doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT Browning high grade rifle in 458

the worst 458 i ever had was an interarms whitworth. very good looking but only 8# and skinny stock. i couldn't shoot it and i'm not recoil shy. it split the stock on the 3rd round. i added 1.5# lead front and back and glued it back together.

next one was a post 64 m70 which had 22" bbl and only went 8.25#. but the stock was much better and it wasn't unpleasant at all but i agree they need more weight - like 9.5# or so. and 7#-11oz makes my blood run cold. no to mention that, for that weight, the stock must have some pretty low density wood and i'd have concerns about it holding up.

i bought a really good looking stock for a cz 416 rigby and it feels about like balsa. would look fantastic when finished out but i'm afraid it wouldn't hold up under the load.

roger

I'm not saying you guys are wrong but I'd like to know the physics behind how adding 2 lbs. to a gun can tame the recoil when the effect is all tied to a 200lbs man.

It might not tame it but it can make it tolerable.

But why?

If we're looking for mass to oppose the recoil then 2 lbs. is hardly a large fraction of the total mass of the shooter and gun. What's the difference if that 2lbs. is part of the gun or contributed by last night's mutton dinner?

Gregsy, you can find the formula for calculating free recoil in one of several reloading handbooks and see that the mass of the rifle opposes the mass of the ejecta. The greater the weight of the rifle the less rearward velocity the rifle achieves and the rate of energy transfer to 200lb man's shoulder is reduced. Also, the 200lb man is not fully behind the gun with his weight, just his shoulder which is something more like 10 to 12 lbs loosely attached to the rest of the weight, so 2 extra lbs is significant in relation to the shoulder's weight. Shoulder moves rearward and the body above and below, having greater inertia, are pretty much folded around the shoulder causing the head to be pulled downward as the scope arrives rearward. This generally results in some pretty good gashes in forehead and nose if the movement is too severe. One of our instructors (a 280lb strong horse type) demonstrated this perfectly with a TC rifle equipped with a .375H&H barrel this past weekend. Took us a while to close up the cuts to forehead and nose.

Taking it to extremes might help you:

Imagine if you could add 200 pounds to the stock of the gun, then you fired it while it was resting on a bench by simply pulling the trigger - without putting it against your shoulder. The gun probably wouldn't move much, if at all.

Now imagine adding 2 ounces to the stock and doing the same thing - it would jump out of the rests (and onto the ground) just as much as it did before adding the extra 2 ounces.

2 pounds falls somewhere in between - as would the reduction in gun movement upon being fired, or recoil.

The force created by firing a gun is not effected by the shooters weight. Yes, a bigger shooter will be moved less than a smaller one, but the actual force created by firing the gun is the same in each case.

Just my 2 cents - hope this helps.

Maybe we should be wearing jackets with 5 lbs of lead in the shoulder???

Adding 5 lbs to the fore-end would actually be more effective...

FN Brownings are very valuable and the best large factory rifles ever made, but .458 is only good for elephant, rhino, buffalo and just too much for anything in NA. My CZ 550 Mannlicher 9.3x62 is more than enough for anything on this continent.
Last .458 I examined was early 50s Winchester 'Super Grade', luvly classic rifle, but what to do with that darn caliber?

Up here it would be good medicine on the Brown bears. I had one in the yard back in September. I'm going to Kodiak in April to see if I can find a large one. I'm taking my .338 in stainless and synthetic. I don't think it's a trip for the Browning.