Thread: RECOIL....your funny stories.

A 4 gauge shotgun showing its displeasure at being fired.

Recoil bites us all. Whether it's a sore shoulder from a day's shooting, a bleeding halfmoon above your shooting eye from being "scoped" or being knocked flat on your ass from firing a 12ga for the first time and not being ready for it, we all suffer, unless all you own is a 223 or smaller.

What has kicked you?

My first gun was a single shot 12g. A mate took me to gun club to shoot a few clays. I used a box of game load, and by the time I got to clay #23, I couldn’t shoulder the gun at all

Gave me a flinch I’ve had to consciously work on for the last 40+ years

I was shooting with a guy that caught his eyebrow with the nightforce that was atop his 50bmg. Gave him shit all day until we were spotlighting that night and I saw a Wallaby run out beside the truck, quickly took the shot and took the brunt of a 450 bushmaster to the eye. I shut up after that.

If you want to "feel" a bit of recoil, try a net gun.

Mucking round with a 12g pump action one day, didnt realise my mate had snuck a solid 3"slug in the tube along with the light clay loads......

i owned a tokarev svt40 (7.62x54R).
bought it from a gunshop, took it to the range, filled the magazine with 10 rounds of ammo. took sight of my target at 50m and the whole 10 rounds went thru with one trigger pull.
scared the crap outta me !

I've told this one before, but I'll tell it again.

Took @TimeRider to the range to get her to shoot with a centrefire. The groups started tiny, but quickly grew in size. I asked why the groups had opened up? TR, "Don't know." I stood to one side and watched again and could see movement in the temple by her eye, "You closing your eye when you go to pull the trigger?" TR, "No." I watch again, "Yes you are closing your eye. Why?" TR, "It's pushing be back when I fire." GM, "It's a 223 with a suppressor, it's not pushing you back. If I see you close your eye again I'm going to poke you in the neck with a sharp stick." Groups tightened back up.

I know it's not what you'd expect from a story about 'recoil'.

Um, let's see. Firearms that have made me bleed over the years:

Glock 26 - tiny bloody grip, slide cut the web of my hand between thumb and index finger
Very light 12 ga shotty - thumb whacked into my nose
Unbraked, lightweight 270 - scoped
Marlin 45/70 lever - broken skin and bruised knuckles just about every time I go to the range

"Interesting" recoil that did not result in bleeding:

454 Casull revolver - fired one shot and that was enough, thank you !
50 BMG
404 Jefferey elephant gun

i fired 20 rounds out of a 454. took days till the tingling left my hand

Learning wingshooting as a kid with the 12ga U/O Baikal and no recoil pad. 2-3/4" reloads with 1-1/8oz shot, but unbeknownst to us at the time the powder bushing in the MEC reloader was the wrong one. Not dangerous (luckily) but definitely a hot load. Never even got in the same area code as a flying duck until Dad sourced some 1-oz loads factory loads a bit later down the track.

Over 30 years ago at an antique arms shoot i had a go with a 4 Bore flint lock after having watched several others it didn't seem so bad. We I had been giving the owner/maker a bit of stick about the standard of finish, so he loaded me a shot charge rather than ball. More weight, more surface area more recoil. Blew me backwards leaving my glasses behind.
My how they all laughed.

Way back when... Mate had a slug pistol which we bored enough out of the barrel to except a .22. So put a slug in the usual place a .22 end of barrel and fire it off.
Worked well for a while till I had another turn and not sure what happened but in think the shell casing came back and sliced my knuckle to the bone requiring stitches.
Never did that again.

I fired a 3 1/2 in game load out of pump 12ga.

Afterwards I whimpered a bit and went away for a milo and a nap.

Those things are a bit of a handful.

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

I fired a 3 1/2 in game load out of pump 12ga.

Afterwards I whimpered a bit and went away for a milo and a nap.

Those things are a bit of a handful.

I had not problem shooting a hundred a day. Not enough of me to offer any resistance.

bought my first 12g(era gameking SxS 0 from my brother .dad had always said If youre firing a SxS touch the back trigger 1st -if you aint holdin it into the shoulder and touch front .........suprise subloody prise.yup muggins did that double detonation knuckle on neck of stock gave one a bloody large very sore bruise on bridge of ones nose!
seen more than one go arse over elbow from leaning back to nearly 45'in fear when firing a 12g-lean into the bastard soon cures that.
actually when my marriage broke up i sold that gun for $10.00more than i paid for it!
a couple of years ago i was very fortunate to pick anotherup for $150.00-obviously well used but of sentimental value to me .stilluse it on clays or pigeons -its a ton of fun.
Ive had a few double dets with my sexy wee russian baikal O/U -loose grip but dont generally phase me that much.
Another tale from my TF army days -Firing the M16-cases eject 45' to rear -me cackhander recipe for disaster -
fied a fullauto burst whilst clad in bloodbucket/battlebowler-yup an ejected case lodged between the chinstrap and my jaw -fuck did it burn me -stillcarry that scar to this day .
however a very astute old maori sgt was watchingand sidled up -"wondered when that'd happen boy.ever used a shotgun,,ok lean into it like ya do a shotty "never ever had another problem.mates didnt think much of me though showering em with mts from the mighty SLR or the other ,so I was usually put on the end of the firing line -no bloody sense of humour those buggers.also once got burnt when a pile of mt.303 bren cases cascaded out from under the gun contacting bare inner elbows-OUCH.brutal way to remind one to keep one bloody mind on the job!!