The years of heavy recoiling rifles and handguns will take it's toll on our joints and then arthritis sets in. These days I shoot mostly 22s, 38 Specials, 45 ACP and cast bullet in the 30-40,30-06 and others. I am 70 and still shoot on a weekly basis, but not the big boomers anymore. I don't really miss them.

... (and that includes me) at our club. The rimfire benchrest is a LOT more popular than other competitions.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

With 357 carbine or 223 myself. I have hunted with a 30-06 for years. I migrated to the Remington modified recoil loads a few years ago. I don't enjoy getting beat up but it's more that I shoot better with lighter recoiling guns.

Dad sold off the .500 Linebaugh 10 years ago and has finally retired his .44s. While he might shoot a .45ACP, he's gone to .38 super/.357 mag as his big handguns and a mild 125gr load for the .308 is his upper limit in rifles as the .22-250 is now his standard big rifle.

Of course, he had his 88th birthday last month.

I'm 56 and the .44mag, or hot .45 Colt in a Redhawk has been 'it' for me for quite awhile.
I shot (5 times) one of the first .500 S&Ws when it came out and we're all of the opinion I damaged the metacarpal bone right behind the knuckle of my index finger doing it. Took 6-7 weeks before shooting anything more than a .22 caused my hand to ache for several hours after shooting.

I added a hydraulic Danuser Counter-Coil to my .300 quite a few years ago due to shoulder bursitis issues.

"It's not the years. It's the mileage."

The rather odd, and gender-neutral expression of old rural Texas is that it "jars muh milk". That describes the overall unsettled discomfort that comes from being old, and having your old-ness disturbed by any violent movement to, or of the person. My first experience was when I discovered that I was flinching so bad from a 97 riot gun, that I was short-shucking it, and causing it to malf. Then the latest in a long line of 7.62 battle rifles became intolerable to "muh milk". Both of these guns were icons of my entire life, and it wasn't easy to walk away. But I won't have a gun I won't shoot, and I won't shoot a gun I won't practice with. My current top recoiler is an AK-47, and given my druthers, I'll grab the M1 Carbine. A few rounds of .44mag is the handgun limit, with .45acp as the upper standard for general usage.

JLF

For those of us that will be approaching these times in our lives. What can any of you recommend we should be doing now to preserve our abilty to shoot harder recoiling guns longer?

Or anything recommended by your doctors have told you guys that are affected now by this now?

Good post.

I have one but I forget about it. Wouldn't work well for hunting. Anything you can do to spread the impact over a wider area will help.

. . . of superloudenboomenwhackers.

I find that a Garand or an M1A type rifle is the most "serious" rifle I care to shoot, as their actions mitigate the recoil quite a bit and allow me to still feel I am properly equipped, powerwise. Ny Mini-14 gets more use than these bigger guys do.

And my all-time favorite handgun load of 8 grains of Unique under a 250-grain LSWC or LRN in a .45 Colt revolver is just about all I want to deal with. This does not preclude sensible loads in smaller bores, of course, and the .45 ACP is in a comfort class all out of proportion to its effectiveness.

And with these tools, I can usually hit what I'm shooting at, which is the point, ain't it?

K

!

The heaviest recoiling gun in my vault, other than a 12 gauge shotgun, is a Savage Model 99F in .300 Savage. It's my long range, big game gun. I mostly hunt deer with either a .30-30 (Model 94 from the 50s or a Stevens Model 325 bolt action) or a Remington Model 141 in .32 Remington. Far more pleasant to shoot and easy to carry.

I've owned rifles as heavy as a .405 Winchester (Belgian double rifle from the 20s or 30s) and let me tell you, that rifle cured me of any urge to own an elephant rifle. .375 H&H recoil level in a 7-1/2 pound rifle is all the fun you can stand in about 2 shots.

FWIW, I'm 59, but the fun of excess recoil wore off a long time ago.