Hunters should not worry about recoil. Why? When the moment comes to shoot in the field at that bull elk, you don’t feel the recoil – at least, not in my experience. It’s true even with the super mags.

The last bull I shot was with a 375 H&H Ackley Improved loaded to the max (i.e., 300 grain SMK at 2930 fps). Believe me, at this muzzle energy (5700 ft#), this is a mega-kicker, and for this bull I can’t remember the recoil, although I know it kicked. I was excited and so intent on holding on that bull, the recoil became irrelevant.

BUT, at the range shooting this CANON is a different matter – for the average man, it’s too much to hold steady and not flinch. Thus, I always use a sissy bag filled with 20# of lead shot, pushed up against the butt of the stock. The kick is absorbed by the bag and not my shoulder. Hence, I don’t flinch and I can squeeze that trigger, knowing it’ll all be pain free. I can shoot sub MOA groups with this gun.

Also, I have a Jewel trigger set very light, which makes it even harder to flinch, because the gun goes off before you can flinch unconsciously.

Any thoughts? Regards, AIU

I agree & disagree. If your rig kicks you at the range, most will be afraid to shoot it enough to get good with it. You can go muzzle brake, but I can't stand them. With todays bullets, dropping to a lesser caliber can still yield good results, just get a bit closer.
I d use a PAST pad off the bench when shooting my 404j, it helsp me stay accurate. In the field, I do not notice recoil but practicing you sure do.

I also disagree.

Shooters learn to handle their guns and shoot them accurately based on "muscle memories" they develop while shooting at the range or otherwise sighting in or practicing. The only likely exceptions are those folks who never practice and never sight in, and who shoot their guns ONLY at animals. In theory (but probably not in fact), they could be so distracted by the animals that they wouldn't perceive the recoil.

As a person shoots more and more, they will hopefully learn ways to hold/manage their guns to reduce the felt recoil of each one to a level that no longer "scares" them, whether that is their conscious intent or not. But not every shooter learns to tolerate (and not fear) the same level of recoil.

If one's subconscious muscle memories are of the pain of recoil from shooting at the range or sighting in elsewhere, their bodies will automatically jerk away as they fire the rifle, to avoid the pain. Your body teaches itself since shortly after birth to avoid pain every time it can.

If you'd like to prove that to yourself, get a 26 or 27 gauge syringe at the drug store or from your doctor's office. Draw 1 cc of sterile water into the syringe, and give yourself a shot just under the skin of your tummy. You'll find it pretty tough to do the first time, and that is one of the least painful sites to do it. My first time, I jerked away so badly as the needle went in, that I automatically (reflexively) pulled the needle out before injecting the water and had to do it all over again. Bummer!

And practice CAN teach us to fear even more strongly, if we don't develop that correct "protective "hold" and handling technique with either a syringe or rifle.

Hence a flinch may ensue which can even more destroy field shooting ability and emphasize pain.

I think you guys are missing my point. At the range and don't learn to flinch. I prevent pain by using a sissy bag - no pain, no learned (Pavlov dog) involuntary flinch.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
I think you guys are missing my point. At the range and don't learn to flinch. I prevent pain by using a sissy bag - no pain, no learned (Pavlov dog) involuntary flinch.

Even w/ a sissy bag, some rifles/calibers can jus tbe punishing & shot enough, you either get past it or you start to flinch. It's diff w/ every person, but to say it doesn't matter, well, it does, you just haven't found your limit yet. I dound mine, the 458lott in a 9 1/4# rifle.

And I think you are missing our point. If you use a sissy bag all the time, your body will never learn to "ride the recoil" and not feel (and not try to avoid) the kick, unless what one calls hunting is shooting from a small cabin on top a platform, or from a blind, with a rest and a sissy bag in it.

Until you learn to move with the gun and handle it in a manner that recoil does not bother you, that is nature's way. One can fool himself, but he can't fool mother nature.

Rounds down range and lots of sending them there teach a persons reflexive mind and his body bit by bit to be relaxed and easy with bigger and bigger cartridges (and heavier bullets). But there isn't any free lunch.

Alberta, you've got a problem I don't have. Regards, AIU

I kind of agree with this. Never thought much about it before, but in a hunt I neither hear the shot nor feel the recoil. Those two things disappear!

At the range is a totally different story!

Oxon

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
Alberta, you've got a problem I don't have. Regards, AIU

There are other possibilities than your assumption here.

One is that you haven't shot a big enough cartridge when hunting to understand what is being said. Go take something like a .475 A&M (600 grain .475 diameter bullet from a necked up .460 Wby case) hunting, then tell me with a straight face that you never noticed the recoil.

Don't work your way up with graduated load levels, getting your mind and body used to it first, just take it out cold turkey with full loads and hunt with it.

If your theory is correct, you should never notice the recoil. But I'd be willing to make a small bet that isn't what's gonna happen.

Another possibility is you don't realize your reaction to the shot. That is quite possible for anyone. It is not unmanly, or an insult, just very often a fact. People quickly get used to the recoil of small bores, such as the various .30 calibers, and then don't notice the recoil when concentrating on the shot at an animal. But if they have never fired anything bigger than a .22 LR, their mind and body will notice it, at least until they learn to deal with it.

That's why it pays to start new shooters off with light recoiling rounds until their bodies and minds learn to handle the perceived "threat" of recoil.

Anyway, believe whatever you wish. The human body will do what bodies do, regardless.

Have a nice new year.