Manage heavy recoil in revolvers

[pinne65]

How does everybody go about minimizing felt recoil for revolvers?

I'm shooting Ruger SRH in .454 Cassull and the last year I moved to full power loads, 240 grs ~ 2000 fps and 300 grs ~ 1600 fps. The felt recoil is kind of harsh. Doing more than a dozen or so rounds per session is not enjoyable.

I've tried to allow the recoil to flip the muzzle more by not holding my arms completely straight, but rather keeping an angle at the elbow. Not sure if there are more than one way to do this, but it didn't help me that much.

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[ron]

454 Cassull? That kicks so hard it makes my teeth hurt. Too much for me
anymore. I use to shoot a lot of 44 mag. when I was 20 something.
But wear and tear on my wrists from shooting and my profession. I realize
my days of shooting the hard recoiling hand cannons are too much for me.

 

[31Kwiredog]

Changing the grips helps I hear. Nice pair of shooting gloves. Don't want to sound like a wimp but even shooting my SP101 .357 in 2.25" bothered my wrist and hands after just 10rds down range. Got to used to the 9mm..

 

[scrandall01215]

My Taurus Raging Bull is ported and it helps a lot!

Stacy

 

[orygun]

Hogue makes a good grip for this kind of thing, especially if they make one that covers the backstrap of the grip frame.
I had a 5" S&W500 with a set like I described. It still hit like Hades in the web of the hand, but I imagine if that small amount of cushion on wasn't there it would have nearly bruised my hand. (Those were 400gr at 1300-1400 fps or 350gr at a speed no one would believe)
I usually kept my arms fairly straight and took the recoil thru my arms right into my shoulders. Letting it climb by allowing my elbows to bend softened it a little, but not much. Either way it whacked the shooting hand a bit.
The 500 was ported. I spose that helps a lot.

 

[Stomper]

Get some bumbells and start some arm curls, butterflies, and even do presses with them. That'll build up your wrists, forearms, biceps, deltoids, and pecks... where all recoil forces travel through.

 

[308]

The only way to reduce felt recoil is to add a muzzle break or porting, and more mass. Both of which aren't so easy with a wheel gun. My S&W .38 Airweight felt like being brutally smacked in the palm with a oak dowel rod. The weight and recoil did not match and the gun was miserable to shoot because of that.

My $0.02

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Good advice here! I shoot with Beretta fingerless gloves, I think gloves would help. I also like the sound of getting that blackstrap covered! 'Course, the heaviest recoiling handgun I've ever fired was a .35 Remington in a Thompson Contender.
Good luck with your problem!

 

[Stomper]

The only way to reduce felt recoil is to add a muzzle break or porting, and more mass. Both of which aren't so easy with a wheel gun. My S&W .38 Airweight felt like being brutally smacked in the palm with a oak dowel rod. The weight and recoil did not match and the gun was miserable to shoot because of that.

My $0.02

Interesting analogy.... attend parochial school as a kid, did we?

 

[teflon6string]

Without doing an actual physical modification to the weapon, different screw-on grips seem to help - softer, rounder, sized to the shooter's hands. And gloves.

Some weps have sharp triggers with abrupt, squarish edges. Brutal on a cold day. A little rounding and polishing there can remove some sting, especially if recoil tends to dislodge the grip a little each time.

Shooter's grip makes some difference too. Stability and strength are lost by "tea-cupping" the weak hand under the butt of the pistol while the strong hand does the shooting. When adjusting to add more weak hand into a stable triangle configuration, just remember to keep the weak thumb on the weak side instead of trying to wrap it around behind the hammer (or slide for semis).

And there is the psychological aspect of sound. Inadequate ear protection intensifies the overall perception of "shock and awe," especially indoors with excessive reflected noise. Good sound muffling adds some welcome isolation from "the big bang.".

 

[oremike]

Some guns/calibers are just uncomfortable to shoot a lot of. My Browning 338 win mag A-Bolt comes to mind. If I had a 454 and wanted to shoot it a lot at pop cans and paper I'd down load to a level I could shoot all day, say around high end ruger loads. I have a Blackhawk Bisley and when I up to about 1300 fps with a 255gr bullets it becomes painful to shoot, if I back the same bullet down to 1150 fps I can shoot it all day.

 

[Stomper]

These are "bear guns" anyway.... if you have to shoot 2-5,6 consecutive rounds for that intended purpose... you already have bigger things to worry about.

 

[Member 5605]

Get a smaller revolver.

Your question stated differently:

I have a .50 BMG, it has more recoil than my .22LR. How do I make it more
Manageable like my 10/22?


Handloads or step up and get a wrist protector.

 

[Stomper]

Bigger wrists!

 

[etrain16]

How does everybody go about minimizing felt recoil for revolvers?

I'm shooting Ruger SRH in .454 Cassull and the last year I moved to full power loads, 240 grs ~ 2000 fps and 300 grs ~ 1600 fps. The felt recoil is kind of harsh. Doing more than a dozen or so rounds per session is not enjoyable.

I've tried to allow the recoil to flip the muzzle more by not holding my arms completely straight, but rather keeping an angle at the elbow. Not sure if there are more than one way to do this, but it didn't help me that much.

Is your barrel ported? If not, as others above have mentioned, you can have it done, it would reduce the felt recoil a bit.

Here is one option:

Mag-na-port International--The Mag-na-port Process: Handgun Porting

Something kind of like this:

 

[etrain16]

Changing the grips helps I hear. Nice pair of shooting gloves. Don't want to sound like a wimp but even shooting my SP101 .357 in 2.25" bothered my wrist and hands after just 10rds down range. Got to used to the 9mm..

.357 in an SP101 is punishing. I usually limit it to about 20 rounds tops. Hogue rubber grips do help. Now the same rounds in a 6" GP100, much more pleasant

 

[308]

Interesting analogy.... attend parochial school as a kid, did we?

Blues Brothers...The Penguin? Yeah

 

[Stomper]

Sister Mary Elephant... CLASS... SHUT UP... thank you.

 

[The Heretic]

Porting (especially hybrid ports), weight, barrel length and grips are the areas that determine your recoil in a revolver (besides the power of the cartridge and projectile weight).

Hybrid comp ports have worked the best for me.

Adding a compensator onto the end of the barrel would probably help even more, adding some weight and length with the comp being on the end for more leverage. Seems to work well on my 460 V, but that is a heavy gun to start with and I have not tried it without the comp.

The problem with some porting on some handguns is shooting cast bullet loads can plug up some kinds of ports. Had that problem with my Dan Wesson - but it had a barrel shroud so that was a given.

Grips - the best grips I have used have been Hogue grips.

The ones with softer rubber on the backstrap work best on heavy recoiling guns.

 

[The Heretic]

Revolvers only?