I'm about 5'10" and 160 pounds. Biggest I have shot was a .450 Nitro on a Ruger .458 Tropical. Didn't much care for it, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as a synthetic-stocked Model 70 in .338 I used for elk hunting. Most brutal recoil bar none? In my experience, patterning two-ounce turkey loads in a 12-gauge pump or single shot. Never again.
So much depends on other variables: stock dimensions, rifle weight, powder used, bullet weight, attitude and mood on a given day, too many beers the night before, etc.
You can get yourself a big bore and reload it to a vareity of levels though. I've loaded Marlin .45-70s from 1300 fps 340-grainlead plinking loads to downright painful with the Speer 405. A .416 Rigby in a Ruger Tropical wasn't a whole lot of fun with the Hornady 400 at 2350, but step down to a 350-grain cast at 2000 and she's a pussycat.
For true big bore fun, I recommend a .577 Snider with black powder loads. The shells are impressive as hell, and the onlookers need not be told how pleasant it is to shoot!

Mental toughness has more to do with it than anything else.

Screwing up a group distresses me more than recoil. Someone, earlier, mentioned Coni Brooks, who surely weighs no more than 105lbs but she was totin' a .500 NE, last I saw her. Good hand / arm strength & muscle tone can help, as will a well fitted stock but, unless your head's in it, your in for a rough day.

Do I have to answer this one?

I don't think size is a prerequisite for shooting big guns but I do think that they require a certain 'headspace' between the ears. I am only 5'7" and weigh around 170lb and regularly shoot .416s, .470s and the like. I have a .500 Jeffrey and .585 Nyati under construction and don't envisage any real difficulties shooting these calibres. I have friends who are much bigger than I who won't shoot anything more than .30/06 and the like! I just have a fetish for big guns and so they don't bother me to shoot.

I took a foreman to the range one summer day. He is one of the biggest, meanest, cruelest and strongest people I have seen. He stands only 6'1" but weighs 290-305. His hands and wrists are the biggest I have ever seen for instance. He is ugly as well if you don't mind.

He was shooting his MS 1955 in 30-06. Those rifles came with a rifle butt which is curved steel.

I could not believe it when he stopped shooting his rifle and said he could not take the pain any longer! I lent him a slip on pad and we went on shooting. His great mass was soaking up all of that force that was smashing his flesh.

I don't have anywhere near the experience that other members here have with very big rifles - have fired a .470 once and .375s a few times - but if you have a good instructor teach you to let the kick push you back, you'll be OK for a few shots. I'm not especially strong and if I could manage it there's no reason why you can't.

That said, I don't think I'll ever be able to shoot the really big .600s etc properlyif I ever get my hands on one. I just don't have the strength as I'll readily admit though some may laugh.

It has been my observation that smaller helps with handling recoil. Here is why. A person with a large upper body has more mass that wants to stay at rest. The mass has more momentem resisting the recoil of the weapon. Therefore the big guys will disipate less of the energy my moving with the recoil.

I first notticed this effect at a plinking session years ago. Big guy hands back the 45-70 whining about the painfull recoil. Seventy-five pound kid asks to try it and proceeds to shoot a box of ammo, smiling the whole time.

Hey Mehulkamdar, I am a wimpy guy too, but I can shoot 3 inch groups offhand at 50 yards with a 600 NE when I take my time. I am sure you could do it as well. It is just a matter of setting your mind to it, knowing that you are going to get pounded, and not minding.

6'4" 220lbs.



I think it is a combination of both gun fit and psychological.



As far as fit, I can only tolerate about 1 shot with my brother in-laws, Rem 700 30-06, but I can shoot my .416 off the bench all day long with no problems. Until I shot this '06 I thought your size mattered, but this gun learned me a lesson quickly.



I also look at a friend of mine that has a heck of a time getting 3" groups at 100yds with his .22-250, where I can take it and get under .5" from the same gun. I can only conclude from this that somehow he has developed a flinch from shooting larger calibre's that has somehow transferred over to the slight tap of the .22-250.



I should add that there was a time that I was not tolerant of much recoil. I would try so hard to keep that gun steady after the shot that I took a pounding. Then I read somewhere that by the time the gun kicks the bullet has already left the barrel, and from that point on recoil has never bothered me. This is because I'm a lot looser now when shooting and concentrate more on keeping the cross hairs steady then keeping the gun from moving after the shot.

6'1", 160lbs on a good day . Shot a 458Lott regularly before I sold it. Hell my wife shot it and liked it. All she had to do was see that it didnt kill me and she was fine with it. I had a friend shoot it and he was scared from the git go. Knocked the snot out of him, luckily he didnt drop the rifle .

Its all in the head as far as I'm concerned. if you think in it will knock the crap out of you, it will. you wont be ready, yet you will be anticipating, and it will hurt.

5'2", 110 pounds.

Recoil resistance is all in one's head. I have done 40 rounds of .458 WM from the bench a few times. Of course, the last ten or so of those were decidedly painful. I've been dealing with recoil since I was a kid shooting a 6# 12-gauge with 3" shells. THAT gun is just brutal - I recall firing it from a kneeling position and ending up standing after the shot.

The best flinch preventer that I have found is to practice a lot with an air rifle, and also take a .22 to the range and switch off between it and the .458. It keeps you from getting too set into expecting to get smacked with each trigger squeeze.

6' 245lbs.

It is true that smaller people can handle recoil better, just a fact of the physics of it. Doesn't mean that there aren't people that are big and can handle recoil, just that a smaller body handles it better. Anything can be learned and tolerated if a person wants it bad enough. My mom is about 5'3" and she can shoot about anything without problem.

Red

6'4", 300 Lbs. And as I get older recoil does seem to bother me a little more.

I am 6'3 and 240 pounds, I am not overly bothered by recoil, I also think that it all in your head, when I was a young fella I used to fire both barrels on my under/over with 32gram loads in my 12ga on the ducks, it never bothered me, must have been good practice