Whats the least pleasant gun you've shot?

[baboon]

H&K 51 mag dump on full auto.

 

[Dawico]

Haven't found it yet.

Have owned a 500 Magnum, 454 Casull, 458 Lott, 3 1/2" 12 gauge, and 50 BMG.

Shot the hell out of them all.

I know it's out there though.

 

[zackmars]

Another one. I shot an M31 inert rifle grenade with my M1 garand using launching cartridges off my shoulder.

Aside from a car crash, that was the only time I've ever gotten whiplash

 

[benenglish]

That weatherby magnum pistol Ben brought to Hicksville a few years back. Egad!

Oh yes! What was the guy's screen name that took the barrel to his face? His real name was Eddie.

Vaq, my Weatherby is a custom 5-pound rifle by MG Arms (their Ultra-Light model) chambered in .340 Wby. I won't shoot it from a bench. It's a standing-only proposition for me. With factory ammo, it's OK and I wouldn't hesitate to hunt with it, if I hunted. I find myself wondering what a case full of Trail Boss topped by a 160 grain Barnes would be like.

The pistol in question was a Remington XP-100 in the factory stock chambered in .35 Remington. I think the guy that took a hit to the face was simply caught unawares by the 6-ounce trigger pull. Yes, I made him dry-fire several times before I gave him any ammo but once he started shooting, he started crawling up on the optic and just got too close. I felt bad about that.

I shot a 40-round match with that pistol some time after that and discovered that, in my old age, I can't handle recoil as well as I once did. Now that pistol, with factory loads, is relegated to just a few rounds at a time. With light loads behind cast bullets, though, it's a joy...basically an overpowered .357 Magnum in a heavy gun and quite pleasant to shoot.

Among pistols I own, my Merrill in .30-30 with the 9" barrel is much worse than the XP. The design means there's little barrel flip to expend energy. All the recoil goes right into the palm and web of the shooting hand. My poor sister once shot an 80-round match with it and half her hand was blue the next day.

IMO, the worst I own is my Competitor. That thing is the opposite of the Merrill; the design radically increases muzzle flip to the point that it's not unusual for me to point the pistol at my forehead during recoil. I don't worry about that because it's a single-shot but for a pistol to recoil that far means that my wrists are severely over-rotated, twisted, and stretched. That pistol, with its 10-inch barrel and chambered in 7.62x39, leaves my wrists very sore the next day unless I limit my shooting to just a few rounds.

I don't reload for the Competitor. I bought it to plink with cheap ammo. Since it makes plinking painful I doubt I'll ever shoot it again. I don't think I've shot it in almost a decade.

None of those is my worst experience, though. For instant unpleasantness, consider the following.

Did shoot a little bitty smith and Wesson with thin grips and hot .357 loads that was pretty unpleasant.

Here's part of something I posted elsewhere:

Some pistols are just worse to shoot than others. Because of their design, Competitor CP-1 pistols and early T/C Contenders, if chambered for something that kicks hard, are painful to shoot. I own both and with practice they can be shot without regretting getting out of the bed in the morning.

Sometimes, however, it’s possible to push things way too far. This is the story of one of those times.

At a gathering of friends a couple of years ago, one person showed up with a S&W 340PD. It’s a small-frame revolver made of advanced materials to make it super-lightweight. It weighs less than 12 ounces so there’s no mass to absorb recoil energy; it’s all transferred to the shooters hand. It’s a .357 Magnum but nobody regularly shoots magnum ammo in them because the experience is just too painful. Even strong .38 Special loads aren’t comfortable to shoot. Generally, you practice with mild loads. Magnum ammo only goes in the gun when carrying it in public where, obviously, everyone hopes they’ll never be forced to fire a shot.

At that same gathering, someone else showed up with a very special box of .357 Magnum ammo - Buffalo Bore hunting specialty loads using very heavy 180-grain bullets. This is full-pressure (maximum SAAMI spec) ammo like the major makers no longer produce. It’s loaded hot (relative to the rest of the market) and intended for use in large, strong handguns for purposes like deer and hog hunting. It would be idiotic to use such ammo in a small revolver and, in fact, the use of such heavy loads with such heavy bullets is often considered so stressful that it voids the warranty on small-frame revolvers. At minimum, anyone with extensive experience with revolvers knows that regularly using such ammo in a small-frame revolver will stretch the frame, turning the revolver into an expensive paperweight.

You can see where this is headed, right?

The guy with the revolver and the guy with the ammo got together and jointly dared anybody to shoot one round.

I was feeling full of myself so I stepped up and asked for two rounds.

I couldn’t resist showing off so I used a classic one-handed target shooting stance that would make the recoil worse. I was the guy who could shoot anything, no matter hard it kicked, right?

I fired both rounds and got two good center hits on a steel IPSC silhouette target 15 yards away. I thanked both men for the experience and walked away.

I had to walk away. I didn’t want them to see me crying.

My index and middle finger were bleeding. Skin was ripped away on the sides and at the base of the nail on both fingers. The center of my palm felt like it had been clamped to a bench and slammed with a ball peen hammer. My entire hand was involved; what didn’t hurt was tingling in a most uncomfortable manner.

Worst of all, the end of one of my fingers was pointing about 45 degrees off to the side compared the to the rest of the finger. For the life of me, I can’t remember if it was the trigger finger or the middle finger; my mind was screaming in a fog of pain and details like that are lost from my memory. From the look of it, it may not have been dislocated but it was certainly injured. Most important, I could only diagnose the extent of the injury by looking at it; I couldn’t feel anything from it. I pulled it straight and taped it in that position. The feeling (or, rather, the pain in that particular joint) came back perhaps an hour later.​

So, bottom line, my answer to the question is the same as Younggun's.

 

[birddog]

Goodness gracious, you call that shit fun?

I remember the first scoped TC I saw was at an oil company deer lease in Palo Pinto County back in the late 60’s/early 70’s. I thought it was cool until I shot an armadillo with it (back when armadillo was considered fine eating). The armadillo was a mess and my hand was painful and numb like when your leg goes to sleep. That experience changed my perspective of the utility of single shot rifle caliber handguns.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I don't buy weird guns and I have no friends so I guess my submission is my 12 gauge Maverick 88 18" barrel when it had the pistol grip. I put the butt stock on it immediately after.

 

[AZ Refugee]

Remington 700, 300 Ultra Mag
Contender 7-30 Waters

 

[Kar98]

Oh, and to add to it, my wife finds my Sig/Mauser M2 pistol the most unpleasant one of mine. I think that's the only gun she ever shot she actually hated.

 

[vmax]

I had a Sub 2000 that jarred my teeth when I shot it because of the bolt being the cheek rest of the stock.
It just wasn’t fun to shoot, so it got traded off.

 

[Kar98]

I had a Sub 2000 that jarred my teeth when I shot it because of the bolt being the cheek rest of the stock.
It just wasn’t fun to shoot, so it got traded off.

I added a TandemKross rubber sleeve to the bolt pipe and a heavier bolt from Kel-Tec, as well as a McCarbo muzzle brake, and now it feels look shooting a 10/22.

 

[Dad_Roman]

Have owned a 500 Magnum, 454 Casull,.......

Those two.....

S&W Sheild in 9mm is my pick.

The palm of my right hand would be sore after a couple of mags. I'm not sure if it's worth

I dont understand this one. My family has several and carries them. Never had this problem. Also have the 45's but Im the only one that likes em.

.

 

[SQLGeek]

Another one. I shot an M31 inert rifle grenade with my M1 garand using launching cartridges off my shoulder.

Ooooops. RIP your shoulder.

I dont understand this one.

As you know, everyone is different. I can shoot my 9mm Shield all day.

 

[Darkpriest667]

The P67 is akin to a compact Makarov. It's worse, I promise.

Can confirm, we fired it at the last meet or meet before last. Holy shit that thing sucks to shoot.

 

[toddnjoyce]

The only one I can think of is a Benelli Nova in 3 1/2” 12 ga magnum shooting 00 buck.

 

[deemus]

Least pleasant gun I've shot is my Ruger Blackhawk 44mag.

I shot my dad's 38 lots so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. My BIL and I bought matching 3 screw 44's. Each bought a box of Blazer 240g bullets. They were pretty hot back in the 80's.

It was both of our first big pistol, so we were shooting it like champs. About half way through it started it hurt. We continued.

By the time all 50 rounds were shot, we couldn't stand to grip the gun. Our palms were both blue, and we were whining like little girls. I decided to sell mine in the spot.

Shared my story with my cousin, who inspired me to get the 44 in the first place after I shot his. He informed me that I had shot his reloads that were not nearly as hot. He introduced me to reloading and I kept the gun.

The week after we shot those Blackhawks I could barely work. I worked construction back then, and it was a miserable week.

 

[Shady]

Hated my ruger lc9 from the first pull of the trigger even after upgrades I still hate that gun and would be first on the list if I sold guns.

 

[Shady]

Not mine but a friends dad had a double barreled 12GA that both went off at the same time randomly. It was like playing Russian rulet and when your number came up it hurt like hell.

 

[oldag]

Glock.

 

[easy rider]

An old Winchester 10 ga when I was 16. It had a butt plate and no recoil pad, had a bruise for about a month.

 

[deemus]

Those two.....


I dont understand this one. My family has several and carries them. Never had this problem. Also have the 45's but Im the only one that likes em.

.

I think hand size comes into play. Small snappy guns are hard to handle for folks with large hands.

My wife dislikes large handled guns.