What is the most absolute unconfortable handgun you have ever shot? Recoil wise

[oldbear1950]

at one time had both a TC CONTENDER in 30-30 and 35 Remington, both with 14 inch barrels, firing from a bench, on a pistol rest, with out shooting gloves of some kind they were both
uncomfortable!!

[gwpercle]

Shot in the mid 1970's . It was a 44 AMP in the Auto-Mag semi-auto handgun .
The weight of the bolt slamming back then slamming forward along with the recoil of the hot loaded Lee Jurras Super Vel ammo ... made it unpleasant to shoot ... it seemed as if the gun was recoiling and at the same time the slide tried to beat you to death ... it was a very unpleasant sensation . Very hard to control that bad boy too !
My Son-In-Law owned the AMT and a S&W 44 magnum revolver . 3 shots with the AMT and both of us had enough . 6 shots with the S&W and we were ready for more ... the recoil wasn't bad with the Pachmayer Grips ... we both agreed the slide slamming back the forward was un-nerving and not pleasant at all .
Gary

[flint45]

The most uncomfortable was the .62 cal muzzle loader my friend made 14 in. Barrel and a huge charge of ffg black powder didn’t hurt just quite a handful . Shot it a bunch of times and he killed a Black bear and two deer with it .

[GLynn41]

440 gr cast in a .500 GNR 6" a fairly light 5 gun. open sights-- powder was 296 mv was 1282
or 380 @ 1360 I chee wawa :O
i am still very happy with my .41 s
btw .500 is like a .500 special

[Harter66]

A 4" 445 mag . I was about a year out from a broken wrist/arm . 3/5 was enough for me .

The 6" SS Sec 6 with a full tilt 170 HC was a bad idea , bloody knuckle on the trigger guard kiss .

I'm kind of a puss with pistol recoil , I'm big enough to admit it .

[roverboy]

Had to be a T/C Contender with a weird shaped wood grip, in .357 Herrett. The grip was uncomfortable just to hold, let alone shoot it. The second most uncomfortable I can remember has to be my Taurus 605 stainless, with full power 158 gr. loads.

[Mal Paso]

I have 2 full size, all steel, 4 inch 44 Mag revolvers I carry in the woods. I practice with the full house rounds that I carry for defense but shooting a whole box of ammo is more than I want to do any more so I bought a 6 inch Colt with full underlug. It's SO much nicer, not nearly the muzzle flip but I'm getting older and will see how long that lasts.

[lar45]

I have many large handguns up to the 500 S&W and a 70 cal double barrel pistol"Howdah"
Probably the most uncomfortable pistol I have ever shot was a BFR in 45-70 with 405s loaded up to 1750fps.
It actually bruised by hand and took a couple of weeks to heal. I have shot 700gn bullets in the 500 S&W 4" snubby, but the 45-70 BFR still takes the cake.

[JRD]

There are some mighty uncomfortable handguns listed here. I don't particularly enjoy shooting unpleasant handguns, though there have been times when I've been obligated to take my turn. I have the most experience with S&W revolvers.
The scandium J frame 357's are quite unpleasant, but they are mainly a fast slap in the palm and a hard wrap across your knuckles. Sometimes the wrap on the knuckle will cut you.
The scandium N frame 44 Magnum is worse. You get all the slap and knuckle wrap of the little J, but now with enough oomph to give your thumb a good wrenching.
The 4" M500 with full house 440 grain loads is quite unpleasant too, although truth be told, it has full size grips and is enough to hold onto. It doesn't wrap my knuckles, but it does wrench on my thumb and wrist.
But the absolute worst and most painful handgun I have ever fired was the S&W Model 500ES, the "Emergency Survival" snub nose 500 mag. It had a 2 3/4" barrel with no muzzle brake. I fired a single cylinder of 440 gr hardcast full power loads through that gun and my hand wasn't right for probably a week afterwards. I couldn't get my fingers to move correctly to hold a pen or to type after firing that one cylinder. No thank you to ever firing that again.

[Nobade]

S&W 329. Don't know why I traded for one but that revolver is just stupid.

[Tim357]

Mossberg 500 pistol grip 12 Ga. Slugs and Buckshot. even an SP101 loaded full tilt is more pleasant than that thing!

[rockrat]

Probably a t/c contender, 10" bbl and chambered in 444 Marlin. The fellow that "let" me shoot it liked his loads on the warm side. Two shots were enough. The BFR in 45-70 was a close second

[15meter]

And so much smarter!

You haven't been talking to my wife, daughter, several sisters, various and sundry in-laws and most of the guys I shoot with have you?

[todd9.3x57]

500 S&W and a 45-70 in a tc contender, that was enuff for me.

[Kraschenbirn]

10" TC Contender, wooden TC grip and forearm, .44 Mag w/240 gr. FMJs loaded toward the upper end of IHMSA data, no brake. I was wearing shooting gloves but 3rd shot sheared screw holding forearm in place and I called it a day.

Bill

[44MAG#1]

Never had a forearm screw shear off. I would put supervisor tape on the forearm in the barrel channel and screw the forearm on. Could still take off the forearm if a need arose. But no sheared screws.

[Kraschenbirn]

I've owned/shot quite a number of Contender barrels and that was the only one that ever sheared a forearm screw. Never happened again 'cause I swapped it off at the next IHMSA match but I don't recall what I traded for.

Bill

[poppy42]

The Polish P64 in 9x18 Makarov. Pounds your hand like a hammer.
leadhead

Oh come on! Put some Polish Iron grips on it! Shoot and carry mine all the time. I have a harder time with the 25lb double action compared to the 2 lb single action.lol Ok ok it can be a little snappy. No worse than a Kel-tec PF9

[dmitch]

In my younger years, several decades ago, I "enjoyed" heavy recoiling rifles and pistols. Now, I much prefer the 458 Win Mag with mild cast boolit loads, 22 Hornets, 222 Rems and 30-30/30-06 cast boolit loads.......although I will be using my 300 Weatherby with cast (at 2150+ fps) this year for deer.
Probably the most uncomfortable pistol I ever fired was a T/C Encore, 12" or 14", 30-06. 165 gr factory ammo. Met a fellow as he was coming off the range because he said he had a "case head separation" with the aforementioned pistol......said he needed to go to a gunsmith to extract the broken case. I said "Its your lucky day....I have a 30-06 case extractor in my shooting box." After a very simple extraction, he asked me if I wanted to shoot it. With the lack of a bit of good judgment, I said "sure". I rang the 100 meter gong with the first shot to check the open sights. I should have handed it back to him right then and there.....but having just heard steel ring, I couldn't help myself. Holding a little higher on the 200 meter (220 yard) gong, I squeezed the trigger on that nasty beast. And when that 220 yard gong rang out, I thought (to myself) ... My God, that was lucky! Well, he was really impressed....wanted to know if I wanted shoot some more. I politely declined, leaving him with the opinion that I was a super marksman. Truth be told, I wasn't going to touch off another of those rounds .... two was just fine, thank you very much.
I believe the three great variables for handling big pistols are 1.) shape / style of grip 2.) age of shooter 3.) degree of mental / emotional stability.
But they sure a wonderful and fun challenge to hunt big game with.

[Panman213]

Mine would be a Magnum Research Lone Eagle in 30/06! Quite impressive muzzle blast and the worst recoil I have ever felt, and I've shot 500, 454 and 460's. My buddy kept reminding me to "get my elbow's off the bench", now I know why.