Just got another reminder why I love the small calibers so much!!

[TinMan]

Look for any African/Express rifle type rounds. Most start about $75-$80 to start with plain vanilla bullets, not even premium bullets.

[montdoug]

TinMan is all to right! I just took a big bore, "I'm going to Africa", ammo search through Google-land and found our old buddies at A-Square. Go to the bottom of this list and check out the ever popular .700 Nitro Express. That is for a box of five count em five fellas!

http://www.a-squareco.com/Ammunition_Pricing.html

Yes Sir folks just $425.00 for five teeth shattering, retina detaching, collar bone busting elephant stompers! That's just $85.00 each (plus freight of course), so you too can develop a lifetime flinch if you even see a BB gun from across the room ! Well Hot-Damn, sign me up !!

Oh.....Did I mention that at last check the rifle that shoots that ammo cost a mere $125,000.00 (plus shipping of course).
In truth, I wouldn't shoot that damn thing if they "PAID ME" $125,000.00 .
Masochism runs deep I guess, make mine a .17 Hornet if you would please. If a neck-sized .17 Ackley Hornet case makes it for 8 firings (which they do) and using the components I've "hoarded " over the course of many years at the prices I bought em for, I can load a .17 Ackley Hornet for .18 cents apiece! Now we're talking!!!!

[Bayou City Boy]

Masochism has nothing to do with it. I go home after a day of hog hunting with a big bore and feel no worse for wear than if I had shot a sub caliber.

Contrary to popular opinion expounded by many folks who've never shot one, they really don't hurt ya' permanently......not even for a little bit of time in a well designed rifle if you snug it back against ya' before firing. Hold it loose like it's a .223 and it might hurt.... The hardest I've ever been kicked was with a poorly designed custom stock on a rifle chambered in 264 Win Mag that a friend in West Texas owned. In contrast, I own an older Sako L61R Finnbear in 264 Win Mag that is a pussy cat to shoot.

As for the cost of the rifles. I own a couple of Win 70 Africans in 416 Rem Mag and 375 H&H Mag that I paid less than $1K for each brand new in the box. They are heavy and they are designed so that recoil comes back into the shoulder and doesn't wrap ya' upside the head and cheek which is what develops a flinch. With a stock that comes back into your shoulder, the body handles the recoil with not a lot of effort unless you're expecting to get hurt by it. I'm 65 and no he-man, and the recoil from a rifle is not what causes me the aches and pains that come with my age.....

-BCB

[montdoug]

A well designed .375 H&H is about the point beyond which the fun stops for me. Course I ain't hunting anything larger than elk and ya sure don't need a .375 for elk. Even at that I'm sure some might consider my .300 win Mag moving 190 Hornady Interlocks at 3,000FPS more than they care for and I use it a lot. At least the ammo don't cost $85.00 a round or even $4.00 or $5.00 .
I know a lotta guys like big stuff and having had a .350 Remington Mag with an extended magazine box and altered feed ramp that gave me .3 of an inch longer seating depth and allowed 250 grain Hornadys to get 2,685ish FPS with it's working load (in a Remington 700 light rifle of their Classic series) I understand the attraction of the big stuff. Heck, ole Skypilot that use to hang around here was prone the hunting p-dogs with a .458 Lott but like you he and I reload em, and my amazement and the topic of the thread was just how spendy that stuff has gotten if you don't reload.
Plus which I still enjoy shooting a lot and to me that means small calibers and rodents .

P.S.
I was talking about a .700 Nitro Express and I read a story of Jim Carmichael shooting one once in Scotland and I think that much free recoil "is" capable of long term damage, especially if a guys shoulder has been over-hauled and is prone to arthritis, like mine for example .

[Alan in GA]

It was NOT my Ruger 77 in .458 Win Mag and the 13 rounds in a box of factory 500 solids it came with. It was a Whiteworth Safari in .375 H & H shooting off a bench, sometimes called "sighting in" as it's owner called it!
The Ruger was purchased because i wanted to know WHAT a real .458 Win Mag 'was like' instead of just pondering the words of Safari stories I read in old Outdoor Life magazines. Being of medium body weight my shoulder (and body) would ride back WITH the Ruger instead of almost poking a deep imprint as it wanted to do with my large mass brother in law when he pulled it's trigger. Those copper washed 500 grain steel jacketed solids (Hornady made?) also COMPLETELY penetrated tree trunks like i never thought possible with any rifle bullet. Thinking that surely the 14"(approximately) oak trunk would have stopped one, but DIDN'T! i guess I should have hollered "FORE-!" down the woods before that test!!
I really enjoyed the 458 Ruger except for it's 9+ pounds when it was toted through some deer woods. This weight was good to help soften the effect of the 500s, and really made shooting handloaded 300s and 350s almost enjoyable. it was a fun rifle!

[Bayou City Boy]

I've had both shoulders operated on.....the left one twice.

All three surgeries were the result of lots of free recoil from 215 pound+ tailbacks with big churning thighs when I was younger. But I still enjoy the big boomers in my more mature age bracket.

When I use the 416 on PD's, I just kill the mound and that usually takes care of the rodents perched there.

-BCB

[Ted G]

They all have their place. I regularly shoot a 338lm and 338 rum, along with the dozen of small calibers. I use the big bores for 12-1500 yd shots on ground hogs. Can't hardly do that with a 17 rem. If you reload these it's not too expensive. Nowhere near buying factory loads, which I have never done in over 40 yrs of shooting.

[Dima88]

It's just like any thing else. You have to become accustomed to the recoil. If your not able to group your shots due to flinching you have no business hunting with a big bore! The worst beating I have taken to this day was my Remington 700 XCR in .375 Remington ultra mag loaded with 300gr swift A-Frames. There was nothing pleasant about firing that rifle! The only up side was it was a hair under 7lbs and made for a great pack rifle

[Mntngoat]

My #1 in 7mm Dakota in a properly designed stock is more than enough recoil for me. then again i prefer to spot my hits!

ML

[Cy Taylor]

Originally Posted by montdoug

I was talking about a .700 Nitro Express and I read a story of Jim Carmichael shooting one once in Scotland and I think that much free recoil "is" capable of long term damage, especially if a guys shoulder has been over-hauled and is prone to arthritis, like mine for example .

It wasn't Jim Carmichael, it wasn't a $30 cartridge and it wasn't a dangerous game rifle that cost more than my first house. But many years ago I watched a fellow enthusiast lay a surplus Brit 55 cal Boys Anti-Tank Rifle across the hood of a 68 Chevelle and squeeze off a round at an old refrigerator. Broke his collar bone and broke me of any desire to shoot the plus size calibers.

I don't see how those old rifles could do much damage to even light tanks, but they are hell on collar bones and refrigerators.