Gangly

when shooting from a bench, the 338 winmag is about my limit as well. Anything below and i can keep my groups small and clean. anything above and they open up a bit after a few shots. I dont notice myself flenching, tightening up, getting sloppy with my breathing, or anything like that with larger rounds, but for some reason my groups tend to open up with anything larger than the 338 wm and I havent figured out why yet, so its my limit for now.

Rammer

Since I tore my rotator cuff 3 years back, I try to avoid shooting many big boys anymore. My 7mm Rem Mag don't bother me one bit, and its the best shooting rifle I own. I shoot quite a bit of 45/70s every year, and some 338s, and I plan on buying a 375 Ruger for my "big" gun for when I go to Alaska.

White-tail-deer

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-4xhp9BReY&feature=related


You gotta love it!! Recoil Baby!!

Bob Chronister

Recoil is an interesting thing. When I was 22 or so, a friend of my dad handed me a shotgun to shoot. Damnable thing was a 20 guage 3 1/2 magnum. Liked to knock me om my butt. Never have U shot anything with as much sheer kick. BUT, recoil can be controlled very well. For starters (and this is no advertisement) there is a specially designed shirt called an evoshield and the bloody thing really works and takes about 70-80% of recoil away. Sucker is expensive(about 80 dollars) but is designed to fit to you specifically. Easy to find reference to it on the internet. Secondly, i fyou do not have a properly designed rifle you will always have a bloody nose because of stock issues. Likewise, get scopes with adequate eye relief or you can get black eyes. I am a weatherby man and am well aware of getiing knocked around if you do not know how to handle the weapon. I have been known to shoot the 338-378 at distance (1200 yards) and with reasonable accuracy. If you think the sucker does not kick a bit, shoot it without the accubrake and without an evoshield shirt. Be prepared to run to the dentist to have your fillings replaced. BUT as you get used to the recoil, it becomes more of a shove than a painful event. Friends of mine shoot the weatherby 460 and say it is just a serious push. They have been shooting the rifle for years. At issue is preparation. If recoil is obnoxious to you, shoot a rifle that is tolerable. As stated earlier, doing so does not make you a wimp, it makes you a realist. I have one advantage, I am 6 foot 3 and weigh about 230, If I were 5 foot 6 and weighed 120, I would easily max out with a 243. Just give me a 22-250 and a 240 weatherby and I will shoot all day.

bob chronister

Matt / PA

Does anyone have a chart showing recoil in Ft. Lbs of energy for each of the most popular cartridges and how they compare?

I'd be interested to know how much my 3.5" Rem 870 Supermag with 3.5" Hevi shot loads is putting out because it's about as much fun to shoot as being punched in the head over and over.
I have a pretty major pain threshold and don't get flinchy easy but I'll tell you after nine 3" shells and then five 3.5" shells patterning that thing for turkey season I was almost whimpering at the thought of what was coming when that trigger broke over.
I can offically tell you 14 shots back to back is the most my body in a T-shirt is going to take. I had a headache for the rest of the day.[:-]

I'd be curious to know what that light Supermag is generating as far as recoil goes and where that falls on a centerfire rifle chart because it would give me a pretty good idea where my "enough is enough" threshold is.
Shots 1-6 were tolerable but 6 through 14 were agony.

Makes my .30-06 seem like a BB gun.

And I've shot a Barrett light .50BMG semi auto. Much more fun.........muzzleblast is like nothing you'll ever experience [:-]but the recoil is pretty tolerable.

Bob Chronister

Recoil is a killer for sure. As I recall, remington has introduced a managed recoil cartidge this year. You might want to see if it is available in your caliber. At issue is probably the weight of the rifle. If it is a lightweight, the caliber probably exceeds the comfort level of the weight of the rifle. As weight goes up, recoil is less. You might want to shoot more with your 30-06. No easy solution for you although the evoshield might help you a lot. Recoil is not just cartridge sensitive it is rifle weight sensitive. Since the rifle is a remington, I would ask them about the recoil issue.

8mm/06

Here's a few charts for everyones perusal. some are easier to understand than others, but they all offer some useful info for those interested in recoil #'s

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

http://www.chuckhawks.com/rem_managed_recoil.htm

http://www.accuratereloading.com/recoil.html

http://forums.huntingresource.com/index.php?showtopic=2027

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22756

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=56996

Bob Chronister

interesting charts and notice, the more detailed ones had rifle weight as part of the issue. i really think the rifle he is shooting is too light for the caliber.

bigbulls

If you reload and know your velocity, powder charge weightand the rifle weight you can figure the exact recoil of your exact cartridge and gun combo.

http://sst.benchrest.com/recoil.html

IndyHunter83

I shot a nef slugger in 12ga for years and that thing will kick pretty good with a 3" slug. Every rifle that I've shot hasn't compared except for the single shot 45-70 and the magnum loads in my muzzleloader.