What are the limits of your pain threshold?

If someone offered me a shot of a big bore rifle with a steel butt I'm not sure I'd take the shot. Would a .375 H&H with a steel butt make you waive off if you were wearing a t-shirt? Personally I'm not quite sure I'd take that shot.

Where do you actually draw the line?

For me, I don't know just yet. A steel butt somehow scares me. The 416's seem to be plenty...but I've only fired a .500 NE DR (well, both barrels) just once with a very shallow recoil pad. And I'd do it again for sure.

Thoughts?

Where does "interesting" become "that wasn't pleasant"?

I am crazy enough to fire almost anything once...

The most recoil I've dealt with in a rifle was Big Doggy 700's DR 4-bore. It was a present to myself for my 60th birthday. I had to shoot both barrels, and I hit a 9" pie plate at 25yds both shots. Colin Stolzer just about double-dog-dared me to shoot the 2 bore ML pistol he built. That was a treat.

There is just that slightly insane urge we have to try and control the uncontrollable.

Well I just bought a single fully rifled 8 bore rifle, made by Joseph Lang in the 1880s..

I have an urge to test fire it....and guess what, it has a serrated steel butt-plate..

someone on here a while back posted pics of a steel butt plated 375 they own and use.

If the stock was well designed I'm sure it would be ok.

i have a 1913 375H&H with hard buttplate. Weighs about 8lbs 2oz. It is quite sweet to shoot.

However, when i had a light takedown Bland 404J i used a slip-on pad when shooting the hot RWS ammo, all that was available 30yrs ago.

Should have my arse kicked for selling that rifle!

Some of the old English Silvers pads feel a bit like horn buttplates

Cheers, Chris

My 375 Sako (fn) is a hard plastic butt plate. It's not that bad.

Robert,

I think in a 375 a steel butt plate would be fine and not that punishing. I would expect it might be slippery on the shoulder though.

Mark

ok, lets start a new fad.
Some one build a rifle in a big bore, .375 works for me. Steel but , nra logo engraved beautifully in the steel but. put some tattoo ink on your shoulder let er rip no shirt.
Then ship the rifle to the next contributer !..
Feel free to abuse my sill idea ~ tj3006

I Would :-)but then again I am in the "Whompers Club"

Boom stick - If you remember, you fired a single shot 450NE with a horn butt plate. Not that bad really.

375 H&H with a steel plate? No problem.

Yes, thanks to you. I love that gun. I look back on that beauty of a gun fondly. I wish I had a gun as wonderful as yours.

quote:

Originally posted by RyanB:
If the stock was well designed I'm sure it would be ok.

Yep.
My 425WR has a steel plate and is much more than a 375 in the recoil dept.
Now, I am not claiming any special resistance to recoil, but my brother ends up with a sweet bruise on his shoulder and arm when he shoots it but I somehow avoid that at twice the rounds.
Stock design has a part in it, but so does technique.

I have a 404 project on a Winchester, I have a stock with the steel butt plate. As I would like a longer stock but do not want to change it I plan to use the PAST shoulder pad to add to my shoulder.
To test if it was a good/bad idea I removed the recoil pad from a 375 and used the PAST. No problem, I think it was better than the standard recoil pad and no PAST. Without the recoil pad or the PAST pad it was not good, mostly due to the sharp edges of the butt.

Mark

Original 1926 WJ Jeffery 375 H&H, Steel butt plate, not to bad.

Makes no sense to shoot a heavy kicking gun with a hard buttplate.

The new Decelerator slip on recoil pad is well made. Get one.

A .375 doesn't kick, unless it doesn't fit you. A too-short .375 is the only rifle that has cut me. Steel buttplate with a rifle that fit, or that didn't have a scope -- no problem.

Put a Rubber on that Jeffery, not on your life !

alf, that is a very pleasing stock to look at; the lines are just right to me.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
A .375 doesn't kick, unless it doesn't fit you. A too-short .375 is the only rifle that has cut me. Steel buttplate with a rifle that fit, or that didn't have a scope -- no problem.

yep ...

change that to 416 rem on a model 70, for my too short and it cut me

I don't consider a 375 H+H a hard kicker... no problem with a steel buttplate.

Hunting with a steel butt plate no problem recoil goes away when I hunt.Load development at the range then I may use a slip on pad.I like to keep the original pads if they are in good condition even if they have gone hard.

While shooting at a Cape buffalo or lion or elephant, you won't fell ANYTHING!! - only your ego will be bruised, if you make a poor shot. But, sight it in with a sissy bag.

Sure.

Not near as often as I would with one that had a recoil pad on it.

The 375 that I used for years until I found the rear receiver ring had cracked was set up with a steel butt. Stock was done to fit me and recoil was nothing to worry about. 375 doesn't really have much in the recoil department.

I guided with my 358 Norma for 20yrs with a steel butt and lived to tell about it!!

Many people seem to have forgotten the basics of shooting a recoiling rifle, maybe the invention of the recoil pad brought this about..

A rifle, properly held, that is the trigger hand pulling the gun back, in my case, rather hard, and the forend hand doing the same but a tad less, makes a gun push you and not swat you.

I have most of my adult life shot many very big bore rifles with steel butt plates both old winchesters and modern English style big bores, and big bores that I have stocked for myself and none with ill effects. I am not imune to recoil and I dislike shooting big bores over 40 caliber, but shoulder recoil has never been a problem with me...Recoil on my face bothers me to no end, muzzle blast does to, and a thump on my middle finger by the trigger guard has always bothered me, and with a recent hand surgery it will bring me to my knees...

Jack Belk once told me that all a recoil pad does it give the gun a one inch running start to your shoulder..I think he might be on to something...

Bottom line is we all receive recoil differently, some on AR must be foritfied with huge amounts of Testosterone, others with pablum!! I ate all my wheaties, took my vitamins, did my exercises and I still don't like the big 50s.

Many of the original big bore rifles used in Africa had steel buttplates (to protect the butt in the field) and were used regularly with little or no discomfort to the shooters.

The trick is learning to shoot a heavy recoiling rifle. And that is only done by doing it.

You do not want to hold the rifle lightly so as to give it a running start at you. On the other hand, you don't want to put it in a "death grip" either. The object is not to keep the rifle from coming back as it is fired, but to learn to "catch" the recoiling rifle and give WITH it. If you hold it in good initial contact the catch part is made easy. Your body will learn how to give with it by shooting it, and only by shooting it.

Jack Belk was partially right when he said that a recoil pad just gives the rifle a running start at your shoulder. Well, it does that but that's NOT the only thing the pad does. It also reduces the recoil velocity by forcing the rifle to compress the pad before hitting your shoulder.

And as we all know, velocity X mass = energy. So to reduce recoil energy, it helps to reduce recoil velocity (which a correct pad does).

Too soft a pad doesn't use up enough recoil energy to slow the rifle recoil velocity any meaningful amount. Too hard a pad doesn't either.

But the main recoil reducer is your body learning how to twist as the recoil is applied to it, much like a baseballer with an infielder's glove learning to give with a really hard hit line drive as he catches it.

I have an unusual 458 Win Mag that I have not shot as yet. The perceived recoil has me buffaloed completely. I think 22LR recoils. I am sensitive to it no end. This 458 weighs exactly 8lbs. It was built by Atkinson & Marquardt some years ago. It's on a 1903A3 action. It sports a Neidner checkered steel buttplate. The barrel is a stiff 16 1/2" in length. Maybe I can use one of the Pachmeyer slip on decellerators to try it. Have no idea who had it built or why but it is one of the handiest quickest big bores I have ever handled. Would make a terrific backup for a PH I should think. It probably originally had a Lyman Alaskan as the G&H rings are 7/8". I put a Norman-Ford Texan on it. I definitely going to load some reduced loads and try it out. Doubt I will ever get up the nerve to try full house 458 Win Mags though. I shoot (or did shoot mostly stopped now)375's with no problem and my 416 Rigby wasn't very bad and I took an elephant with my 470NE so I'm not backward about big bores,just really DON'T like recoil.

Would I? Yep. Not sure I,d take the first shot sitting down at a bench..
Worst I ever got beat up by a gun was a nice light, too short little 20 guage, and piss poor form. Shootin clay pigeons, kept reaching about every 3-4th shot. Shoulder was sore for the better part of a week after that.

Yes.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
It was built by Atkinson & Marquardt some years ago.

FYI - Not intending to give you a hard time, just some information...there was/is no "d" in Paul Marquart's name. Up until he died about 15-20 years ago he was one of my elk hunting friends...in fact I guided him to his very first elk up a bit NE of Williams AZ.

I would shoot it... I have a Whelen with a skeketonized butt plate that I shoot 250s in. I can't believe there is THAT much difference... of course I could be wrong, and it bite like the dickens!

And of course, it would have to be a LH rifle, as I am a lefty. I am thinking that the cast off in a RH might eat me alive...

A lot to be said for a stock that is shaped correctly...

Alberta Canuck - No offense but old habits die hard as the saying goes and since I have called him that since Gunsmith School I find it hard to change the few times I write it today. I once told him in mail he should have a 'D' in it even if he didn't. That is the second time you have corrected me on his name in these forums and If I have the opportunity to write it again in the future you shall probably have to do it again. At 80 I'm not about to change a lifelong habit.

I had a 404 Jeffrey that weighed 7.5 lb. and had a steel buttplate it wasn't pleasant but a 375 with a little more weight might not be so bad.

Okay, then I am wasting my time.

I only do it because I knew how much Paul disliked having his name misspelled. In respect of his memory, I try to at least do him the courtesy of not being an enabler of continuing that affront.

Paul could never quite buy that folks who expected him to perform work machined accurately to 1/10,00th" shouldn't put forward enough effort to spell his name correctly in exchange. But he was always too polite to bring it up with any vigor.

Alberta Canuck - I don't know how many times I have had my last name misspelled over the years and it is only 3 simple letters. I'm sorry to hear that Paul was so sensitive about it but I shall ,as I said probably not change as that is exactly the way I remember (in my minds eye it HAS a D whether it does or not) it spelled thru all these years. Incorrectly. I have quite probably seen it misspelled in print more than correctly spelled. I would even venture to say it is probably spelled with a 'D' more than it is spelled without one. In any case an over 60 year habit is hardly going to be broken.

I'm in the process of building a 577 T-Rex with a steel butt-plate. Would you shoot that?

I'll have pictures on the website soon.

Wayne, as you know, I've had some big bore rifles; your 700 AHR, 600 OK, 600 NE Verney Carron, and a couple T-Rexes. With both the recoil force and velocity of the 577 T-Rex, I think that's the only rifle I've had that I would deem to be "unshootable". The guy who ordered one with a steel buttplate is in dire need of a cranial enema :-)