not fun and not enough to hang onto. fast recoil pulse...
458 Lott was a hard kicker but stocked by Al Bieson, it was not painful and fast follow ups were possible with it.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

And supposedly Kelly also had one in .500 Nitro. Glad I never went near that one.

A 7-1/4 pound Belgian Double Rifle in .405 Winchester. That puppy HURT when it went bang.

Mossberg 535 3 1/2" with a turkey load. Really brutal. For a handgun probably a lone eagle in 308. Must have been grip design. I had a 375 JDJ in a contender and that really wasn't too bad.

I got one of the 4-inch models almost as soon as they came out.

I fired five rounds through it, cleaned it, and sold it.

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the load used. The physical characteristics of the shooter count for a lot also - it simply might not fit well, and the result will not be pleasant.

I shoot my Scandium 357 often and it doesn't bother me - but Rob's much larger hands likely factor into the equation.

SOME 454C loads with LIGHT bullets will beat you to death because the gun will be in your face RIGHT NOW. Very fast recoil pulse. And if you don't concentrate, it will bite.... and Chuck will laugh hard enough to make you laugh even while you are bleeding.

My short barreled 500L can do the same if you step on it.

Jimmy P.'s 444 Marlin Contender wasn't bad. My FA 08 single shot in 6.5x55 is soft.

However, without a doubt, the worst handgun I have ever fired was a short barreled 475L - one of John's early guns. It belonged to a friend of mine and early one cold morning I decided to run a few through it. I did not think I would make it through the cylinder. Now, for reference, I have fired something over 10,000 454Cs in my time (and still have the oversized knuckle) but this was obscene. Emptied the gun, went to unload it.... and could not get the cases out. Ended up beating them out with a brass rod. Turns out that ammo came with the gun when my friend bought it; they were not his reloads as I had assumed. Don't remember checking, but it probably "flat-lined" the cylinder.

Rifles -

Again, some people dislike the heavy shove of a 12ga, and some can't stand the fast jab of a light magnum.

An original Trapdoor carbine with a Lyman 457125 (520gr government bullet) over a compressed load of black WILL turn your shoulder purple in about ten or twenty shots. The first few are fun, however. Every time I shoot it, I think of those smallish cavalrymen of the 1870s.... no wonder they went to a 405gr load for the carbines.

Another ugly one is the Steyr M95 straight pull in 8x56R. Short light, with about a 11" LOP. Nazi milsurp launches a 209gr bullet at 2400+fps and it will get your attention. Then I rebarreled one to 45-70. A 540gr Saeco at 1600fps in the original factory stock will make you wonder why you didn't take up boxing instead.

For me, tho, in the long gun category it would have to be a worn out 12ga Remington Mod 11 shooting high brass shells. It would turn my shoulder purple after a cold late season dove shoot. Next day the right arm would be nearly useless. But I was young and stupid then. Now, nearly 40yrs later, I still like the Defoliators. I guess I haven't learned at thing in all that time.

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Maybe not the hardest recoiling but the biggest ouch factor. 4 Barrel 357 COP and an American Derringer 44 mag with 300 gr cast loads.

was at a friend's ranch in northern coastal CA, back during halcyon school daze...

My buddy, during our normal powder burning and can perforating ceremonies, pulled out his brand new Mini 14, showed me how to operate it, and handed me a magazine.

It was May, so the grass wasn't too tall yet, and the ground wasn't muddy any longer. So I took a seat. I was wearing shorts, because back then, I did that. I got into position, took aim, and pressed the trigger. Hit! as the grass flattened about four yards in front of me. Neat stuff for an eighteen year old.

Then something interesting happened. The case, later learned to have ejected straight upward, came down nose end first, and like a missile, directed itself right into my shorts and drawers and made a 10x hit on my dark target.

I believe my friends never laughed that hard again, while I leaped cartoonishly afoot and tried desperately to shake off the offending brass..

"Hot shot" indeed.

The worst-recoiling gun I ever shot, hands-down, was a Smith model 500 belonging to a friend of mine. He handed it to me, I shot a cylinder through it, and I handed it back. I doubt I will ever own such a beast and if I do, I will only shoot reduced loads in it. Every time I dropped the hammer on it, I felt like somebody had smacked me in the palm of the hand with a ball bat. No, thank you... no fun, don't need it, don't want it.

The other worst-recoiling gun I ever shot was a long gun, RangerBob's Ruger No. 1 Tropical in .458 WinMag (which formerly belonged to Lloyd Smale, if I recall rightly). This handy single-shot is a lovely rifle and great fun to shoot with Bob's reduced cast-bullet loads at .45-70 levels, but put a factory round in it (or worse, a "Lloyd load") and Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde PDQ. I wanted to like it and tried to shoot it, but putting a box of factory loads through it from the standing position was like going a round with Joe Frazier.

Bob loads RCBS gas-checked 500-grainers over a moderate load of 4895 now, and we are all the happier for it.

-AaronB

There is no rhyme or reason why some guns recoil the way they do. I have always shot guns considered by others to be heavy recoiling guns, but some of the worst to me were true anomales. The first was my brother's Savage 16 gage with a plastic stock and a magnum shell. Next was an early Charter Arms bulldog with a factory load. Then a Remington 410 automatic model something like 1148 with the barrel that recoils into the receiver. Last was a Rossi 92 in 44 magnum with a 250k on top of 24 grn of h4227.
I shoot 44 magnum handguns and 444 levers a lot, but the guns I mentioned were real attention getters. The most surprising was the 410. I later came to believe this was a JMB designed gun that used a gas ring and the ring was to be turned one way for high brass load and another for low power loads. If the high brass load was used with the ring turned the wrong way it let too much gas into the port to operate the action and thus the horrific recoil. Couldn't be good for the action either.

Wasn't really a handgun, it was a tenite-stocked Stevens single shot 12 gauge that I shot one-handed. The recoil drove the operating lever into the flesh between my thumb and index finger, splitting it wide open.

Worst rifle was a Browning B-78 with the curved steel butt plate, loaded with hot reloads pushing out 500 grain cast bullets. It literally knocked me right off my feet.

The Scadni- J frame ranks right up there with some of the other prospects. Possibly as it is so light and not much to hold on to.
Cannon's 500 max with 590's was a bit exuberant, but outclassed by a BFR in 500 Smitty loaded with 700's. The combination of rubber grips, which felt like holding onto a bar of soap, and all the oversize square edges of the JT prefix guns was a good combination for removing skin from knuckles and hands.
Lastly the American derringer 45 colt with Ruger only loads and a 325 grain bullet probably ranks the worst.

Rifles: I haven't found a rifle yet that was too severe. The Ruger No 3 in 45-70 with full tilt loads are pretty salty. The winner has to go to the Savage 210 bolt gun with some experimental 2 ounce slugs at near 1600 in an 8 pound gun. My wife told me it was time to quit and I asked, Why? She replied, "you are bleeding" Well, I didn't hit my nose??? No it split my shoulder open and I was dripping out my shirt pocket.
I guess if you hang on long enough you kinda go numb

Original TC with the old thumb rest grips and octagon barrel with healthy dose of 2400 (but under max). Thought I would shoot the chronograph before I finished all five.