I haven’t shot any large calibers so I really have no idea how bad the recoil is and what should none bear in mind while using large calibers. So here are a few questions I am hoping I could get an answer for here .

1) How important is the role of weight of the rifle.
2) Does a good technique help, as I have seen some people of pretty ordinary physical strength quite comfortably shoot large calibers.
3) How does someone practice their shooting with large calibers considering its not as easy as a smaller caliber to manage?

Any other factors which I might have missed out please do let me know what it is.

These questions are in respect to calibers over 500.And yes it is just for my information nothing more.

Appreciate you responses

There is something about shooting big bores that I find absolutely thrilling. That being said there are several factors that can make the experience more pleasurable.
1. Yes weight is important, the more weight the less felt recoil, but just as or maybe more important is fit. If a big bore does not fit correctly it can hammer the shooter no matter how much it weighs.
2. Technique is also important, you can't over power a big bore. But you can learn to hold your rifle firmly while the rest of your body is relaxed and rolls with the recoil.
3. You can practice shooting reduced loads, snap caps or limit your self to a few full power loads per session.
You will be able to tell right away if all of these things helped or not after you pull the trigger, one of two reactions will occur;
a. You will have a big smile on your face.
b. You will have a confused look on your face and be wondering where the truck that ran over you came from.

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Originally posted by ajsaxin:
I haven’t shot any large calibers so I really have no idea how bad the recoil is and what should none bear in mind while using large calibers. So here are a few questions I am hoping I could get an answer for here .

1) How important is the role of weight of the rifle.

Total weight is very important, for two different things. The first is weight distribution to make the rifle ballacce perfectly. The weight really does moderate felt recoil, but ballance and fit also moderate felt recoil. The negative in regard to weight is what is too heavy to carry all day, and what is too light for the chambering? Both ends of this can be a negative.

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2) Does a good technique help, as I have seen some people of pretty ordinary physical strength quite comfortably shoot large calibers.

Thechnique combined with fit is very important in makeing a rifle easier to shoot under recoil.

There is a common missconception that seems to be quite popular in posts on all these forums that deal with large bore rifles. That missconception is that a large heavy person can take more recoil than a smaller light person! This is IMO, exactly 180 Degrees opposite the truth.

Smaller, lighter people can take recoil better than a larger heavy person. The reason being that the lighter person can more easily roll with the recoil, while the heavey larger person absorbs it all. Just go to any skeet, or sporting clays contest and watch the very small women shooting 12 ga shotguns hundreds of times a day, with no ill effects.

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3) How does someone practice their shooting with large calibers considering its not as easy as a smaller caliber to manage?

IMO, once you make sure the sights are "ON" get away from the bench! This is the place most responcible for flinching, and fear of recoil of a big bore rifle! The best remedy is to find a place where you can safely shoot a big bore rifle, for some general walk about "STUMP SHOOTING".

Walk about in the woods hills and creek bottoms, shooting from hunting positions, at targets of oppertunity. Rocks, stumps, dead trees, and dirt banks.

One of my old practices was in a pasture on my grandfather's ranch, there were lots of jackrabbits. I would walk that pasture with a double rifle, and would normally jump several jacks every acre or two. I would snap shoot at those running jacks. I got so I'd hit about one out of every four, but there was not a need to actulally hit them but if the shot was within five or six inches of any of them it was a "HIT" on a lion, or cape buffalo that would have put all bullets in a 10' to 12: circle around the aiming point on a runing animal of any size. That also made me forget the recoil and concentrate on my shooting.

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Any other factors which I might have missed out please do let me know what it is.

These questions are in respect to calibers over 500.And yes it is just for my information nothing more.

Appreciate you responses

Anyone can get used to heavy recoil, that is within reasoned recoil.

Most poeple, however, shoot much better, and learn faster with something like a 375H&H in a bolt, or 375 Flanged in a double rifle, up to something in the 450NE class cartridges, than they will with something like a 600NE! That just is a fact no matter who you are.

IMO, anything larger than a 577NE in a double rifle or a 505 Gibbs in a bolt are simply not needed, though that isn't to say they are useless to someone who wants one, just not a necessity to get the job done quite well on any game animal I'm aware of! I've found, over the years that especially people that want to buy their first double rifle, tend to buy too large a chambering. Most who do this have never shot a rifle with a chambering much larger than a 338 Win Mag bolt gun, and many not larger than a 30-06.

It is far better to buy something in the 9.3X74R class double to start with for a first double rifle. That will have enough recoil to let you know you have fired the rifle, without developing a flinch. It will also give you a lot more practice because, No1 they cheaper to shoot a lot, and No2 will let you know if you are really a double rifle person.

Chamberings like the 9.3 will also let you hunt anything offered in North America, so you will have a pleasent way of learning all you need to know about double rifles with less stress. This rifle will also make a fine back-up for your larger double if you deside you want something larger as well, or can be sold quite quickly to finance something larger later!

Well said!