That defeated my reason for buying it, so I sold it off.

 

[Beorn]

Another vote for the Desert Eagle .50AE. The slide kept nicking the web of my hand. That changed once I started wearing my shooting glove, but then the hold was awkward. And I'm a big guy with big hands... Not remotely fun to shoot.

Another, believe it or not, was a little derringer in .22 magnum. See big hands comment above! It hurt like heck. Nowhere to grab it.

The worst thin I ever shot was a "trick" shotgun for a wild-west show. It was a double barreled 12 gauge with rabbit triggers for one hand (a la "Mississippi's gun" from Rio Bravo [John Wayne movie]). It was loaded with "safety rounds" (half powder charge and disintegrating wad). I was supposed to fire both barrels with one hand (see big hands comment above).

Bad idea.

The first trigger stabbed into my middle finger on the second trigger and stuck there. I had to pry my finger off of the first trigger. It darn near broke my wrist. If it had been a "real" shotgun with "real" 12 gauge ammo, I WOULD have broken my wrist, badly.

Sometimes we do stupid things, eh?

 

[MCNETT]

I have some heavy hitters, including a .454 SRH that I shoot regularly 360gr WFN @ 1500fps. BUT....the S&W scandium that my brother has stoked with 158GDHP over 15.0 2400 takes the cake for pain. That triggerguard nail yout middle finger and will draw blood!!!
-Mike