The Weatherby is a bear to shoot. Friend has a 340 Weatherby and a 416 Rigby, can only shoot the 340 a couple times versus the 416 all day.
Buckcurtain . . . with all due respect, I was a bit puzzled by your post. Although admittedly off topic, there may be something more going on with your friend and the ‘real’ or his ‘perceived’ recoil to cause such disparity between his two rifles. The .416 and the .340 are two of my favorite hunting choices. Neither of my rifles has a muzzle break and I find neither of them to be at all uncomfortable to shoot, especially in a field situation. I have used both rifles extensively over a period of many years and until reading your post I never gave any real thought as to which one ‘kicked’ more. Yet I certainly can’t ever remember thinking that the .340 recoil was so very intense or above that of the .416.
To satisfy my interest I decided to check the data on a ‘Recoil Table’ of comparative values for the two calibers. The table indicated ‘free recoil energy’ in foot pounds, and ‘free recoil velocity’ in feet-per-second. The recoil values were rounded off to one decimal place. To maintain a proper comparison each of the test rifles weighed 10 lbs. The values are as follows;
The .340 WBY firing a 200gr bullet @ 3100 fps produced 29.6 foot lbs of energy and had a recoil velocity of 13.8 fps.
The .416 Rigby firing a 400gr bullet @ 2400 fps produced 58.1 foots lbs of energy and had a recoil velocity of 19.3 fps.
Those findings would certainly seem to support my view that something more is going on.
Granted, in ‘real life’ things can at times seem to vary from scientific charts and tables and there are times when the charts and tables don’t seem to agree either. However, I remain of the belief that if your friend can only fire the .340 “a couple times” a day while being able to fire the “.416 all day”, there may be something seriously wrong with one of his rifles. If not, it then may likely be a matter of his ‘perception of the recoil’ which is causing his belief that the .340 recoils so much more intensely than the .416.
‘Perceived recoil’ is a highly subjective matter and is influenced by many factors. Most important is the fit and shape of the rifle stock along with the installation of a good recoil pad. Certainly these factors alone will soften the blow to the shooter's shoulder. One must also understand that there are dozens of loads for any given bullet weight in any cartridge that will produce the same velocity, but a different amount of recoil. But I can’t imagine that load and bullet weight alone would be the factor here.
In general:
proper stock fit, the way one shoulders and holds a rifle, coupled with sufficient shooting experience to avoid ‘anticipating’ and ‘fighting’ the recoil will make a world of difference in one’s shooting ability and in all likelihood maintain a bruise free shoulder.
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