Felt Recoil - what has been your experience

[Rare Breed]

Ouch. Sabatti?

No Rizzini. They make great shotguns but little experience in big bore rifles. I was but a young “grasshopper” when I bought my first DR many years ago…another word for grasshopper is green or just stupid

 

[Safari Dave]

The most brutal rifle I ever shot was a Winchester Model 70 in .338 Winchester Magnum.

Maybe stock design???

I've shot many .375 H&H's, 2 - 458 Winchester Magnums, and many rounds from a Heym Model 88b in .470 NE, but nothing was as painful as that .338!


The absolute, most brutal (for me), was a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 3 1/2" Federal turkey loads, pushing 2 1/4 ounces of TSS at 1200 fps.

I have no idea of why any hunter would endure that much misery to harvest a 20 pound bird.

 

[Northern Shooter]

The most brutal rifle I ever shot was a Winchester Model 70 in .338 Winchester Magnum.

Maybe stock design???

I've shot many .375 H&H's, 2 - 458 Winchester Magnums, and many rounds from a Heym Model 88b in .470 NE, but nothing was as painful as that .338!


The absolute, most brutal (for me), was a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 3 1/2" Federal turkey loads, pushing 2 1/4 ounces of TSS at 1200 fps.

I have no idea of why any hunter would endure that much misery to harvest a 20 pound bird.

338WM is close enough in recoil to the 375hh that rifle weight and fit would likely be the deciding factor.
Was it a Model 70 Alaskan? Everyone seems to be recommending those over the Safari Express for the reduced weight and shorter barrel.

 

[DLSJR]

The most brutal rifle I ever shot was a Winchester Model 70 in .338 Winchester Magnum.

Maybe stock design???

I've shot many .375 H&H's, 2 - 458 Winchester Magnums, and many rounds from a Heym Model 88b in .470 NE, but nothing was as painful as that .338!


The absolute, most brutal (for me), was a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 3 1/2" Federal turkey loads, pushing 2 1/4 ounces of TSS at 1200 fps.

I have no idea of why any hunter would endure that much misery to harvest a 20 pound bird.

I could not agree more about not liking a 3 1/2” 12 gauge with a heavy load. Those kick worse than any .458 or 470, IMO.

As for using that load for turkeys, I’ll be going this weekend and shooting TSS loads, but it’ll most likely be in a .410, maybe a 20 gauge. Nobody needs a 3 1/2” 12 gauge with TSS to kill a turkey. That’s purely marketing, not necessity.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Interesting how recoil is perceived. I don't mean this to sound argumentative, but I've put lots of 3 1/2" shells thru my Benelli SBE (circa late 90's mode, the original). Perhaps it's the recoil activated action, perhaps most of the time I was bundled up for goose season, but it's never bothered me. Used 3 1/2" shells on a turkey hunt with @gizmo and shot two turkeys about 30 seconds apart and never noticed the recoil lightly dressed.

But a .470NE double, that's my limit. I want nothing more above that.

 

[DLSJR]

Interesting how recoil is perceived. I don't mean this to sound argumentative, but I've put lots of 3 1/2" shells thru my Benelli SBE (circa late 90's mode, the original). Perhaps it's the recoil activated action, perhaps most of the time I was bundled up for goose season, but it's never bothered me. Used 3 1/2" shells on a turkey hunt with @gizmo and shot two turkeys about 30 seconds apart and never noticed the recoil lightly dressed.

But a .470NE double, that's my limit. I want nothing more above that.

Phil, If I had a 3 1/2” gun I’d make you the deal of a lifetime just to get rid of the damned thing.

I do find it interesting that so many hunters use those big guns for geese and turkeys. I hunt both of those a lot and typically shoot a 20 gauge for honkers, and use a 28 gauge more often than a 12. For turkeys, mostly it’s a 20 or 28 gauge but a couple buddies who are very hardcore turkey slayers are close to convincing me to join them in using a 410 on gobblers. With the quality shells available these days, small bore shotguns are plenty effective on anything with wings, and a lot more pleasant to carry & shoot.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Phil, If I had a 3 1/2” gun I’d make you the deal of a lifetime just to get rid of the damned thing.

I do find it interesting that so many hunters use those big guns for geese and turkeys. I hunt both of those a lot and typically shoot a 20 gauge for honkers, and use a 28 gauge more often than a 12. For turkeys, mostly it’s a 20 or 28 gauge but a couple buddies who are very hardcore turkey slayers are close to convincing me to join them in using a 410 on gobblers. With the quality shells available these days, small bore shotguns are plenty effective on anything with wings, and a lot more pleasant to carry & shoot.

It would take one heck of an offer to get my Benelli out of my hands. It is an oddball. I purposely wanted a 26" barrel in a wood stock. Was somewhat of a unicorn to find. Why 26"? I'm short with short arms, my argument was I'd be able to swing it faster, I wasn't disappointed.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Sometimes at our big bore shoot my Heym 450/400 recoil is barely noticeable. Another day and it is quite pronounced. Same ammunition.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Phil, If I had a 3 1/2” gun I’d make you the deal of a lifetime just to get rid of the damned thing.

I do find it interesting that so many hunters use those big guns for geese and turkeys. I hunt both of those a lot and typically shoot a 20 gauge for honkers, and use a 28 gauge more often than a 12. For turkeys, mostly it’s a 20 or 28 gauge but a couple buddies who are very hardcore turkey slayers are close to convincing me to join them in using a 410 on gobblers. With the quality shells available these days, small bore shotguns are plenty effective on anything with wings, and a lot more pleasant to carry & shoot.

There's a lot of factors. I've not caved to the sub-gauge revolution yet. One of them is availability of ammo in a pinch. I don't ever shoot 3.5" shells anymore. However, all my guns are 12g 3.5" capable. If I am ever traveling and run out of shells, if all I can find is 3.5"s, at least I can shoot them. That's one factor. The other, wind. 12g does a bit better with wind here in NJ and during duck season, it's using blowing damn near close to a gale on most days.

I mostly shoot Boss bismuth now. I prefer the 2 3/4" stingers in #4 or #5. They do a number on ducks and geese. I will bump to 5's if there are teal around. The recoil isn't bad at all.

I just don't feel like spending $1500 on a 20g right now and another $250 on ammo. Otherwise, I'd be apt to give it a shot.

Here is a bird shot with 4's from a 12g at about 30 yds. That's the other reason I won't switch. I have my 12 patterned really well.

But back to the topic at hand. The biggest factor is weight and a gas or inertia system to absorb the recoil. A Ruger No 1 falling block with 458WM is almost as bad as it gets. 458 Lott and the Nitro's being worse.

 

[Green Chile]

On the shotgun shell topic, I've killed 33 species of ducks, geese and swans with Boss 2 3/4" 5's. It's a hammer and patterns well for me in multiple guns. I've also taken several dozen turkeys with 20 ga, 410, etc. using premium shells like Boss or TSS. One shot each.

 

[MS 9x56]

I have a Ruger No1 in 458WM and depending on who you ask, it should be somewhere from 7.5-8.5 lbs. The recoil is punishing, just as you described. I've shot 12g 3.5" slugs, 300WM, 45-70, 30-30 from a light lever gun, etc. This is something else. The 458WM in the Ruger is enough to really, really ring your bell good. The only thing I feel comes close is old school 3.5" 12g slugs from a light pump. Basically a grizzly bear park ranger round.

Bolt guns definitely add weight but the problem then becomes feeding a big bore belted cartridge. The 375 HH seem to feed OK but supposedly, the 458WM is not great to cycle in a bolt gun. So a double might be the way to go there, price aside.

IMO, which doesn't matter much, the 416 Rigby is the ultimate round and you can see why it gets so much praise. Tremendous power, good SD, and no belting.

I guess it's all relative though. I'm sure if I was looking down the barrel at a cape buffalo I probably wouldn't be thinking much about the recoil.

I can’t believe a guy with the handle “hookmeupII” doesn’t own a fish scale to weigh his guns with.

 

[HookMeUpII]

I can’t believe a guy with the handle “hookmeupII” doesn’t own a fish scale to weigh his guns with.

Not one that reads that low!! But good point lol. I should just get one and weigh it.

 

[coreydb]

I'm probably the odd ball woos here, but my shoulder turned black and blue from zeroing my .375 H&H prior to a DG hunt. I didn't feel any recoil when I dropped my Cape Buffalo after the fourth shot. I'm going to add a muzzle break that re-directs the sound away from the shooter and withstand the ridicule.

 

[Green Chile]

I highly recommend a lead sled for sighting in medium and larger calibers. The PH and trackers hate muzzle brakes. Some of them are very painful to be next to.

 

[Bandera]

For a bunch people they don’t think about how much proper stance and balance affect the amount of recoil you feel.
A good recoil pad.
A proper fitting rifle
Proper balance and stance.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Lead sled and other brand weighted sleds work good for initial sight in. If the sled is allowed to be pushed back during recoil it should not harm the rifle. The sled should duplicate the resistance given by your body during recoil. I asked the US Krieghoff technician charged with Krieghoff double rifle regulation and repairs how he regulates DR and he uses a sled and stated if a krieghoff was damaged using a lead sled they would cover it. He was that confident that it should not harm a well built rifle.

Pictured is the sled device that Krieghoff uses.