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I was at the indoor shooting range in Lebanon once. I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me in between trying to prevent my wife from shooting the ceiling with our S&W 22 target pistol (she's hopeless). I was shooting a High Point 9mm (yeah I know, but it's pretty accurate and I've never been comfortable with a barrel that moves, yeah I know it works, but I have the prejudice of an engineer). The guy next to me asks if I want to trade pistols for a few rounds. He is shooting a massive, glowing, chrome on chorne, 44 mag cowboy revolver, so "Yes, please I'd love too shoot that canon!". I only got one shot off, I have no idea if I even hit the target, all I could see for the next 5 minutes was retina screen burn, reminiscent of the most dramatic moments of the Fourth of July fireworks show from Fort Vancouver, or my best expectations of the acid flashback that never happened. As I handed his pistol back in his general direction, he admitted to loading his own cartridges pretty 'stiff'. He wasn't too concerned with my general state of my being, as I was laughing harder than a teenager with a new Playboy Mag (pre internet reference, yeah I'm old!}.
 
When I was about 16 I inherited a Model 721 Remington bolt action rifle in .270 Winchester. Nobody died when I inherited it, everybody else simply got tired of black and blue shoulders. This thing weighed about 6.5 pounds, with a 22" barrel. It had ZERO frills, no checkering, plain wood, no recoil pad. Everything that could be made of stamped metal was. When you pulled the trigger it would try to take your head off, and boy, was it loud! I eventually gave it to my nephew.
 
Thompson Contender pistol chambered in 45-70. Shot it once. Never again.

I just sold the .45-70 barrel for my Contender carbine recently. I wasn't using it and needed the $$$ for other stuff, but it was fun to shoot. It was actually easier to shoot that little beast as a pistol than a carbine. If you knew what was coming the recoil was manageable. If you weren't expecting it, it was like a miniature version of this:

I've got the Encore with a 20" .45-70 Katahdin barrel, I'll stick with that over a Contender pistol or carbine, thank you very much.
 
My S&W 342PD Airlite in .38 Special. At 10.8 oz. it is the lightest J-frame S&W has ever made. With regular .38 Sp. loads it is a handful, but with .38 +Ps it is downright painful to shoot. It holds 5 rounds, but 2 is enough.

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My experience was the same with my S&W 342, I had it lock up on CorBons from pulling the bullets after 3 rounds. My 442 isn't all that particular fun to shoot but the 342 was nuts, worse than my 4" M629 with smoking hot loads.
 
FN FAL (built by the folks at Century) with 18" bbl and muzzle break. It felt like....I was getting Bi@^*h slapped every time I pulled the trigger. Not to mention the dust that was kicked up.

Aloha, Mark

PS....some might know/recongnize this gunsmith from Century.
Century_Gunsmith.jpg
 
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Probably for me it was a FA .454 Casull (beautiful gun) w full-power loads. It's not that the recoil was so punishing (l later bought a .454 Ruger SRH that was a pussycat), but l couldn't get a good grip on the plowhandle stocks (sweaty, oily hands+smooth wood grips) so it was a chore vs silly fun.

Not a crisis, just "unpleasant".
 
Beretta APX Compact 40 S&W. Horrible texturing literally have bloody fingers and palm way to aggressive of texturing! Also that 40 S&W round didn't help the muzzle flip.
 
a rental snubby Taurus Raging bull in 454 at The Place to Shoot, around 15 or 16 years ago, so clearly it left an impression-.
No. Just no.
 
This has got to be the worst. It didn't happen to me, but a few years ago at my shooting range, a lady was shooting for the first time, a GLOCK 45 cal...G21 I think. She shot it once, her husband standing behind her, and the recoil sent the gun over her head and pointed right at his head, and she shot him. Sad story, but the lesson learned is to not stand right behind someone while they're shooting, especially not a first time shooter.
 
My S&W 342PD Airlite in .38 Special. At 10.8 oz. it is the lightest J-frame S&W has ever made. With regular .38 Sp. loads it is a handful, but with .38 +Ps it is downright painful to shoot. It holds 5 rounds, but 2 is enough.

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I'll see you a 10.8 ounce 38 and raise you one 11.4 ounce 357 mag, the 360 PD.

Quite unpleasant. A man that could wear one out going to the range would be one tough fella.
 
A guy in Klamath Falls touched off a 50 BMG single shot pistol. I've seen the gun, it was fouled at the time. I hear the guy didn't fare too well from that one. Sounded like factured bones.

Screw that. No way in hell I'd shoot that and I love crazy guns!
 
Well, my .30 Nosler will let you know you've shot something.
But my favorite is when I take somebody out who hasn't shot a real handgun. I make a bid deal about being manly and shooting it one handed. I load up my Casull with the first round a .45LC hold it with one hand and shoot it. Just to show it's no big deal. Of course the next one is a .454 Casull. Look is always priceless.
 
870 rem. i don't know why, but every time i shoot that thing, my bird finger ends up bloodied. it's gotta be something with the grip (stock). it sits at the cabin now loaded with home rolled #4 buck in case one of those "creatures" comes a callin.
 

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