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What's the most powerful rifle calibers that you've fired?

5K views 42 replies 32 participants last post by  icebear 
#1 ·
I got to thinking about this and the top three I came up with are: The 338 Win. Mag., The 9.3x62 and heavy loaded 45-70. I had a 9.3x62 in a Ruger No.1 medium sporter, and that thing was horrible at the bench with top loads! Worse than the 45-70 (which was bad enough). Surprisingly, the 338 Win. Mag. was the most tolerable of the three. When handloaded to top pressure levels, the old 9.3x62 is not far behind the 375 H&H, and was very popular in Africa. The Ruger No.1 in 375 H&H is chambered in their Tropical weight rifle, and I feel, though based on a blown out 30-06 case, that the 9.3 should also have been chambered in the same weight rifle. The medium sporter is too light for such a caliber, although it was more tolerable shooting it offhand.
So what calibers made you look like this :cry: after shooting them?
 
#28 ·
20 X 138 B out of my Solothurn AT rifle and Lahti. Like the Solothurn much better. It sits low enough that you don't need to stretch to get high enough to get the stock into your shoulder. I shot a 24mm Swiss TB41 that had a shoulder stock attached but it was sitting on a tripod too. For the little stuff a 460 Weatherby mag with 500 gr bullets at about 2450. That one hurt a little. It was a lot more difficult to handle than the Big guns. A 10 lb rifle with a lot of recoil is worse than a 118lb rifle with huge recoil.
Lots of 338 lapua mag too......someone has to shoot the little ones too.

Frank
 
#32 ·
I got to thinking about this and the top three I came up with are: The 338 Win. Mag., The 9.3x62 and heavy loaded 45-70. I had a 9.3x62 in a Ruger No.1 medium sporter, and that thing was horrible at the bench with top loads! Worse than the 45-70 (which was bad enough). Surprisingly, the 338 Win. Mag. was the most tolerable of the three. When handloaded to top pressure levels, the old 9.3x62 is not far behind the 375 H&H, and was very popular in Africa. The Ruger No.1 in 375 H&H is chambered in their Tropical weight rifle, and I feel, though based on a blown out 30-06 case, that the 9.3 should also have been chambered in the same weight rifle. The medium sporter is too light for such a caliber, although it was more tolerable shooting it offhand.
So what calibers made you look like this :cry: after shooting them?

My Pre-WWI J.P. Sauer is chambered for the 9.3x62mm cartridge. It tips the scales at whopping 6 3/4 lbs. Proper stock fit helps mitigate recoil, but even so, the 9.3x62mm is quite mild compared to most calibers in it's class.

Gun Rifle Firearm Trigger Air gun


The cartridge is a real killer. While I have always favored my large bore doubles for dangerous game, I have shot several Cape buffalo with this rifle cartridge combo without incident. It is the minimum legal cartridge for dangerous game in a number of African countries.

Warmest regards,

JPS
 
#38 ·
That's a hefty load, but I'll bet that when you held it tight into your shoulder, it didn't even leave much of a bruise. They say that you should place a curved buttplate into your upper arm. That works for Dad's old .25-20 92 Winchester, but with hot loads you can likely hurt someone.

A dumba$$ kid (30 something) at the range came over to ask about that puny old POS artifact I was shooting. For accuracy, I use 85 gr. 3F with a patched RB in my .54 cal. flints & it's comfy to shoot all day long.

I asked him if he wanted to shoot a REAL gun, and loaded 110 gr. 2F with the Lee Improved Minie. It about ripped his arm off & made him cry. The huge buttplate-shaped bruise was already forming, and I told him that he would be hemorrhaging like that for only a couple of more days & ice within the next 24 hours is recommended, then warm compresses to aid healing. I told him that if he begins coughing up blood in the middle of the night to hotfoot it over to the ER, since he's likely torn a lobe of lung loose by not holding the rifle correctly. It apparently wrecked the loudmouths' day, since he soon packed up and drove off in a great hurry.

Afterward, I told his friends he's got nothing to worry about, & they agreed the guy could be an a$$hat & deserved it. They all wanted to shoot the flint & were disappointed when I ran out of the Minie's.
 
#37 ·
Yeah, but when you're sitting at the kitchen table cleaning it, betcha you get complaints ;)

And that Deutscher wandering around in the road with a projectile on his shoulder? Some kind of punishment, or do they send him out to retrieve after fired?
 
#41 · (Edited)
AZ your correct ..held .loose shook you like a goose.
Off the bench it kicked like that 300 mag.
Gun is very accurate with 110 120 opens up below this a little.
285 lead buffalo type bullets smacks a deer and I've turned one around three sprints thowing a salad bowl of fur bone and blood in that circle too.
Wife got sick so I put it away....
I out shot in lines scoped at a hundred yards 5 shot on a fifty cent circle drawn my best groups in a row un cleand.
Super light...a joy to carry...my friend.
 
#43 ·
A .375 H&H, in an Interarms/Whitworth 1 of 1000 safari rifle on a Zastava action. It was actually a pussycat, due to Mag-na-porting, substantial weight, and a well-designed stock. I traded it away some years ago. The biggest rifles I own now are a repro Sharps in .45-70 and a Sako in 9.3x62. Neither is any big deal for recoil. The Sharps is so big and heavy that it soaks up the recoil even with heavy loads, and the Sako is of appropriate weight for caliber and the stock is well designed.

The worst kicker I ever owned was a .35 Newton that I bought on an impulse at a gun show a long time ago. Charles Newton was a great believer in high velocities and lightweight rifles. A .35 Newton is a hair below a .375 in power, and the rifle weighed about 6-1/2 pounds and had way too much drop in the stock. It was downright painful to shoot. One of my buddies, who was proud of his ability to handle big-bore recoil, fired one shot from it and wasn't interested in another go. It was a giant hassle to make ammo for. Cases were not available and you had to make them out of 8x68S. Those RWS cases are made of thick brass and it took multiple passes through the forming dies to get a properly formed case. I guess it was all worth it for bragging rights; I don't know too many people who can claim to have even seen a .35 Newton, let alone fired one.
 
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