Recoil limit

Thank you all for commenting and I forgot to mention in my first post that stock must be a fit.
What was trying to get you is what are you comfortable with to shoot with and what is your max for a full day of shooting.

I would say that 505 Gibbs with 600gr bullet would be awesome to hunt with at 2200fps for dangerous game but to get confidence in the setup you need to practise and that is why I started the post.
Yes I don't mind te recoil of the 505 but would I be smiling after shooting 15 shots at the range???
I have a 458 Lott which I find I can shoot. I have shot 14 or 15 rounds in an hour or two at the range with good accuracy. However, I have had other days (load development) where I have had some hot loads and am shooting next to the chrono and I felt a flinch coming on the 3 rd round. I also had a day when my shoulder went purple while other days at the range didn't leave a mark. And if I have a couple of beers the night before then I definitely feel the recoil much more.
 
I believe that how a round acts while inside the chamber also contributes to how individuals react to the recoil. I can shoot my .416 Rigby with little trouble after learning MY rifle. However I find that a .300 WinMag to be downright painful. I shoot my .270 Winchester with little problem but notice a considerable difference when shooting my .270 Weatherby magnum.

What I see here is that the chamber pressures of the .300 WinMag and .270 Weatherby magnum are considerably higher which leads to a faster recoil impulse. Speed of recoil is, at least in my shoulder, is much worse than power of recoil.
 
Did it go this purple? This resulted from the first time I took my 500 Jeffery out to do load development, doing six shots with each load. I took 36 shots. The last 6 shots were a 570 TSX at 2510 fps. Like an idiot I was only wearing a T-shirt, no lead sled. I waited two months before shooting it again so I wouldn't develop a flinch. Now it's my favorite rifle to shoot, but I treat her with respect!

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I try to bring my 22lr rifle to the range whenever I’m shooting heavy rifles and alternate between them. Helps with the flinch.
 
That looks to me like the rifle was too high and outside the pocket. Or it could just be from a blood vessel between the stock and collar bone that ruptured.
 
This was a fun way to get a taste of recoil. This was when A-Square was still around. We started with a .375HH and went up the list. My feeble memory does not remember all the calibers, but I do know the .577 was not there. When we started over from the bottom the .375 felt like a .223.

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Lately I have seen quite a few threads about recoil and people asking and comparing recoil between calibers.
Seems to me there is a definite view on felt recoil and limits to what people feel comfortable to hunt and shoot with.

First of all I have this opinion and theory I compare big bores to cars.
A 2 liter engine car will get you from point A to B with no issues
A good old V8 will also get you from point A to B with no issues but it will be more fun and more thrill.

Can anyone learn to drive a 2 liter car as fast as possible to get from A to B thats fairly easy?
Can anyone learn how to handle the V8 beast to get from A to B as fast as possible thats a different beast?

We are all created different no two humans are 100% the same even twins we all experience life different.
That is the beauty of our existence and why there are so many opinions out there and why we are allowed to choose for ourselves.

To get back to recoil learn and make the best of what you can handle. A precise shot out of a 375 on an animal is much better than a marginal shot with a 500.
It took me a long time but I finally own a big bore in my CZ 550 Lott before I finally had my hands on it I was thinking recoil reducers and better recoil pads etc.
But shooting my 375 Musgrave over 26 years learned me to push the 375 Limits and shoot precisly as I didnt have another choice.

I have shot now about 180 rounds through my Lott in less than a year and am still learning it but its not going to bad. (Mid May would be 1 year)
I never got to change anything factory spec on the CZ 550 its still stock standard and pushing 480gr bullets at 2300fps is easily managed much better than expected.
However after shooting 23 shots out of it at our last BASA competition I definitely felt that I fired something big that day.
Shooting a 505 Gibss on that same day it was nice and good fun but realizing afterwards I think I found my comfortable limit to enjoy big bores while still keeping good accuracy which in te end is much more important than what you shoot with. I would not have ebjoyed shooting 23 shots with the 505 on that comp.

We owe it to the animals that we hunt for a quick kill nobody is perfect and hunting has too many scenarios involved that it would turn out perfect evertime with every shot. Hunt long enough and you will wound and loose animals even if you are the best shot in the world.

I would rather hunt with someone who knows and enjoys his rifle than have a look of despair when asking to go to the range and check zero.
Learn your limit and its not impossible to go over it and have a new limit but don't lie to yourself.

Yep. Most people are overgunned. Heck, most soldiers were overgunned and that's why the US Army and the Brits and the Germans all spent untold sums studying this topic. They all came up with about the same conclusion, the maximum recoil an average man can handle for repeated firing with precision is around 15-20lbs of felt recoil. Hence, heavy battle rifles in 8x57, 303 Brit, and 30-06 were the results.

On safaris, we can break those rules a bit, but we must do so rationally. #1 is gun fit. Gun fit having the luxury of a gun to your dimensions allows you to increase your tolerance over a GI one size fits most battle rifle from a rack. #2 is shooting form, we're hunting animals, not conducting warfare. Thus, we can shoot off shooting sticks and greatly diminish recoil versus a prone shooter or kneeling shooter in repetitive fire combat conditions. #3 is we can tame recoil with weight, recoil reducers, and muzzlebrakes.

Regarding recoil reducers specifically, I need to point out that there is pretty darned good evidence that they are a placebo. Expert physicists even debate whether they are working under the stated means / reason for efficacy. Mercury recoil reducers aren't allowed on airplanes as mercury eats aluminum aircraft so they are banned, albeit people still travel with them and hope they don't get caught. Nonetheless, it can be argued the reduction in recoil is from their increased mass rather than from any clever travel of a fluid liquid medium inside of them prolonging the duration of a recoil impulse.

Of all the recoil reduction technologies that exist, the one that has the most merit is largely out of reach for most Americans: Suppressors reduce recoil and noise. Absolutely the best technology for this goal.

If you're a client, a heavier gun fitted to you or a lighter caliber is usually the best choice. Can't handle a 416 or 458? Get a milder 404. Can't handle a 7mm Rem Mag? Get a 7x57 or 7x64. Can't handle a 470? Get a 450/400.

There is no shame in knowing one's limitations and making a plan. I spend an absurd amount of my life dealing with this problem because I have kids. I've found every trick in the book to get small people hunting ethically with reasonable effort. One kid shoots a custom 243, another a custom 7x64, another hunts with a 36lb draw weight bow that we're setting up now to handle kudu. (yes, it can be done)
 
I bet it is. I tried 3” 1 1/4 oz slugs from brenneke sighting in off the bench fired 5 rounds never bought another box or shot another 3” slug. In a lightweight shotgun they were brutal.
@MS 9x56
Try Winchester 1oz slugs at 1,650 fps out in a light weight synthetic stock Mossberg bolt gun with a 22 inch barrel. They get your attention off the bench as well
Bob.
 
@colorado I had to smile as I stopped my load development of my 500 at 2300, Recoil is tolerable. At 2500 the fun factor took the train to the coast. Shot 9 round last weekend to confirm everything is on.

On a small foot note I tried working up loads for the 570CEB solid and my rifle doesn't like them at all. No matter the velocity they keyholed into the target at 50 every time. where the woodleigh 535 softs, 570 woodleigh and hornaday softs and solids all shoot great.
A 600 grain at 2200fps or 535 grain at 2400fps out of my 5oo Jeffery will do me. I can shoot those loads well, anymore than that and it's no longer fun.
 
@MS 9x56
Try Winchester 1oz slugs at 1,650 fps out in a light weight synthetic stock Mossberg bolt gun with a 22 inch barrel. They get your attention off the bench as well
Bob.
Simple fix there mate:
Large grind to fit limbsaver or decelerator and don't grind grind it.kt works wonders. Also you can fill the stock with BBs or #9 lead shot.
 
Simple fix there mate:
Large grind to fit limbsaver or decelerator and don't grind grind it.kt works wonders. Also you can fill the stock with BBs or #9 lead shot.
@Forrest Halley
Already have a slip on limbsaver mate tamed it a,bit but still boots off the bench. Fine standing tho.
Bob
 
RookHawk, excellent post.
 
I have a Weatherby Mark V in .300 Wby that was given to me as a graduation present. It's a mid 1980's Japan manufactured 26" No. 2 contour barrel. I can't stand that thing. The speed of the recoil and the way the Monte Carlo stock belts me in the chops has relegated it to languishing in the safe for decades. I've long since taken the scope off and mounted it on another rifle. That rifle has exactly 9 rounds through it as I still have the first and only box of reloads with 11 remaining. I have a Remington 721 in 300 H&H that I can shoot all day with complete comfort. My Ruger No. 1 in .458 Win Mag shooting 500 gr. bullets at 2150-2200 fps is also at my limit. It just doesn't weigh enough. I used to want a big bore (.45-.475) 5 shot single action revolver in my youth. I had a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag when I was 18 and just thought It wasn't big enough. Why? I have no idea. By the time I was in my early 30's I had bought a Ruger Bisley .45 Colt and promptly started with 320 cast bullets at the 30K psi level coming out the barrel at 1275 fps. I realized after one cylinder full that that was the maximun handgun recoil I wanted. It was very snappy with my wrists.
 

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