The largest rifle I own is a 505 Gibbs. I shoot only 600 gr. Woodleighs in it, at 2,150 fps. This CZ rifle weighs about 9.5 lbs. with a barrel shortened to 22".

I am 67 years old, weigh 160 lbs., and am small framed at 5'7".

I've never hunted with this rifle. Mainly because, with the rifle weight and load I use, the recoil gives me a free ride to damn near a 90 degree straight up look at the sky. My recovery time is simply too long for a back up second shot.

Before anyone recommends adding weight, muzzle brakes, etc. to tame the recoil, let me explain that I do this on purpose.

Why? Because it makes me love my Dakota Safari 458 Lott that weighs 8.5 lbs. and shoots a diet of 500 gr. SAFs. It allows me to 'train' (trick?) my subconscious mind that the Lott is my gentle friend.

And it works beautifully (for me!).

And my 8.5 lb. 404 Jeffery shooting 400 gr. SAFs? Like a Daisy BB gun. Pure pleasure...

It's interesting how the human mind works/adapts. I remember the first time I shot a 338WM that a friend owned and let me shoot. I shot it once. He handed me four more cartridges. I handed him the rifle and said no mas. At that time, the 30-06 was the largest cartridge I had shot.

I am preparing for my next safari with Andrew in Zambia this summer. I will be taking my 458 Lott for Buffalo. I am shooting it now at the range to get used to the recoil.

As my wallet can afford, I will occasionally be reacquainting myself with my friend, Mr. Gibbs...

Any other masochists out there?

You are not alone! I used to shoot my .500 NE to get ready for the .458 Lott but finally figured out that the Lott doesn't hurt me even off the bench/bags.
Now I have a .500 MDM and I have a feeling that it's gonna be an exercise just to bench it.

1: yes, shooting bigger recoil makes smaller recoil feel even less
2: i bet dollars to donuts that you are more or less SQUARE to your target and rather than ride the recoil, you are tense, prepared, and try to fight the recoil.

here's two (my goodness, cell phone camera videos from 10 years ago) videos of square vs rolling

http://www.weaponsmith.com/mov-550-exp.html

116 ft# recoil, <11# 550 express

Jeffeosso,

Thanks for the film (phone?) bites.

I am a retired school teacher and believe in never stopping learning. I could probably use some shooting instruction from persons such as yourself!

I don't seem to have any trouble with calibers/loads up to 500 grains putting them where they need to be, but I have to admit that the 600 gr. loads in my Gibbs takes a lot of talking to myself to get me to relax enough, to accept the recoil, and to be able to put the bullet where I want it. If I do that, I can even put them within a few inches of each other at 25 yards. As I stretch the distance to 50 yards, it gets more difficult to get the mental relaxation/concentration for accurate aiming, to combat with my subconscious mind that knows what's coming.

This is not a problem for me with my Lott or lesser calibers. I don't know if it is the bullet weight (600 gr.) or the weight of the Gibbs rifle (9.5 lbs.), or the fact (my previous assumption) that it is the biggest caliber/kicking rifle that I own. That is, if I owned and shot a 600NE or 700NE (both a bit light for caliber), would my mind then look upon my Gibbs as a Daisy BB gun?

Or maybe instead, I simply need some pointers in shooting 500+ caliber rifles.

Anyway, thank you for the videos again, and for the suggestions!

I originally built my .505 SRE to (1) duplicate the performance of a .505 Gibbs in a rifle with a standard length action and (2) put the recoil of my .458 WM in perspective. Both purposes were realized. However, when it came to comfort in shooting a rifle with heavy recoil, my solution was practice, practice, practice.

For this purpose, I made up hundreds of rounds of .505 ammunition, using lead bullets and reduced charges. I practiced shooting quickly at animal shaped targets, and never developed a sore shoulder or a flinch.

Full loads were confined to zeroing the rifle from the bench, using my own version of the Lead Sled to keep the recoil in check. This was with an 8 3/4 pound rifle, shooting a 570 grain bullet at 2150 FPS.

This works out to a recoil velocity of roughly 27 fps. and a recoil energy of almost 102 ft/lbs. I never noticed any recoil shooting at game, and at least on a couple of occasions I emptied the magazine into the intended animal, with no difficulty in reacquiring the target.

Agree. After shooting some rounds with my .577 with extra velocity, my Gibbs .505 is a little pussycat!