Largest Caliber Rifle You've Shot?

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

As result of some of the responses to my .950 JDJ rifle thread, I thought I'd ask the question in the title.

 

I'll start it off. Had a friend who wanted a Ruger #1 in .45-70 in the worst way. Happened upon him one day at the range. He saw me coming and held aloft a Ruger #1. I said that I was glad he'd found one. "Well, not exactly" he replied. Couldn't find a .45-70 so he settled on what he thought was second best......a .458 Win Mag. #1's are notorious for their recoil as it is, but one in .458, sheeze. He asked if I wanted to shoot it. I asked what kind of ammo he had. 500 gr solids, of course. I said that I'd shoot it just once - just to say I had. He encouraged me to shoot it off the bench. I knew that was a recipe for a dislocated shoulder, so stood on my own two feet and touched it off. Just once, that was enough. I'm sure that if you had a bull elephant charging at you, you wouldn't even be conscious of the recoil. But this was in the wilds of central PA and we were shooting paper. It hurt.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[BlueLineFish 615]

It seems that laying prone would be the best way to shoot these.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

It seems that laying prone would be the best way to shoot these.

 

I don't think so. If your prone there is nowhere for the recoil to go but straight back into your shoulder. Same reason you don't want to shoot it from a bench. If you are standing the muzzle can rise and you can rock back at the waist, dissipating a great deal of the recoil.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

So Bob, did you get a A hit or could you not tell???

[Pew Pew Plates 358]

.50 BMG out of a Barret M82A1

[Texas Shooter 35]

I'll challenge anyone to beat this:

 

[Malice4you 627]

I've had the chance to fondle a .50BMG Barrett M82__ rifle, but never fired one. Current largest caliber would be a 7.62x51 or 7.62x54, both of which I fired on the same day.

 

I do wanna try a .300 win mag or .338 lapua mag, but I'm looking for guns I can own that I can realistically shoot, both comfort-wise and cost-per-shot-wise. Ammo like the .300winmag and .338lapua are at the upper limits as to what I'm looking to spend on a rifle cartridge... Hell, currently, largest caliber rifle I own is a .223 bolt, and I'm looking into .22-250, .17 (not sure what type of .17 yet), and .308 rifles for the next rifles I get.

 

That said, I would still wanna try shooting an Barrett M82... I think I'll pass on the .950 for now.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

So Bob, did you get a A hit or could you not tell???

 

Well, since you asked.....actually I cut the ten ring at 100 yds with iron sights. I was much younger (and foolish) then, and could still see.

[notmetoo 41]

.58 mini ball from a repro Springfield 1861, once. Otherwise the venerable 7.62x54R or M2 ball.

[PK90 3,573]

Not a rifle, but a malfunctioning, both barrels at the same time, O/U 12GA with 3.5" 00 Buckshot.

[MrP 81]

.338 Lapua out of a relatively light rifle. Ouch.

 

For pistols, GlennP's loaded-over-max .500 S&W Mag rounds. Christ.

[alowerlevel 77]

My friends 8lb .300 ultra mag (I managed to nail a melon @250+yards on my first shot though)

[Damjan 73]

375 H&H

[raz-0 1,259]

Probably the worst recoiling would be 3" 1900fps sbot slugs form a shotgun.

 

marlin .444 out of a 6.5lb gun (loaded) would be number two.

 

Barrett m82-a1 for third. It really feels mostly like shooting a shotgun with your standard 1oz slug.

[Old School 611]

18.5mm/12ga X 2.75 Lightfield 1.25oz rifled slug in a tight rifled slug barrel. The hardest recoiling beast I've ever fired.

[axeman_g 128]

.50bmg from a Styer HS50M1... not bad at all. Not much recoil, just a large muzzle blast that got your attention.I would take that shot any day over 3.5 mag slugs from a pump gun.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

18.5mm

 

I have to admit, Frank, that sounds a heck of a lot more impressive than 12 ga.

[Old School 611]

I have to admit, Frank, that sounds a heck of a lot more impressive than 12 ga.

 

Got me Bobby!

[Ray Ray 3,566]

45-70

50 cal muzzle loaders too, but that 45-70 still was a brute

[montecristo345 4]

.50BMG Barrett M82 at a 1000yd range in NH. Hell of a lot of fun.

[Jon 264]

No big rifles for me (yet). Worst recoil came from a 5 or 600 grain 3" sabot slug out of my Ultra Slug Hunter.

[Old School 611]

No big rifles for me (yet). Worst recoil came from a 5 or 600 grain 3" sabot slug out of my Ultra Slug Hunter.

 

Jon- as far as I'm concerned that qualifies!!

[JimmyAGR 54]

.50BMG Barrett M82 at a 1000yd range in NH. Hell of a lot of fun.

 

Nice, but did you hit the target?

[Ray Ray 3,566]

45-70

50 cal muzzle loaders too, but that 45-70 still was a brute

 

I guess I should go back to my Coastie roots and mention my M2 50 trigger time, although it was just a few rounds at a buoy gone astray.

[RobertJames 14]

Largest single round would be a 12 gauge slug. Heaviest recoil I've yet experienced would be a tie between 12 gauge magnum turkey loads and .30-06 in an '03 Springfield on a bench rest.

[GRIZ 3,369]

I guess I should go back to my Coastie roots and mention my M2 50 trigger time, although it was just a few rounds at a buoy gone astray.

 

Does artillery count? I've fired or helped fire a few thousand rounds from M107 guns (175mm) and M110 howitzers (203mm). Thousands of rds of 105mm howitzer plus almost a couple thousand rounds from a M2 in SE Asia in the 60s. Other than that 460 Weatherby has been the biggest.

[specopsscout 26]

Uncle let me shoot lots of big guns. On the bigger side, I got to shoot a RAI .50 BMG, M2 .50 BMG, and Mk19 40mm among others.I carried a 203 for a few years as well. My largest personally owned weapon was an EDM Arms in .408 CheyTac.

[vladtepes 1,060]

308.. is the largest I own..

 

 

shot.. 7.62x54.. not much difference..

[BullzeyeNJ 104]

.338 Lapua out of my DTA SRS.

[Edge 6]

Both barrels by mistake on a 12 guage Stevens 311D with #2s while goose hunting, woke me up......