Thread: 0.577 Rifle!

I saw a shorter clip of this once and assumed it was some kind of big shotgun, but apparently it's a 0.577 bolt action hunting rifle.

Anyone seen one of these before? I have no idea what you'd be hunting with one of these!

http://www.orschlurch.de/video/577-t-rex-rifle.html

Just one guy manages to fire it without dropping it or falling over, right at the end.

Originally Posted by Steelforge

I saw a shorter clip of this once and assumed it was some kind of big shotgun, but apparently it's a 0.577 bolt action hunting rifle.

Anyone seen one of these before? I have no idea what you'd be hunting with one of these!

http://www.orschlurch.de/video/577-t-rex-rifle.html

Just one guy manages to fire it without dropping it or falling over, right at the end.

You hunt the sort of thing where it's gonna hurt a lot more if you *don't* fire it. The sort of things with sharp fangs and/or pointy horns and a really unpleasant disposition. Usually these things are used at ranges of under 10 feet (usually at muzzle range), because you really can't afford to miss, but then it's really got to drop your target in its tracks without so much as a twitch.

I've got a .577 rifle, but it's the kind that you load through the front end. It shoots a bullet about the size of my thumb. There were a variety of cartridges in this caliber back in the mid 1800's, due to the excess of surplus .577 Enfields and Springfields. There were even pistols made in this caliber as a last-ditch backup weapon in tiger country in the Indian subcontinent - they were called "Howdah" pistols.

I do wonder if it really does kick much more than my black powder guns. Boy a lot of those guys really need a lesson in shooting posture and proper grip. The first time someone drops one of my guns like that is the last time they touch one of my guns. I just kept thinking about that poor abused rifle, I'd give it a good home.

I am a big fan of marksmanship but I'd learn to shoot properly with a .22 before moving up to a cannon like that. I don't think dropping a rifle falls under safe shooting guidelines lol

Originally Posted by Wildtim

I do wonder if it really does kick much more than my black powder guns. Boy a lot of those guys really need a lesson in shooting posture and proper grip. The first time someone drops one of my guns like that is the last time they touch one of my guns. I just kept thinking about that poor abused rifle, I'd give it a good home.

No kidding. A lot of them held the butt away from their shoulder or didn't seat it right. I've shot some big guns, and there's no way I'd hold that monster the way those idiots were holding it.

I'm going to vote for the black powder kicking more. I've seen both the cartridge kind and the powder kind and the powder just sounded more brutal- it shook the whole range like it was nothing.

This page has some interesting info ---- look at the recoil energy and recoil factor.


http://www.accuratereloading.com/recoil.html

Justin

Interesting note: a higher grain 30-06 round with a typical rifle has around 20 ft-lb of recoil energy which is considered at the edge of comfortable shooting -- I think this thing has around 150 or so ft-lb of recoil energy.

I have no idea how it stacks up to muzzleloaders or black powder guns in general but do to the lower pressure loads and lower velocities for a given grain round in such guns I think the recoil would be less.

I think the recoil of a 12 gauge (typical) is above 50 ft-lb --- so that might help in comparison

The biggest (non-ported) thing I ever lit off was a .460 weatherby mag. That darn near removed my spine. A .50BMG that was ported didn't have half the felt recoil that the .460 had. Really it depends on experience with heavy calibers and weapon design. Poorly designed stocks for the caliber can really make felt recoil a bear. While a good design and experience can tame even the heaviest hitters.

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Justin

Interesting note: a higher grain 30-06 round with a typical rifle has around 20 ft-lb of recoil energy which is considered at the edge of comfortable shooting -- I think this thing has around 150 or so ft-lb of recoil energy.

I have no idea how it stacks up to muzzleloaders or black powder guns in general but do to the lower pressure loads and lower velocities for a given grain round in such guns I think the recoil would be less.

I think the recoil of a 12 gauge (typical) is above 50 ft-lb --- so that might help in comparison

There's more to recoil than recoil energy. Recoil velocity is also a major part of it, as is simply the noise - cartridges with louder higher-frequency reports "kick" harder because your brain mixes the pain from the noise and the pain in your shoulder. IME most flinching problems are primarily noise-related.

I've got a 12 ga and a .375 H&H Magnum (usually considered the minimum elephant/dangerous game cartridge) and a .577 muzzleloader. The .375 kicks about like the 12ga with standard loads, but the .375 has to get sighted in from a shooting bench or a prone position, which hurts. But if you can handle the recoil it's a great deer rifle because it will drop them in their tracks without damaging the meat. I bought mine from a professional hunter (he did culling for the game management areas) who was upgrading to a 376 Steyr for the lighter carrying weight.

The muzzleloader kicks the hardest by far, though - I only fire it standing up, and I enjoy shooting it. The one time I let my wife shoot it she reacted about like the guy in that video, and she's got a reasonable amount of experience with firearms. Again, the recoil from the muzzleloader is relatively slow, but it's a hard shove that goes on and on (38" barrel I believe). The bullets I'm shooting weigh about 500 gr, and with 130gr of FFg gunpowder underneath it's moving along pretty smartly. I haven't chronographed mine, but others have reported similar loads at about 1400-1500fps. Recoil energy is (bullet mass x bullet velocity^2) + (powder mass x powder velocity^2) - both are heavy so it adds up to quite a lot.

Originally Posted by mparker762

There's more to recoil than recoil energy. Recoil velocity is also a major part of it, as is simply the noise - cartridges with louder higher-frequency reports "kick" harder because your brain mixes the pain from the noise and the pain in your shoulder. IME most flinching problems are primarily noise-related.

I've got a 12 ga and a .375 H&H Magnum (usually considered the minimum elephant/dangerous game cartridge) and a .577 muzzleloader. The .375 kicks about like the 12ga with standard loads, but the .375 has to get sighted in from a shooting bench or a prone position, which hurts. But if you can handle the recoil it's a great deer rifle because it will drop them in their tracks without damaging the meat. I bought mine from a professional hunter (he did culling for the game management areas) who was upgrading to a 376 Steyr for the lighter carrying weight.

The muzzleloader kicks the hardest by far, though - I only fire it standing up, and I enjoy shooting it. The one time I let my wife shoot it she reacted about like the guy in that video, and she's got a reasonable amount of experience with firearms. Again, the recoil from the muzzleloader is relatively slow, but it's a hard shove that goes on and on (38" barrel I believe). The bullets I'm shooting weigh about 500 gr, and with 130gr of FFg gunpowder underneath it's moving along pretty smartly. I haven't chronographed mine, but others have reported similar loads at about 1400-1500fps. Recoil energy is (bullet mass x bullet velocity^2) + (powder mass x powder velocity^2) - both are heavy so it adds up to quite a lot.

makes sense to me ------- I know there are various factors ---- and a lot of debate about this stuff.

Interesting that you bring up noise ---- I believe I'm far more affected by noise than actual recoil ---- but I think this makes sense considering your putting a controlled explosion a few inches from your head.

Justin

You guys have kind of covered why I was wondering if it really kicked that hard. It is a carbine as well and looks kind of light.

The worst kicker I have is my M-44 and it not bad at all.

The most pain is have been in from shooting is when I didn't have my Hawkin rifle seated correctly on my shoulder. It has this nice curved and pointed brass butt plate which, when I hurried a shot, I seated right below my collar bone. It left a deep bruise that I could feel for months and it broke skin besides. I was lucky it didn't break my collar bone.