How much recoil is too much?

[raised by wolves]

I had a buddy that developed a nasty flinch from owning too much gun. He lined up on a broadside doe muley, motionless at 100 yards, and put the bullet right through the hips. The shot dropped the animal on the spot, and it was dead by the time we crossed the coulee, but it was far from a clean kill and an unfortunate loss of meat.

Only use what you can handle. Don't become enamoured with a heavy calibre and big recoil unless you need it and are comfortable shooting it.

There's always this contraption. My .338WM feels much the same as the .257Rob

[Halcyon]

From what I hear, these are more voodoo than usefull. Sure, recoil is reduced due to the extra weight but that's about it. I wouldn't waste your money on mercury.

[sullijr]

Flinching happens to all shooters and is not always caused by recoil.Many rimfire shooters and skeet shooters flinch at the target.The trigger break causes them to lift their head,drop the forend,twist the trigger hand and push the shoulder into the but.A hundred years ago or so when I was learning to shoot my father used to balance a dime on the barrel and I had to repeatedly dry fire without dropping the dime.This is still a good way to improve trigger control.Get a good accurate 22 and match ammo (or a good air rifle at 10 yards or across the basement) and shoot at 25 yds until 3 shots are in 1 hole then graduate until 10 are in 1 hole.If you can't you are still flinching.When you can do that then get a sling and shoot off your elbows.The bulls eye on an air rifle target is the size of a . the paper has 10 targets on it and a proficient shooter should average 8 out of 10 on the . . Name of the game is as Dick says "PRACTICE".The better you shoot the tendency to flinch will become controllable.

[PoppaW]

Too much recoil is when not just one but both feet come off the ground. My 416 Rigby is nicer to shoot than a guide gun with full power loads. Too much drop in the stock on the GG. I hope those that shoot 405's aren't using Remington's cuz they blow apart at top speed. Very poor choice unless you are shooting paper and beavers.

[Jerry D]

I'm happy with a .30-06 and even happier with a 7mm-08/.25-06/.260/6.5x55 etc...

[Stinky Coyote]

i really enjoyed a 270 in an 8 lb package, when it went to 7 lbs it was still okay to shoot well even prone in t-shirt but would be close to the limit where i'd probably start to develop some bad habits....then went to .270 wsm in a little over 7 lbs and it kicked as hard as Dad's old 300 win mag with hardened recoil pad and likely 1.5 lbs heavier....they were both miserable

a muzzle brake on the .270 wsm has it feeling like a strong .243 but not quite as strong as a .25-06....but put your ears on

[iceman99]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

From what I hear, these are more voodoo than usefull. Sure, recoil is reduced due to the extra weight but that's about it. I wouldn't waste your money on mercury.

You need recoil over ~20 ft lbs of energy for the effects of a mercury recoil reducer to be noticed. The big thing it will help with is to take the sharpness out of recoil. To explain my meaning - a 300 win mag has quite a bit of sharpness in its recoil compared to a 30-06 (given ammo in the midrange of each caliber's capability).

i.e. Not going to help at all with a .243

The R3 style of recoil pads take quite a bit of sharpness out of the recoil - there's still quite a bit of gun movement but its quite tolerable.

[littleal]

Hunting I shoot three calibers 300wsm,416 rigby and a T/C 50 cal.I go to the range quite a few times over the year, but about a month before hunting starts I will go to the range 3 4 or 5 time a week with the caliber I plan to use,I will only shoot 3 rounds.i find that any more than that and grouping gets much bigger.In 35 year of hunting I don't think I have ever shoot more than three times at an animal.