I was turkey hunting yesterday (unfortunately, came back without a bird) and towards the end of the day I figured I might as well test out a different type of load in my shotgun (a Mossberg 835 Ultimag with 20" bbl). I usually shoot 3" shells for turkey in this shotgun and have had very good results with it but I had a box of 3 1/2" magnums with me and I wanted to see how the POI and kick would change.
I was surprised by the violence of the kick in the 3 1/2" magnum load and even though I'm used to heavy recoil with firearms (my deer rifle is a 7 mag and I find it to be totally manageable), this was beyond anything I had previously felt (there's a chunk of flesh from my index finger missing, but that was in part due to not having the right grip on the shotgun). I took two more shots (just to make sure I wasn't imagining it) and then went home to look up some info on this load.
What I came across was this ...it doesn't even reach the 3 1/2" magnum, but with regards to the 3" magnum it says:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">12 gauge Magnum shells are even worse. A 2 3/4 inch Magnum shell throwing 1 1/2 ounces of shot at 1260 fps from a 7.5 pound shotgun belts the shooter with 45.9 ft. lbs. of recoil, somewhat more than the recoil of a typical .375 H&H Magnum rifle shooting 300 grain factory loads! And the 3 inch Magnum 12 gauge shell firing 1 7/8 ounces of shot at a MV of 1210 fps in that same 7.5 pound shotgun slams the shooter with over 60 ft. lbs. of recoil energy. This is equivalent to the recoil of a .378 Weatherby Magnum rifle, and exceeds the recoil of a typical .458 Winchester Magnum rifle. This is literally recoil in the elephant gun class, and most shooters would be well advised to avoid such loads.</div></div>
As much as I was surprised by the kick, this description seems a bit over the top, but since I have never shot a rifle in the "elephant gun class" I have to ask here whether anyone thinks the description is accurate.
I was surprised by the violence of the kick in the 3 1/2" magnum load and even though I'm used to heavy recoil with firearms (my deer rifle is a 7 mag and I find it to be totally manageable), this was beyond anything I had previously felt (there's a chunk of flesh from my index finger missing, but that was in part due to not having the right grip on the shotgun). I took two more shots (just to make sure I wasn't imagining it) and then went home to look up some info on this load.
What I came across was this ...it doesn't even reach the 3 1/2" magnum, but with regards to the 3" magnum it says:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">12 gauge Magnum shells are even worse. A 2 3/4 inch Magnum shell throwing 1 1/2 ounces of shot at 1260 fps from a 7.5 pound shotgun belts the shooter with 45.9 ft. lbs. of recoil, somewhat more than the recoil of a typical .375 H&H Magnum rifle shooting 300 grain factory loads! And the 3 inch Magnum 12 gauge shell firing 1 7/8 ounces of shot at a MV of 1210 fps in that same 7.5 pound shotgun slams the shooter with over 60 ft. lbs. of recoil energy. This is equivalent to the recoil of a .378 Weatherby Magnum rifle, and exceeds the recoil of a typical .458 Winchester Magnum rifle. This is literally recoil in the elephant gun class, and most shooters would be well advised to avoid such loads.</div></div>
As much as I was surprised by the kick, this description seems a bit over the top, but since I have never shot a rifle in the "elephant gun class" I have to ask here whether anyone thinks the description is accurate.
