Recoil affect

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bearhunter338-06

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OK we all know how the recoil of a heavy caliber or magnum feels and works on the shoulder. I'm not talking felt recoil but actual recoil. With the recent surgery I have had on my chest, I have been thinking a lot about the affect that recoil will have on my chest. Since I have been out of the hospital the only rifles I have shot are my 257 Roberts and the 17 mach 2. Both light in the recoil department. My 280 Remington and my 12 & 16 gauge shotguns should be OK also. I will find out soon how they feel, with a couple trips to the trap range and rifle range.

I'm thinking of of a 375 cal in a #1. Is anyone able to tell me how your chest feels when you shoot your 375. Do you feel a heavy pull/stretching in the chest.

Maybe I should give a little more insight as to the surgery. The surgery required my sternum to be cut open and wired back up. Unfortunately I have been informed that I will never 100% heal from this and have to be careful not to split it open and face anther surgery.
 
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bearhunter338-06 said:
OK we all know how the recoil of a heavy caliber or magnum feels and works on the shoulder. I'm not talking felt recoil but actual recoil. With the recent surgery I have had on my chest, I have been thinking a lot about the affect that recoil will have on my chest. Since I have been out of the hospital the only rifles I have shot are my 257 Roberts and the 17 mach 2. Both light in the recoil department. My 280 Remington and my 12 & 16 gauge shotguns should be OK also. I will find out soon how they feel, with a couple trips to the trap range and rifle range.

I'm thinking of of a 375 cal in a #1. Is anyone able to tell me how your chest feels when you shoot your 375. Do you feel a heavy pull/stretching in the chest.
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I don't remember any adverse or even any affect on my chest. Of all the injuries(from the stock end) I have seen were shoulder and retina related.
Just to give you and idea my .375 H&H weighs about 9lbs.

I would think a doctor would be able to advise you as far as the recoil/surgery
aspect depending on what was medically done.

Wish you the best
 
The recoil energy of a 12 gauge shotgun varies between 23-50 ft-lbs in an average weight shotgun ( 7.5 lbs) but the actual peak recoil will vary with the action , ie semi autos spread the recoil time out a bit. A 9lb 375 will recoil about 36-37 ft lbs depending on the load. If you can handle a 12 gauge a 375 should be OK but in any case I'd try gradually increasing recoil to find my limit.I injured my back a few years ago and used a 20 gauge all season and reduced the loads in my 280 to allow it to heal correctly.
 
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Should not be a problem as recoil will push your cheast, not stretch it. My brother is back at the gym 10 weeks after by-pass. Doing bench press and light chest flys-with docs ok, no problems
 
If I were in your position I would not shoot a twelve gauge, except maybe with light target loads.
Absolutely no way would I shoot any 375 magnum. Whether or not it would injure your repaired chest or not, retina damage appears more and more, on these threads and from different sources. That is extremely serious damage, as nothing is more precious than our eyes.
I have had cataract surjury on each eye, meaning I now have artificial lenses. This has restored my vision to 20-20, like I used to have and I want to do everything I can to keep it that way.
I was recently to my eye specialist for a routine check up. After she looked into my eyes with her instruments, she remarked that the new lenses are staying in place perfectly. That really rang a bell. If heavy recoiling firearms can loosen a retina, why couldn't it loosen, or move my lenses? No more heavy recoiling guns for me.
I have already sold my nice 45-70.
Not getting a magnum rifle will be real easy for me! I have never liked magnum rifles, for reasons not related to their recoil hurting, but with the potential for the recoil causing serious injury, all magnums are ruled out.
 
All I shoot in the 12 gauge are target loads. I will be hitting the NOTS club Wednesday with 100 rounds to see how that will affect my chest. That should give me a good idea as to what to expect.

As for my rifles I'm thinking the 280 Rem. and my 25-06 will work for anything I hunt up to even grizzly, with the right bullets and shot placement.
 
A muzzlebrake on a rifle will allow felt recoil to lessen while shooting a larger cartridge.
 
How old are you bearhunter ? A friend ( early 60s ) had same / similar surgery and had to avoid heavy recoil for a considerable time.
This was a couple years ago and he can still feel the effect of shooting his 300 WM after a while. I can only suggest to take it easy and work your way up the recoil ladder slowly for your own sake...
 
Recoil effects

For what it is worth my ENT told me my hearing loss in the left ear is due to rifle recoil. Iam right handed.
 
Interesting about the eyes. First I've heard of it. A few years back I decided to gravitate towards lighter recoiling rounds to spot my hits and not to get physically punished if I wanted to get out and shoot a lot in a day. Glad I did. 30-06 is the biggest cal I own and it doesn't get much use.
 
bearhunter338-06 said:
OK we all know how the recoil of a heavy caliber or magnum feels and works on the shoulder. I'm not talking felt recoil but actual recoil. With the recent surgery I have had on my chest, I have been thinking a lot about the affect that recoil will have on my chest. Since I have been out of the hospital the only rifles I have shot are my 257 Roberts and the 17 mach 2. Both light in the recoil department. My 280 Remington and my 12 & 16 gauge shotguns should be OK also. I will find out soon how they feel, with a couple trips to the trap range and rifle range.

I'm thinking of of a 375 cal in a #1. Is anyone able to tell me how your chest feels when you shoot your 375. Do you feel a heavy pull/stretching in the chest.

Maybe I should give a little more insight as to the surgery. The surgery required my sternum to be cut open and wired back up. Unfortunately I have been informed that I will never 100% heal from this and have to be careful not to split it open and face anther surgery.
Click to expand...

I shoot #1's in 416 rigby and 460 WBY off a bench all the time...
You might wanna try a .338 winmag b4 going to any thing heavier.I am a smaller guy and they throw me quite good.But if you are bigger I could see your shoulder going back,body mass stays put and your sternum could tear open. Maybe even find a 300 win mag and try it first...your body will let you know how much it can handle...
 
bearhunter338-06 said:
OK we all know how the recoil of a heavy caliber or magnum feels and works on the shoulder. I'm not talking felt recoil but actual recoil. With the recent surgery I have had on my chest, I have been thinking a lot about the affect that recoil will have on my chest. Since I have been out of the hospital the only rifles I have shot are my 257 Roberts and the 17 mach 2. Both light in the recoil department. My 280 Remington and my 12 & 16 gauge shotguns should be OK also. I will find out soon how they feel, with a couple trips to the trap range and rifle range.

I'm thinking of of a 375 cal in a #1. Is anyone able to tell me how your chest feels when you shoot your 375. Do you feel a heavy pull/stretching in the chest.

Maybe I should give a little more insight as to the surgery. The surgery required my sternum to be cut open and wired back up. Unfortunately I have been informed that I will never 100% heal from this and have to be careful not to split it open and face anther surgery.
Click to expand...

I had by-pass surgery in 2002. It was a standard operation where the sternum is split then wired back together so the bone will heal. I did discuss shooting with the Docs which resulted in the advice to take it easy for a while. No mention was ever made of less than 100% healing. Obviously, we are all different so I'm wondering if there are special circumstances in your case.

After my surgery I took it easy for about 6 months by which time I had returned to normal and was able to shoot my .35 Whelen. A year or so later, I moved to a 9.3X62 then to a .375 H&H.

Currently, I'm shooting a .375 Ruger with no ill affects. There is no sense of pulling/stretching in the chest area. When one considers the body positioning when shooting, it is difficult to see how there can be much stress on the central chest area. To be perfectly frank, I don't really thing about the shooting/chest thing.
 
KDX said:
Interesting about the eyes. First I've heard of it. A few years back I decided to gravitate towards lighter recoiling rounds to spot my hits and not to get physically punished if I wanted to get out and shoot a lot in a day. Glad I did. 30-06 is the biggest cal I own and it doesn't get much use.
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Its called retinal detachment...
 
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Mauser98 said:
I had by-pass surgery in 2002. It was a standard operation where the sternum is split then wired back together so the bone will heal. I did discuss shooting with the Docs which resulted in the advice to take it easy for a while. No mention was ever made of less than 100% healing. Obviously, we are all different so I'm wondering if there are special circumstances in your case.

After my surgery I took it easy for about 6 months by which time I had returned to normal and was able to shoot my .35 Whelen. A year or so later, I moved to a 9.3X62 then to a .375 H&H.

Currently, I'm shooting a .375 Ruger with no ill affects. There is no sense of pulling/stretching in the chest area. When one considers the body positioning when shooting, it is difficult to see how there can be much stress on the central chest area. To be perfectly frank, I don't really thing about the shooting/chest thing.
Click to expand...

I was told by my surgeon, the cardiac nurse and my family doctor that the sternum will never heal 100%. That is the reason they wired it back together.
 
Well for what it's worth, on a 1 to 10 scale popular cartrigdes come in at:
(Using a muzzle brake will reduce these number by 30-40%.)

10 - 30-06 and 7 Rem Mag
8 - 308 Win and 270 Win
6 - 260 Rem and 6.5x55
4 - 243 Win
2 - 223 Rem

Only you can judge what is too much in terms of recoil but I would hunt deer with a 22-250 if it were legal in my part of Canada (I use a 243 Win for medium game and a 270 WSM for large game).

Alex
 
H4831 said:
If I were in your position I would not shoot a twelve gauge, except maybe with light target loads.
Absolutely no way would I shoot any 375 magnum. Whether or not it would injure your repaired chest or not, retina damage appears more and more, on these threads and from different sources. That is extremely serious damage, as nothing is more precious than our eyes.
I have had cataract surjury on each eye, meaning I now have artificial lenses. This has restored my vision to 20-20, like I used to have and I want to do everything I can to keep it that way.
I was recently to my eye specialist for a routine check up. After she looked into my eyes with her instruments, she remarked that the new lenses are staying in place perfectly. That really rang a bell. If heavy recoiling firearms can loosen a retina, why couldn't it loosen, or move my lenses? No more heavy recoiling guns for me.
I have already sold my nice 45-70.
Not getting a magnum rifle will be real easy for me! I have never liked magnum rifles, for reasons not related to their recoil hurting, but with the potential for the recoil causing serious injury, all magnums are ruled out.
Click to expand...

The giggle berries are right up there, especially if you were going to take a 12 GA butt stock to em shooting 1oz Slugs!I bet ya only do it once yet you will shoot from the shoulder many times.;)
 
If you are concerned a bunch, I wouldn't do it. Otherwise I'd just never shoot prone with a big caliber.

The shoulder should give enough long before it will run out of travel and cause the chest to rotate or pull just my opining.
 
I'm not sure I'd risk my life to fire a heavy kicker, and I doubt anyone on this board is qualified to tell you that a 35 ft-lb smack won't cause any medical problems for you.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
The giggle berries are right up there, especially if you were going to take a 12 GA butt stock to em shooting 1oz Slugs!I bet ya only do it once yet you will shoot from the shoulder many times.;)
Click to expand...

For a long period of time I would have agreed with you. Now I'll settle for precious eyes!
 
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