BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
I scraped some of the bark off my face by holding my 416 like it was a 270 and crawling a little close to the scope.
Have you ever thought about recoil before a shot at game?
- Thread starter John Y Cannuck
- Start date
RememberTheSomme
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
Ouch! I'd probably do the same thing, never owning a heavy recoiling rifle and forgetting while shooting at game I like to crawl forward on the scope as well, so used to aperture sight shooting I guess. I would need to attend a clinic on "Big" Game rifles, scope reliefs, techniques like maybe leaning into it and not standing bolt upright like firing a 7mm/08 HB at a silhouette.
There's a good link on another thread by Suoercub on LOP versus felt recoil. It's seems to be good reading on heavy thumping rifles stock set up and the like, 50ft- lbs or more.
I'm thinking people who are unaffected by recoil in typical rifles from 270Win through 300WM like myself, may be in for a surprise with rifles like you mention. It doesn't matter if you are not afraid of it, it will bite you anyway and may fracture your eye socket if scoped and fired without respect for the round.
Hotwheels81
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- South of GP
Don't fear the rigby... They are controllable you just need to show them respect in the same manner you would anything that has teeth and ain't scared to bite you given the chance... You may not feel it while shooting at an animal but when you stop shooting at said animal, well..., you know something is a little off... And a pat on the shoulder from a hunting buddy gets your attention...
The worst I ever got nailed with my .416 was when I was shooting my .375 at the same time. I was just blasting away offhand, shooting one dry then leaning it against the bench and repeating with the other until I ran out of ammo like normal. Both are CZ 550s. Anyway, with the .375 I could hold it like a rimfire competitor, balancing it on my fingertips right in front of the trigger guard and touching them off with the 1/2 pound set trigger with right elbow raised like half a bird trying to take off.
Long story shortened, I got distracted and did the same thing with the Rigby. About the only good thing about the outcome was I never dropped the rifle. I ended up several steps back, holding the rifle in one hand and had been kicked right out from under my hat and ear muffs. After I'd checked to see whether I was dead or not I figured out what I'd done.
bigborefan
Regular
- Location
- Kawartha Lakes, ON
I found Benelli shotguns generally don't fit me well.Had a vinci for a hunt or two for Seaducks...came home bloody and bruised.Luckily it never made develop a flinch.
- Location
- West coast of Vancouver Island
No for me. Muscle memory takes over, years of snap shooting.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I recall one occasion when I was worried about recoil. The rifle was a borrowed, short stocked, cut down, Lee Enfield with a scope that was too big, mounted nearly 3" behind the cocking piece. Yup, I thought about recoil that day.
In a similar vein, there was a day that I wasn't worried about recoil, but should have been. The set up on my .458 had the scope a half inch behind the cocking piece of my M-70, I knew it was too far rearward, but I liked the mount and didn't want to change it. After shooting it quite a bit like that, I had become a bit too nonchalant, and sure enough I made a hasty shot, without sufficient rigidity in my shoulder, and I got tagged. If you think its nasty getting tagged with a scoped .30/06, you haven't lived until its happened with a .458. I heard the tissue crunch. After that I shot the rifle for a year with irons, then remounted the scope in a different mount, forward where it belongs.
In a similar vein, there was a day that I wasn't worried about recoil, but should have been. The set up on my .458 had the scope a half inch behind the cocking piece of my M-70, I knew it was too far rearward, but I liked the mount and didn't want to change it. After shooting it quite a bit like that, I had become a bit too nonchalant, and sure enough I made a hasty shot, without sufficient rigidity in my shoulder, and I got tagged. If you think its nasty getting tagged with a scoped .30/06, you haven't lived until its happened with a .458. I heard the tissue crunch. After that I shot the rifle for a year with irons, then remounted the scope in a different mount, forward where it belongs.
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Rainy mosquito infested part of BC
Only time I think about recoil is when I sight in at the range. Never in the field. Only target and backstop. Also, with the clothing we wear in the fall, recoil is almost non-existent. Of course, I'm shooting a .22!
Ok, a 7mm mag!
Ok, a 7mm mag!
The last thing I want is a flinch. Had a flinch years ago from too much recoil. I think it was a .458 WM without a scope that did it. Kind of cured me of my curiosity and the bigger is better thing. I don't want a gun that kicks to hard, the 308 or smaller is fine for me when hunting and concentrating on my aim.
Nothing here. I have often wondered why I never noticed any recoil on game, when I feel it at the range. Not hurting, but noticing it. Not scared of recoil, only scope bit once, but I sold a Parker Hale in .308 Win that actually twisted in my hands with EVERY shot. It was not accurate for me because I had to hold it so tight. Couldn't figure it out, so I sold it, cheap. Only rifle I ever sold, outright. Trades are different.
I watched a buddy shoot a brand-new 770 in .300WM loaded with Hornady Superformance 180gn rounds (because that would be the minimum for elk, according to his "mentors" at work). He couldn't get a 2' group. I sighted in my .30-06, then went and watched him. He was so scared of that rifle after the first round that he closed his eyes and actually picked his head clear of the cheek piece. He wasn't even near the scope. I told him what I saw. He didn't believe me and complained that I was always knocking his shooting and he's a good shot. After a box and a half of that punishment, and no better results, he told me to try it, since I was so "right". Three rounds, less than 3" group from a hot barrel. Handed him the rifle and told him to learn to shoot.
He begged me to sight it in for our upcoming elk hunt and I refused. He needed to shoot it. Now he couldn't afford any more of that ammo, so he went to blue box Federals. Didn't make any difference. He was done on that rifle but wouldn't admit it.
On the hunt, he was the first one to get a shot off on an elk. 2, actually. 264yds. Then his father threw a round at it with an '06 (I'm not holding that against him. 70 years old, first time hunting, no experience on a quartering shot when the heat is on). Elk went forever. They shot at 7:30 at night. I was 2 miles away and walked back to camp after waiting until dark for them to come pick me up. No response on the radios. I got them as I was entering camp. They told me what had happened, I emptied my pack, re-packed it for tracking all night. Reason I couldn't raise them on the radio? They both took off immediately after the elk went into the woods, leaving ALL of their gear behind (guy's a frickin genius).
I met up with them and tracked until 11:30 when we were close enough to push it out of its bed. I then told them that we were done. I wasn't chasing a barely wounded elk (I'd been tracking drops, not a blood trail) all night. Since he had wanted to lie down, let's let him and come back in the morning.
Tracked again from 8:00 and found him at noon. Still alive, but too stiff the get up. Mr. Hunter saw him first, up went the .300WM, and bang! The bull stood up just from the concussion of losing his lower jaw from a 180 gn bullet at 20 yds. As he got to his feet, he got hit with another in the neck, which put him down, and ANOTHER in the head from 2ft (frickin idiot).
I had been murmuring about the tough tracking job, SPECKS OF BLOOD, SPECKS, SOMETIMES ON HANDS AND KNEES! He was no help, just running on ahead of me once I found a track and stopping when he lost it. He finally retorted that I was always down on his shooting and he was a good shot. He hit that animal square in the lungs, broadside shot! Toughest elk in the world. I told him that if we found it, the animal would tell the story. And when we did, it did. Yep, broadside shot, right in line with the boiler room. Perfect alignment, just 10 inches too high. Passed between the bottom of the spine and the vital organs. His second shot (elk had turned away presenting a Texas heartshot, but Mr. Hunter knew better. He let one fly to take it in the back of the head. Nice shot, parted the elk's hair, again too high. He had not shot the rifle enough to know that that bullet (a 400 yd zero so that he could shoot right out to 400yds and hit everything in between) at 264yds he was about 8" high and still rising.
My point in all of that was that when he had to, in the heat of the moment, recoil was not a factor. It was more a lack of judgement and experience, as well as a "I am the world's greatest hunter, just ask me!" attitude.
To end this, the landowner came to see the carcass once we got it out. Mr. Hunter is not welcome there again. And he can't come out with me again, either.
I watched a buddy shoot a brand-new 770 in .300WM loaded with Hornady Superformance 180gn rounds (because that would be the minimum for elk, according to his "mentors" at work). He couldn't get a 2' group. I sighted in my .30-06, then went and watched him. He was so scared of that rifle after the first round that he closed his eyes and actually picked his head clear of the cheek piece. He wasn't even near the scope. I told him what I saw. He didn't believe me and complained that I was always knocking his shooting and he's a good shot. After a box and a half of that punishment, and no better results, he told me to try it, since I was so "right". Three rounds, less than 3" group from a hot barrel. Handed him the rifle and told him to learn to shoot.
He begged me to sight it in for our upcoming elk hunt and I refused. He needed to shoot it. Now he couldn't afford any more of that ammo, so he went to blue box Federals. Didn't make any difference. He was done on that rifle but wouldn't admit it.
On the hunt, he was the first one to get a shot off on an elk. 2, actually. 264yds. Then his father threw a round at it with an '06 (I'm not holding that against him. 70 years old, first time hunting, no experience on a quartering shot when the heat is on). Elk went forever. They shot at 7:30 at night. I was 2 miles away and walked back to camp after waiting until dark for them to come pick me up. No response on the radios. I got them as I was entering camp. They told me what had happened, I emptied my pack, re-packed it for tracking all night. Reason I couldn't raise them on the radio? They both took off immediately after the elk went into the woods, leaving ALL of their gear behind (guy's a frickin genius).
I met up with them and tracked until 11:30 when we were close enough to push it out of its bed. I then told them that we were done. I wasn't chasing a barely wounded elk (I'd been tracking drops, not a blood trail) all night. Since he had wanted to lie down, let's let him and come back in the morning.
Tracked again from 8:00 and found him at noon. Still alive, but too stiff the get up. Mr. Hunter saw him first, up went the .300WM, and bang! The bull stood up just from the concussion of losing his lower jaw from a 180 gn bullet at 20 yds. As he got to his feet, he got hit with another in the neck, which put him down, and ANOTHER in the head from 2ft (frickin idiot).
I had been murmuring about the tough tracking job, SPECKS OF BLOOD, SPECKS, SOMETIMES ON HANDS AND KNEES! He was no help, just running on ahead of me once I found a track and stopping when he lost it. He finally retorted that I was always down on his shooting and he was a good shot. He hit that animal square in the lungs, broadside shot! Toughest elk in the world. I told him that if we found it, the animal would tell the story. And when we did, it did. Yep, broadside shot, right in line with the boiler room. Perfect alignment, just 10 inches too high. Passed between the bottom of the spine and the vital organs. His second shot (elk had turned away presenting a Texas heartshot, but Mr. Hunter knew better. He let one fly to take it in the back of the head. Nice shot, parted the elk's hair, again too high. He had not shot the rifle enough to know that that bullet (a 400 yd zero so that he could shoot right out to 400yds and hit everything in between) at 264yds he was about 8" high and still rising.
My point in all of that was that when he had to, in the heat of the moment, recoil was not a factor. It was more a lack of judgement and experience, as well as a "I am the world's greatest hunter, just ask me!" attitude.
To end this, the landowner came to see the carcass once we got it out. Mr. Hunter is not welcome there again. And he can't come out with me again, either.
