G2 Shooter

I traded a guy for a Tikka in .338 Win Mag. He constantly told me how large the rounds were and how much the gun kicked. I was a little scared of it when I finally sat down to shoot it but that thing is a baby. I was also a little scared of my .45-70 because of all of the stories I had heard. It's also a piece of cake. The hardest kicking thing I have shot is my Encore with a 24" 12ga slug barrel shooting 3" Partion Golds. I will NEVER shoot those slugs again.

I also think that the media has sold everyone on having to shoot magnum calibers. My go to caliber was a .270 Win for years. It worked great. I have to admit that I now use a .270WSM but that is mainly because I won that rifle in a raffle.

MagnumMan308

I have never found a gun I was afraid to shoot, but I have met guns (particularly rifles) that I could not shoot well because of recoil. Once things get beyond .300 magnum for me, I just can hold a decent group, or really concentrate while shooting like I can with the easier recoiling calibers. As such, thats the largest rifle I own, any bigger is a waste for me,as I cant put it to good use.

As I've gotten older, and racked up a couple thousand centerfire rounds shot, I've found I like small, mild caliber rifles the best. I carry a .243 deer hunting alot now just because I shoot it so darn well, I can make shots that I couldn't with other rifles, and thats what counts.

Every shooter needs to find their own personal limit, and stay on the sane side of it. Learn to shoot what you physically can, well, and you'll never find yourself in a situation where you cant humanly kill the quarry you're after.

SJAdventures

Goodanswer MagnumMan 308. The way I look at it is, your not a sissy if you don't like the big guns but your not a immature macho freak if you do. It is just a matter of preference.

jimpickens

You know most modern rifles and shotgunscome equiped with recoil pads and they do have recoil grips for handguns so to me recoil is not a big deal.

SwampCollie

I've met plenty of folks who "say" they can stand up to anything or "claim" they can handle recoil of just about anything.

All you have to do is go to the range with them one time... its sort of like saying you are brave enough to do something because you did it once. They will stand-up, close their eyes, yank the trigger, and then expect you to marvel at their skill and courage for shooting such a thing....

Quite naturally... standing up to one, and shooting one well or as well as anything else is a HUGE difference. I'll shoot dang near anything offhand, and from the bench I prefer to keep it under .300s unless I have some sort of recoil dampening rest or some such. I am fairly disciplined and I'll lean in and take a few on the chin, but that for damn sure doesn't mean I like it or lust for it.

I am relatively aware of what my realistic thresh-hold is for being able to shoot for performance from a bench every single time. There are others that are right on the line that every so often I'll catch myself jumping a bit... and thats where I draw the line. You just have to be honest with yourself and get over your pride and ego.

bigbulls

So far the hardest kicking rifle I have shot is my 338 RUM. For me, it is getting close to what is comfortable off the bench with out any kind of recoil reducing rest or such. I will say that I opted to change out the HS Precisionhard rubber pad for a Sims. The HS pad did get to hurting a bit after about 10 rounds. The Sims pad did wondersto lessen that recoil and eleminateany pain.

Standing up off handit's not even close but on a bench I wouldn't want too much more.

I agree with SC, just because a person canpull the trigger for around or two from either the bench or off hand doesn't come close to meaning that they can actually handle the recoil of a particular cartridge/ rifle.

nchawkeye

Back when I played HS football the coach always told us during halftime to come out hitting harder in the 2nd half than we did in the 1st and by the 4th quarter we would run over the other team, well he was right...No matter how much you can stand for 3-4 rounds if that gun is a hard kicker, by 15-20 you will be anticipating recoil...

Recoil has never bothered me too much because I learned to shoot sitting up straight, use a pad if needed, always use ear plugs and to let the gun rock you backwards, you can't fight a gun and shoot straight, you have to learn to roll with it...

I had laser eye surgery to replace a torn retna about 10 years ago, the doctor said there was a 20% chance that I would lose my sight in my right (shooting eye)...Guys, that will get your attention...I no longer shoot hard kicking guns...

oldelkhunter

A torn retina is nothing to play around with...a hard kicking rifle can and will do that to your eye

ShatoDavis

You darn right there are guns that kick too hard. I purchased a Mossberg 835 ultra mag several years back. It shot 3.5" 12 gauage shells and had a superlight synthetic stock. I shot that dude and it would cross my eyes. I even shot it with 2.75" trap loads and didn't like it. That shotgun got traded at a gun show.

I once shot a 450 #2 double rifle. It's my dads and its a old rifle with two triggers, one for the right barrel one for the left. I made the mistake of pulling the front trigger first, when the recoil hit me I squeezed the back trigger. Double whammy!!! It shook me bad. I realized what had happened and it took some nerve to try it again, this time back trigger first. It was still pretty mean. I've never shot it again. Though I'm not scared of it.

When shooting my 338 wm off the bench it can get to me. After about 5 shots I start to get jumpy. To combat this I use a shoulder pad when target shooting.

SJAdventures

I love big calibers but at the range workingup loadsI do usemy DFTlead sled to eliminate any chanceof shooter error.