have you ever hesitated to make a shot

[rimrock]

have you ever hesitated to make a shot, because of the rifles recoil level?
recoil rarely has been a factor in my rifle selection, simply because I shoot a good deal and Im very familiar with my rifles

now especially from a standing or sitting position Ive never even thought about recoil, I can,t remember it even being a fleeting thought,but I know that Ive got into a prone, position with the rifle over my back pack and I took a very firm hold on the sling and gripped the rifle in anticipation of the rifles recoil before I squeezed off a shot, and made sure the scope was a decent distance from my eyebrow, having learned early that you don,t crowd the scope unless you want to get whacked,and that surely slowed me down for an instant.
this was brought home to me, when I fired a couple shots shooting from the prone position and shot an excellence tight group,and I could fire quite rapidly, but when I asked a friend to try and duplicate the group he looked at me as if I was insane and called me a masochist , .....saying "only a total masochist would shoot a 375 H&H from a prone position"
now I use a sling and a recoil pad and a vest with a pacmyar recoil shield, sewn into the shoulder area so its not like Im unaware of the potential problem, its just that IM prepared to deal with it!

how about you guys? have you ever hesitated making a shot due to recoil levels?

[tincan]

Can't say as I have, but I have taken a shot or two with the safety engaged, and caught myself compensating for the recoil I was expecting. An education:)

[Just a Hunter]

In the field I have never hesitated to make a shot due to recoil.

I have hesitated to take a rifle to the range for shooting practice due to its recoil on more than one instance.

The key question is had I spent more time shooting this rifle would I expect to be more accurate with it? Sure I would if the recoild didnt induce a flich.

I wouldnt hesitate to use it in the field, butI would have used it with greater accuracy had it been more comfortable to practice with.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Hell No! I've hesitated to take a shot because of the work that I would have to do because of the shot though.

Alan

[ncboman]

Can't say as I have, but I have taken a shot or two with the safety engaged, and caught myself compensating for the recoil I was expecting. An education:)

:D

I hate when that happens, ... but it is educational. :rolleyes:

[Bill Gunn]

have you ever hesitated to make a shot, because of the rifles recoil level?


No......

But I should have :o :p

In my younger days I was up 20 feet, above rocks, on the side of a hill in Pennsylvania, in a TSS climber tree stand, when I touched off a .458 Win Mag at a 8 point buck with my feet close together.

H o l y.........S o c k s .......:eek: :eek:

I rocked back on my heels to quite an unuasual angle for a human in a tree stand, and indistinctly held the 11 pound gun fully out with my left hand.
My right arm was windmilling like a cat caught in a window fan, trying to screw my way through the air, so as not to fall.

I finally got my balance, and my mind was in a whirl watching the reaction of the buck (I got him), and saving my own life.
I sold that gun not much after that :) :)

I do have another gun that I bought in my younger "my gun is louder than your gun" days.
It's a 350 Rem Mag in a Remington XP100R PISTOL that I have shot a lot of deer with.
You don't notice the 2 foot fireball at the end of the barrel (62 grains of 4064, 180gr bullet @ 2606 fps average out of a 14-1/2" barrel) when you touch it off when hunting, but it is more than SLIGHTLY noticeable on the bench. It sits in the safe a lot these days... Great conversation piece though :rolleyes:

[Bill Gunn]

indistinctly


L O L should be "Instinctively" :o :o

[Bushman]

Holy smokes Bill, lots of gun in either case! The one that I remember most vividly was last year when I had a 2 1/2 year old buck broadside at 200 yards. The rifle was my light weight 7mm-08 and I was braced off a tree with my left hand. That is about three times farther than I ever shoot and just as the trigger was about to break, I anticipated the shot and moved the stock to the right. Another ounce or two of pressure on the trigger would have touched off the shot. I jerked my finger away from the trigger and mentally slapped myself up. When I got it together the shot went perfectly and I took out his heart. I'm not sure that I did myself any favor by making that rifle that light with only a #1 taper on the barrel. It shoots well but it is responsive as a light weight wand.

I've seen recoil sensitivity more trap shooting than rifle shooting. Our team has talked about that too as our scores go down as a team the farther along in the round that we get. Not to the point of not shooting, but a pretty peculiar lead to a clay that we missed.

I think for deer shooting that a guy will get more deer over a lifetime with something normal than he would with some big howling magnum. Deer have a way of showing up behind you or at odd angles where a proper stock weld to cheek or shoulder isn't always possible. I've shot some stocked against my upper arm when I couldn't get turned far enough around. I've used a belted magnum on lots of occasions and as far as I'm concerned they are properly named because they do belt you.

Recoil has prevented me from buying one too. A few years back I was in a pawn shop and saw a beautifully stocked Mauser on the rack. That rifle was completely out of character for that shop so I had to have a look at it. .375 H&H Magnum in about a 7 3/4 package. Visions of loosened fillings and detached retinas filled my mind. I already had an elk rifle and didn't anticipate a cape buffalo hunt in the near future, so logic prevailed.

[purple heart]

No I've never hunted with or even owned a gun that I was hesitant
on shooting.

[GF.]

I never learned to enjoy the recoil on my old 7 Mag, and I did sell it off because I just didn't see the need for getting kicked anywhere near that hard as I moved east to learn to hunt whitetails. And honestly, at that point I had lost my taste for hunting centerfire seasons at all, which is probably pretty unusual for a guy in his mid-twenties.

20 years later, if I had a rifle that kicked too hard to enjoy shooting it, I'd sell it off in a heartbeat. Range time and ammo are too expensive, and just the time to go shooting at all is too hard to come by these days.

But just ponder the insanity of this for a minute....

A) When are you most likely to want a flat-shooting cannon? Loong ranges.

When are you most likely to need to shoot from a position (e.g. prone) in which recoil is likely to go beyond painful and into damaging? See 'A'.



:confused:

[Bushman]

It doesn't take a great big one to hurt you either. The first example of scope eyebrow that I ever saw (wasn't me) came from a .243 shot from a prone position. I don't know too many people, or any, that would try a .375 H&H from a belly down position.

[dave-t.]

I've had a few interesting range sessions with my 300wm, and letting buddies shoot it and seeing their reactions is always good for a quick laugh, but in the field recoil has not been an issue. Worrying about the tissue damage, bullet path, etc. has been more of an issue than "kick". I will say that I don't need a 300wm any lighter than the one I have, which is over 9lbs.

I have been thinking about loading 165grn bullets at 2950fps range istead of my 180grn at 2950+fps as my deer hunting load. I don't think stepping down to the 30-06 power level would hurt anything if I can still keep the trajectory and accuracy of the 180grn load (.8" @ 100yds).

I will also say that using a 300wm for 16yrs is one of the reasons I bought a 257 Roberts and used it as my primary deer rifle this season. This was the first year since I've owned the 300 that I didn't use it for deer season at all. The 300 did get a work out hunting elk in NM, and took a couple dings during the trip this year.

[StringJumper]

No, I have never noticed recoil in the field. I can honestly say that it has never even crossed my mind at the time of a shot at an anaimal.

The bench is an entirely different discussion.

[1885]

12 ga 3" slugs were beating me up and left a ring over my eye. First I changed to 2 3/4" 12ga then to 20ga slugs which do fine.

[GF.]

No, I have never noticed recoil in the field. I can honestly say that it has never even crossed my mind at the time of a shot at an anaimal.

The bench is an entirely different discussion.


The question is, of course, whether that flinch that you picked up at the bench is going to follow you into the field..... And if I had money riding on that one, it would be on "damn straight it would"!

[Wild_Bill_Hiccup]

I don't know too many people, or any, that would try a .375 H&H from a belly down position.

Being something of a medium bore addict, I actually shoot my mediums from the prone position quite often. That said, I do shoot my .375 on my belly much less than the 9.3, 35 Whelen or .338. ;)

The only time I've ever gotten a case of 'scope eye' was back when I was 16 using my old .300 Weatherby - while shooting a mule deer buck way up in the steep canyons of the West Fork of the Bitterroot, near the Selway border. The shot was at such a steep upward angle - with me trying to stay hidden behind rocks and a Ponderosa Pine tree - and so my eye relief was cut short and I got both a nice buck and a nice gash over my eye outta that deal!

Three of my favorite medium bores... sadly the .35 Whelen missed this photo shoot!
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh65/wild_bill_hiccup/338-366-375theidealcalibers-1.jpg

[Wild_Bill_Hiccup]

To actually respond to the original question: Nope.... never been an issue for me. When I'm hunting, I can honestly say that I have never so much as noticed the recoil of any weapon and so after so many shots... it never even enters the mind. Maybe this is primarily due to having used fairly heavy 'kickers' since a very early age (traded my .243 for a .300 WBY at 15). Not sure... anyway recoil (with reasonable NA hunting cartridges) has always been a non-issue as it never really hurts you.... much. ;)

Now, my old (now retired) .458 Winchester in a No.1 Ruger did use to bloody the tongue and chip the teeth some!... but, you know, I miss that old fire farter! :D