Don't want to hijack the thread so I'll start a new one.

What's the most uncomfortable firearm you've ever fired?

For me it'd have to be either a .45 flintlock muzzleloader with an uncomfortable butt design that hurt like hell....or maybe a short barreled 20 gauge slug gun....or maybe an old contender .50 cal muzzleloader that liked to spit bits of the primer into my cheek / eye.

Never really cared for full magnum loads in my .44 mag Super Blackhawk either.

Thought I should mention that, on the flip side, I've a M1A, civilian version of the M14 that I had gone over by Springfield Armory to all USGI, with a laminated stock. Of course, it's a .308, and I can shoot that bad boy all day long comfortably.

Just sayin'....

For me it had to be an old Bulldog. the gun was so small I could only barely get 2 fingers on the grip and it shot 44 SPL. 240g. It is a 5 shot revolver and weighs nearly nothing. The grip is held to the frame with 2 pins and the trigger guard is a structural member. One time the trigger guard snapped and the frame, barrel and hammer assembly flipped on the rear pin and the gun with 4 rounds left was pointed at my head.

I bought a new trigger guard and sold that gun.

This is the newer version that will not point back at you.

Now on the other hand, the most painful gun that I have seen shot was a guy that showed up at the range with a Lone Eagle in 30-06. The Lone Eagle is a single shot handgun. Instead of mounting a pistol scope he had a rifle scope on it, they do look the same on the outside. He was holding it out in a two handed grip and then just before he was to pull the trigger for the first time, he pulled it up to his face to get proper eye relief for the rifle scope, and touched it off before we could stop him. The optic of the scope just missed his eye but peeled the side of his face off from the corner of his right eye back to his ear. OUCH!!!!

I'm not much of a firearms guy. I bet I can count the amount of guns I have fired on 1 hand. I learned on a 22 Remington bolt action I think 5 shot. I now have a Remington semi-auto that is like a 5 shot clip or something. Heck I dunno I aint seen it in 5 years or more. When I worked on the farm we had some sort of old single shot .22. Then I entered the USAF and had to qualify with an M 16. Later on during Desert Storm I had to requal with the M 16 (got expert ribbon with device) lol A few months later due to job specification I had to qual with a hand gun. For me that was scary. We used some old 38 revolver things that probably were tossed in the heap after WW2. That gun for me was hard to get comfortable with. Have not fired a hand gun since.

Hope this doesn't stretch the Thread too far...

Betcha only a few of us 'Olde Farts' can lay claim to any gun purchase like this!

At the age of 16, virtually in a 'Different World on Another Planet', us young Guys were all gun/'hunt' crazy... 'hunt' consisting of such scary prey as vicious squirrels, predator Starlings, angry tin cans, etc.

In our small town (pop. 4500) we were able to walk into the local Sports Shop, and buy a .22 cal. Cooey Rifle (made down the road in Cobourg, Ont). It was a bolt action repeater we still own, that held around 20 'shorts' and maybe 12 or fewer 'long rifle' rounds.

Here's where it gets interesting; at 16 we bought the Cooey with no questions asked, then walk home down the main street with the gun on our shoulder. From that point onward, our gang of Kids would walk thru town 'guns on shoulders' to the Dump to shoot Rats.

Imagine doing that in this Day and Age!

Rgs, WRIDR

Not to mention that you could carry that gun to school so that you could shoot dinner (squirrels or bunnies) on the way home. Try THAT today.

I vote the Walther PPK pistol as the most uncomfortable firearm that I have ever owned. I got it because it was James Bond's gun. But firing it was pretty much like getting smacked on the hand with a hammer. Not nice. Brought it back to the gun shop and traded it for a Keltec. I like Keltec pistols - very simple, no safety, just point and shoot. I've got three of them now. The 380's are very small and light - good for concealed carry. Very reliable. I also have a Keltec SU16 rifle, nice gun with a folding stock.

zag

In a handgun, it would be the one I owned first: a S&W 686 in the 2 1/2" barrel. Whether with the factory 'target' walnut grips with finger grooves, or the Hogue grips I fitted, that little thing was pleasant with mild 38sp target loads, and simply nasty with full-house 357mag loadings. Loud, dirty, punchy in the hands, and generally awful.

In a rifle, it would be either the 45/70 I mentioned in the other thread, or a Rem 700 in 300 RUM with an aftermarket muzzle brake fitted. Both were FAR too loud, and the Rem was also ferocious on recoil in spite of the brake, and didn't shoot to my standard of accuracy for all that (the only 700 I ever owned which did not, and I've owned about a dozen of them; I'm also pretty skilled at handloading, and don't shoot store bought loads in my rifles, mostly).

In a shotgun, it was a Rem 870 Tactical with a Knoxx recoil reducing stock. The stock reduced the felt recoil to the shoulder incredibly well, but the mechanical movement of it created an unbelievable amount of cheek slap, as well as being so 'busy' that managing follow up shots was difficult to say the least. I shot faster, with more rounds in scoring zones, with a regular stock.

ETA: I just remembered that I once fired a 460 Weatherby rifle, owned by the father of a friend of mine. He had bought it for an African hunting safari, fired it a few times on that trip, and not much afterward. I don't blame him. That thing was an intolerable bastard of a gun. Like almost all Weatherby's, it was hideous to look at (Jack O'Connor once blessed them with the "California Cathouse" moniker for design), and almost impossible to shoot. Expensive garbage, in my opinion, but if you wanted to shoot to the Moon, I suppose it might get you close.

The most uncomfortable rifle I've ever owned was a Remington 700 BDL in 30/06. I'm not particularly recoil sensitive but this gun was painful to shoot. I've owned a number of 30/06's and even other Remingtons but the BDL was different. The stock was pretty much straight back, no drop (or not nearly as much) like the ADL models had. When you shot, there was no muzzle rise, it just drove straight back into your shoulder. Just after buying it, I put a scope on it and then took it to the range to site it in. I may have shot it 20 or 30 times that day and my shoulder was bruised. I didn't keep it long. It was very accurate though.

When I was 11 or 12 I went rabbit hunting with my dad and he had a single shot 12 gauge and I wanted to shoot it so he handed it to me and told me to shoot the top of a sapling without ever showing me how to shoot,so there I stood with legs apart and the gun about an inch or 2 from my shoulder when I pulled the trigger it sent me into the bushes and all my dad did was laugh and tell me that will teach you how to shoot, I was sore for a week.

Way back when I had an O/U sample shotgun... an 'el cheapo'... that I shot a few rounds of trap with. That thing beat me to death... Good thing it was a sample 'cause it went back...

I haven't put a round through it yet, but I just picked up a S&W 60-14 with CTC grips in .357mag. I plan on feeding it 38's only, and even they may be too much 'cause like Jeff I have big hands and can barely get 3 fingers on it... I'll try it out, and if I don't like it, it'll probably go to my SIL the retired LEO as a concealed. Not sure what I'll replace it with...

The worst rifle that I owned was a Savage 7MM Mag. no muzzle break and a very hard recoil pad. My brother and I took it to the range to site it in. I shot it about 6 times and said I was done with it, my shoulder was bruised and I could not move my arm. He shot it 4 times and would not shoot it again. I sold it the next day.

I'm with Freebird on this one. Remington 700 BDL 7MM Mag. Shoots to kill, kicks to cripple. Straight back recoil, very little muzzle jump. I received Sweet Lips from my parents upon my high school graduation in 1970. She is a legend around our hunting area. None of my Uncles, Brother-in-laws, Son-in-laws or cousins have ever desired to shoot it twice, once was plenty for them. I've shot a couple of hundred deer with it. I've down graded to a 7MM-08 for most of my deer hunting now. But when the chips are down and the time is short to collect some venison I go straight to the ol' 7MM Mag. She fits like a glove, comes to my shoulder with the scope exactly where I need it. High speed venison on the hoof never have a chance. I love that old cannon!!!!!! You've go me thinking now, I might have to go abuse myself this afternoon.

The most uncomfortable rifle I've ever owned was a Remington 700 BDL in 30/06. I'm not particularly recoil sensitive but this gun was painful to shoot. I've owned a number of 30/06's and even other Remingtons but the BDL was different. The stock was pretty much straight back, no drop (or not nearly as much) like the ADL models had. When you shot, there was no muzzle rise, it just drove straight back into your shoulder. Just after buying it, I put a scope on it and then took it to the range to site it in. I may have shot it 20 or 30 times that day and my shoulder was bruised. I didn't keep it long. It was very accurate though.

That's interesting Freebird, and shows how subjective recoil can be to different shooters. One of my favourite rifles to shoot was a BDL in 7mm Rem Mag - recoil is almost identical to a 30/06 in most loads. Every body is a different shape, and each shooter mounts the gun differently.

.44 magnum revolver. If you don't have a good grip on it, it will recoil and smack you in the forehead. At least is shows so on youtube.

At 17 years old, I was 136 pounds and 5'11". Can you say skinny and wiry?

A friend took me up to a sand pit behind his camp. Handed me his fathers 1911 .45, from WW1.

I put 2 hands on it and it still almost knocked me on my butt! Haven't fired one since! Was scary for this skinny kid....

For carrying, I have a Walther PK380. No kick and good grouping with my arthritis hands....

Something we should all be aware of is that the same caliper load will generate the same recoil energy no matter which gun is used. What makes one rifle perceive to recoil more than another is stock fit. Length of pull, stock height, and cast-on or cast-off. The cast-off for RH shooter, and cast-on for LH shooters. Basically it means that with a RH shooter the stock is offset a couple of degrees off center and will pull away from the shooters cheek rather than recoil into the cheekbone. Visa-versa cast-on for a LH shooter. In todays modern guns the OEM cast is usually set to 'zero', but when fitting a custom aftermarket stock it should be included in the fitting...

At 17 years old, I was 136 pounds and 5'11". Can you say skinny and wiry?

 

A friend took me up to a sand pit behind his camp. Handed me his fathers 1911 .45, from WW1.

 

I put 2 hands on it and it still almost knocked me on my butt! Haven't fired one since! Was scary for this skinny kid....

 

For carrying, I have a Walther PK380. No kick and good grouping with my arthritis hands....

I would'a been about 6 or 7 and I was up the cabin with my older brother. He gave me his Iver Johnson .44 magnum to shoot, (very supervised...he was right with me) and before I shot he said "wait" and took it off of me. He then put his motorcycle helmet on me and we proceeded. When I fired it, the recoil to my young hands was violent, and the hammer put a chip in the forehead of that helmet.

Good thinkin' on his part.

Great thread!

For handguns it’s a tie between my S&W 686 Classic Hunter and M&P 45 full size. Pretty sure I hear angels singing every time I pick up an Ed Brown Executive Elite in beadblast stainless though......some day.

For rifles it is probably my Ruger 10/22 as it’s light and easy to shoot. Basically the antithesis of the Winchester Model 70 300 Win Mag I traded for a Shield 45 a while back. Still have a Remington 700 in 7mm, so didn’t need it.

This is my friend with the 500 S&W Magnum if you look you can see the bullet going down range "HOT" The 500 is a painful one to shoot you pull the trigger and the recoil is so harsh that a follow up shot is usually declined.

Reloading the 500 is about $.80 a throw •36.0 grains Alliant 2400. Factory loads are $2.25 each

The bride likes the S&W 460 Nitro. She is a very good shot and knows her way around many calibers.

I'm not brave enough to pull the trigger on a 500S&W.....

Besides the .45-70, I fired a Desert Eagle .50 AE once and that was all. The cone of fire from the barrel was blinding and the recoil was painful and I was the owner. :no-no-no: Sold soon after. I wonder how some in the Yukon and Alaska handle the S&W .460 and .500.

My first gun, (I was 13 years old) was a Mossberg Model 185D, 20 gauge bolt action shotgun. That gun is also the most uncomfortable gun I have EVER shot. What a kicker! I still have it, and want to fix the magazine and put on a scope and a GOOD recoil pad. Load it with slugs for Illinois deer.

Besides the .45-70, I fired a Desert Eagle .50 AE once and that was all. The cone of fire from the barrel was blinding and the recoil was painful and I was the owner. :no-no-no: Sold soon after. I wonder how some in the Yukon and Alaska handle the S&W .460 and .500.

 

I loved my Desert Eagle in 50AE. It was a blast to shoot (pun intended). You do have to have very good shooting form, If you do not do it right the recoil can hurt you bad. There is a warning in the owners manual that says "CAUTION: locking your elbows WILL result in broken wrist", or something to that effect. That Desert eagle was my carry gun when tracking wounded deer, it could easily drop a deer at 100 yards. It also could stop a bear that decided it it would like to have lunch with me, as the main course. It lived under my pillow while wilderness camping.

I had to sell it when I was desperate for cash and have regretted it ever since. I am now looking to buy another one, or maybe trade my Venture for one. But in the interim of when I sold my DE and now the S&W .500 came out, and that has me totally intrigued as being my deer and bear stopper.

Besides the .45-70, I fired a Desert Eagle .50 AE once and that was all. The cone of fire from the barrel was blinding and the recoil was painful and I was the owner. :no-no-no: Sold soon after. I wonder how some in the Yukon and Alaska handle the S&W .460 and .500.

 

I loved my Desert Eagle in 50AE. It was a blast to shoot (pun intended). You do have to have very good shooting form, If you do not do it right the recoil can hurt you bad. There is a warning in the owners manual that says "CAUTION: locking your elbows WILL result in broken wrist", or something to that effect. That Desert eagle was my carry gun when tracking wounded deer, it could easily drop a deer at 100 yards. It also could stop a bear that decided it it would like to have lunch with me, as the main course. It lived under my pillow while wilderness camping.

I had to sell it when I was desperate for cash and have regretted it ever since. I am now looking to buy another one, or maybe trade my Venture for one. But in the interim of when I sold my DE and now the S&W .500 came out, and that has me totally intrigued as being my deer and bear stopper.