What is your recoil threshold poll?

What is your recoil threshold?

  • <15 ft lbs - please don't hurt me

    Votes: 12 4.0%
  • >15 <20 ft lbs - man bun worthy

    Votes: 27 8.9%
  • >20 <25 ft lbs - medium rare

    Votes: 73 24.2%
  • >25 <30 ft lbs - flexing in mirror

    Votes: 50 16.6%
  • >30 ft lbs - rare and slightly moving OK

    Votes: 140 46.4%

  • Total voters
    302
I allways tell people if you felt the recoil odds are you missed what you were shooting at.
Savage built a 300 ultra mag on a small shank barrel action and a laminted stock that has worst kick than most .375 or .40 cal Ive shot.
 
Last edited:
I grew up shooting slugs off bench so I was "calibrated" to heavy recoil. But I will say the worse rifle for recoil I ever shot was an Encore rifle 24" Pro Hunter contour barrel in 500 S&W! That rifle killed 3 scopes, base and had to go to 4 ring set up.! It was crazy how accurate it was but the recoil velocity was like rattler strike so fast! Imagine a 7.5 lb rifle with 325 Barnes at 2100 fps! Long eye relief 4" or ER.
 
I don't really know where my non-braked .338 Win Mag, or .375 H&H Mag fall on the scale, so I just checked the >30 lbs. box. Neither one of these is for extended bench shooting, only five or ten rounds to check ammo, POI and zero. Neither seems to have as much recoil as a stock .270 Winchester.
 
I had a Pac Nor three groove 11 twists, with zero freebore installed on this Remington 700 Stockys laminate stock.
140g Nosler C/T, IMR 7828, Winchester 7 STW brass, Fed 215's. Three barrels are done this way, they all produce bug hole groups with the 140's, and the 120g Barnes TTSX are doing 3875 fps with R#22 with cci 250s, shooting sub 1/4" groups. 600 yd groups are 2" and below. I think that we have 6 barrels total off of this reamer, 4 Remingtons and two Savage, accuracy with speed is outstanding with deer DRT at 550 yds on our food plot. Brother shot a 360 lb whitetail in Kansas at 550, and he was dead when he hit the ground.

My cousins are cheap and they run those old savage 110s with 12 twist Hart barrels, cheap wood stocks, brother they shoot tiny groups. The two cousins shoot the old Nosler 120g Solid base lead tips at 3850. These two guys truck hunt, jump out, and shoot at running white tails at a distance. They like how the speed cuts down on the leade! The 12 twist Harts stabilize the 140g Nosler ballistic tips and CT very well. The family has had great luck with the 120g & 140g Nosler ballistic tips and C/T bullets, and that is an understatement.

This is the max recoil that I will shoot.

My darling child of low recoil is a 257 Weatherby with .020 freebore shooting the 115g Berger, 110g Accubonds at 3600 and the 100g TTsx at 3850 on 9Twist X caliber barrels, bug holes abound, Beyond easy load development. With a Gentry muzzle break, you see the water vapor fly off the deer with possible bullet impact behind the deer on a tree or hillside. Deer fold up at the shot. Teen agers love this combo, and I mean LOVE IT!
 
I've shot sporter weight 300wby, 340wby, 375h&h, a 7STW and heavy loads out of 35 whlelen with no recoil pad. It was a source of pride for decades that I could shoot these very accurately. Fast forward several decades and it's no longer fun/something I look forward to. I can still shoot them as well….but I don't look forward to it. I've found my self returning to more standard calibers…. Coincidence???
 
Last edited:
I think I'm weak after reading some of y'all's posts. My limit is a non-braked 35 Whelen in a Winchester M70 pushing a 250grn at 2600fps. Also a SML on a non-braked Encore PH in 45cal pushing a 260grn at 2600fps. After running some numbers on an online calculator it's only around 30-31 ft-lbs.

A few years ago at a gun range I watched a couple city kids (pants sagging, flat brim ball cap type) rent a .454 Casull to shoot. They made it half way through their box of ammo before they turned to me and asked if I wanted to finish it for them. I kindly declined.
 
I grew up shooting slugs off bench so I was "calibrated" to heavy recoil. But I will say the worse rifle for recoil I ever shot was an Encore rifle 24" Pro Hunter contour barrel in 500 S&W! That rifle killed 3 scopes, base and had to go to 4 ring set up.! It was crazy how accurate it was but the recoil velocity was like rattler strike so fast! Imagine a 7.5 lb rifle with 325 Barnes at 2100 fps! Long eye relief 4" or ER.
Hi Muddy,

i feel your pain, I grew up using sand bags to sight in. One of the worst I shot was an Encore 15" 460 S&W. It sheared both forearm screws off. It's no longer bench fired, only free handed, with 2 hands.
 
So all I read is how much recoil affects a lot of shooters so wondering what is your threshold? Is the recoil from poor shooter form? Lightweight rifles? Heavy bullet? Big bore cartridges? Or even smaller stature of shooter? Don't like needles?

I am hoping to beat the hate the cartridge thread number of pages...,,,

Can you add about 3 more options!

In all seriousness…..how many shots to determine your maximum recoil threshold? 20 rounds in one sitting at the bench…….or 1shot/day….1 shot/week!

I'm good for 20 to 30 rounds from my rifle in a day at the bench…..but, can't shoot very well the next day as my shoulder is pretty tender!

So……what are the parameters for this poll, other than ft/pounds recoil produced by the rifle! Number rounds fired must be considered! memtb
 
Isn't there some studies on this? From what I can remember reading, the "recoil doesn't effect me" stops around a 8lb unbraked 243win.

That doesn't mean people can't shoot things above that threshold, it means there is a measurable decrease in accuracy above that.
 
Last edited:
1 shot or 100?
Hunting or at the range?
Prone or standing?
Braked or not?
Ultralight rifle or heavy weight? (they recoil differently)
What type of recoil pad? Steel crescent, hard *** rubber, or one of the new air cell style pads?

All these things make a difference

Absolutely! I mentioned several of these things, prior to reading your post! memtb
 
Top