Folically Challenged

Where the hell are all you skinny guys coming from????!!!!!!!!!

5' 10", 135? And that other guy is 6' +, and 155? I'm trying like hell to get back to 5' 10" and 190lbs! I'm207 now, and I was 222 lbs. at New Years! Tell me what I need to be eating!!!! Or maybe I just need to shut my pie hole...

And no, being a lardass doesn't predispose me to taking on any more recoil. My 700 CDL in .30-06 is quite manageable, butI wouldn't call itpleasant. The R3 pad makes a world o' difference, but it took me many boxes of ammo to learn to relax, breathe, slowly squeeeeeeeze, and be surprised when the round fired. In fact, I still work at that every time at the range.

I'm thinking I should get a .338 wm, just in case I ever want to go poke a bear in the ass & get him really mad. I also have this nagging suspicion about what this latest Congress might be up to regarding guns of all sorts... Still, I'm taking my '06 after elk again this fall, & I'd take it for moose, too. If I can get close enough to the critters, I'm quite confidentIcan put the bullets where they ought to go.

It sounds like you & I need to befriend some more folks at the shooting range, & see if they'll let us crack-off some rounds on their medium bore guns. We might learn a lot about our capabilities.

Good luck,

FC

eldeguello

Boy, it ain't got nuthin to do with how BIG you are! As a matter of fact, you are probably better off than alot of much bigger guys when it comes to shooting big guns! Your body will "give" and ride with the recoil, rather than smashing your shoulder between the gun and the rest of your body!

Take a look at old Elmer Keith! He was a wiry little guy, didn't weigh much, but hecould shoot the biggest rifles ever built to be fired from the shoulder with no problems at all! I've run across small-frame, fragile-looking women who could shoot a .470 Nitro Express accurately without flinching.

Now, I'll admit that in order to be able to stand heavy recoil, you have to get used to it by shooting heavy recoiling guns, and perhaps adopt a mental attitude that lets you "hold through" the recoil until the bullet gets downrange. I personally had to do a lot of shooting with the .375 H&H before I got to where I could stop my desire to flinch, and hit targets with it. But now, I can handle a .416 Rigby with no problems as well as an 8-pound, .73 caliber flintlock rifle firing a 600-grain bullet with 150 grains of powder behind it.

Start with a .308 or .30/'06 with 180-grain bullets. When you get so you can shoot that, then try a .338 Win. When you can shoot it well, try the .375 H&H or equivalent. Once you can really shoot the .375, you are ready to take on ANYTHING on this planet-just use the right bullets!

metaldonnieg

cut the soft drinks and fast food and that will do WONDERS. plus, get some exercise. it's often overlooked how important that is.

just fyi, i'm 6'1" 165 lbs. former cross country runner

Folically Challenged

Check, check, and check. 5 years ago, I did those things, & lost 60 lbs. I kept it off pretty well, 'til I started recovering from my divorce. At that point, I kept telling myself I "deserved" a few things, mainly alcoholic. That brought me up past where I oughta be. Of course, I also told myself I deserved to get back into shooting & hunting, & that's been wonderful!

I had to give up step class aerobics because my body got so used to it that I wouldn't even get my heart rate up. Now I do interval training on the treadmill, along with a weight routine set up by a personal trainer. I don't get to watch a room full of hotties bouncing & jiggling anymore, but I'm getting a better workout.

I s'pose it's just my body type. The thinnest I've ever been in my adult life is 175#, and that was when I was having marital problems, and then again during the subsequent divorce. I was wasted away (for me, anyhow.) At 190#, I won't becarrying too much extra fat.

Even now, I can run 3 to 4 miles at a clip, & my recovery is great. I've also been training in Tae Kwon Do for 3 years. I've just been doing it with a tad more insulation than I'd like!

metaldonnieg

you seem to have a good head about it on your shoulders so you probably know this but i thought i'd mention that it's also not always what you eat but how much you eat.

amr40509

I agree w/ these guys - just got for it w/o bring afraid of the kick and you'll be fine. Always let the gun suprise you a little when it goes off and you won't have a flinch to worry about.

I'm 5'7" 190lbs (working my way back to 175lbs where I look/feel best withvisits to the gym every morning at 5:30am --from 201lbs on 1/20/07) and my business partner is 6'2" 320lbs.He is MUCH more recoil sensitive then I am. I don't know if its because I grew up shooting and got kicked by guns plenty at a young age, where as hedidn't shoot a gun until he was in his 20's, or what.

Retaks

I have to agree with everyone. Its all on how much recoil you can handle. Im 5'10" and 145 pounds and I can shoot my 338 Ultra Mag very well. But on the other hand my little brother is 6'3" and weighs around 170 pounds cant handle anything over a 300 Win Mag.

Dryridge

In my educated estimation, every gun is different. Different styles and stock designs as well as weights will have significantly unique recoil patterns. I have shot 300mags that were like small calibers and I have fired a Parker-Hale .270 that I don't care to shoot again. I also have 44 mag marlin lever gun in the safe that will loosen your fillings. Bullet wt. can greatly affect recoil as well as the design of the bullets ogive or surface that touches the lands. So, Therefore my guess is that unfortunately you must fire a gun and load, in a hunting situation, not just off a bench, to know how well you can handle it. And yes, borrowing a few to try is an excellent way to learn just what you can handle. I remember those younger days when you wanted every gun you see, and bigger is definitely better.....but now, I can afford to lose a little on one if I don't like it and get rid of it.....and through lots of trial and error I have learned that I would rather have a 308 that I can shoot verycomfortably and accurately that a 300monster mag, firing the same bullet, that makes me close my eyes and get my face out of the way as I squeeze the trigger! I will much more likely hit where I intend and the critter doesn't know the difference what it was fired from, I assure you.

Good Luck,

Dave in WV

Roskoe

You are about the same size as my 14 year old son. He shot a 7MM-08 last year with no problems. 30/06 was a little too much. This year, I got him a 7 Rem Mag - loaded the 168 gr. Berger VLD bullet to only 2730 fps (starting load). He said it kicked about the same as the 7MM-08. I plan to increase the horsepower of the loads as he gets bigger. I would rate his tolerance for recoil as about average.

Normally, Ilook atrecoil tolerance in terms of how many shots I can fire without fighting the flinch reflex. Believe it or not, with calibers as light as the .22-250 you can start flinching at about 200 rounds. With the .308 Winchester, things are pretty good up till about 35 or 40 shots. I can shoot a .300 Winchester 8 or ten times before I start fighting the flinch urge. By about the 3rd or 4th shot, the .340 Weatherby has me twitching. With harder recoiling guns, I generally shoot them in the Caldwell Lead Sled for sighting in. Never feel the recoil in the field when hunting.

younggun308

I just eat homemade food as much as possible, and work out, and let my teenage matabolism take care of the rest.