Getting Abused by .40 S&W Recoil

[Wickedflava]

Why don't you try shooting with a glove? It may help absorb some of the impact and at the same time help you develop a better posture when shooting that gun... just a sugestion

[mif_slim]

You're second in line, I said I'll take it! lol

Darn punk! I know where you are!!! jk. :P haha

[SixPointEight]

Darn punk! I know where you are!!! jk. :P haha

psh, like you'll ever have time to come get me! lol. Aren't you supposed to be working

[mif_slim]

psh, like you'll ever have time to come get me! lol. Aren't you supposed to be working

LOL. You got me there....but hey, 30..wait 15 days from now I'll be up! haha

[SixPointEight]

Haha, the day I get my gun you'll be in the shop with me!

[Rekrab]

My hands hurt for the first 500 or so rounds. After that I just got used it it.

Keep at it and you'll toughen up.

[VictorFranko]

Turn in your man card

or

[rino]

rent a revolver in .500-shoot it , you will love the .40 after that

[lumwilliam]

Hey guys, thanks in advance for any responses.

I have a Sig SP2022 in .40 S&W, and really like shooting the gun, but I'm really getting beaten by the recoil. What's odd is, when I'm actually at the range shooting the recoil feels fine; snappy, but not painful. The next day, however, I invariably have a bruise at the base of my strong-hand thumb. I shoot about 150-200 rounds of 165 gr Speer Lawman when I go to the range. I also use a normal two-handed grip with my thumbs parallel to each other and pointing forward.

I've shot 9mm and .45 and never bruised like that, so is this just something inherent to the round? Is there anything I should be doing to mitigate this?

Thanks again for your help.

Hey Unltd - don't let these guys beat up on you too much! I know what you're feeling. I bought an XD40 Service - I wanted the most effective HD weapon for my night stand and thought this would be it. I love the gun, but in retrospect, I think something a little less snappy would probably be a more effective caliber for me. That .40 cal snap makes it just a little tough for me to get off an accurate 2nd round, which could be critical during a home invasion. The problem seems a little worse with Speer Gold Dot 155 grain JHP's that I decided to buy 500 of when I first picked up the gun.

So you've got some options. First, experiment with ammo - it makes a difference. Maybe think about a class. I think I'd benefit from one too! Then for XD's there are barrel conversions where I can bring my .40 down to a 9mm or .357. I don't know what the options for Sigs are, but if the kick means you won't shoot it as much as you should, you might want to look into it.

[NSR500]

The SP2022 can be converted to 9mm like the XD.

[elSquid]

I have another question about technique. I usually hold the gun tightly and sort of fight with the recoil to keep the muzzle down. Is this improper technique? Should I just sort of hold loose and let the muzzle flip higher?

http://www.oregonshooting.com/vids/spgrip1.wmv

http://www.oregonshooting.com/vids/grip2.wmv

-- Michael

[f33dback]

Hey guys, thanks in advance for any responses.

I have a Sig SP2022 in .40 S&W, and really like shooting the gun, but I'm really getting beaten by the recoil. What's odd is, when I'm actually at the range shooting the recoil feels fine; snappy, but not painful. The next day, however, I invariably have a bruise at the base of my strong-hand thumb. I shoot about 150-200 rounds of 165 gr Speer Lawman when I go to the range. I also use a normal two-handed grip with my thumbs parallel to each other and pointing forward.

I've shot 9mm and .45 and never bruised like that, so is this just something inherent to the round? Is there anything I should be doing to mitigate this?

Thanks again for your help.

Same thing happens to me on a Glock 21, what I found is that the upper part just below the slide taps my thumb during recoil right where it joins the hand.
I got around this by changing my grip, I moved my hand a little lower on the grip, improved my accuracy too.
If you can't do that wear a glove.

[Chk Chk Boom]

Or...you could load the same amount of powder with two different bullet weights, and everything will be fine. As long as you are referring to a manual while reloading, as anyone with half a brain does.

Please enlighten me which manual gives the same exact min and max powder charge of the the same exact type of powder for two different bullet weights.

Do you even reload? I load the same powder amount for different size bullets all the time. Nothing blows up as long as I'm following the specs in a manual. But thanks for the warning, I bet you saved some lives.

No offense, but you REALLY come off as a condescending a**hole.

PLEASE tell me which manual gives the same exact min and max powder charge of the the same exact type of powder for two different bullet weights.

Take 9mm for example:
Load a 90gr bullet with 7 grains of Longshot in (max load; 32,300psi) and you'll be fine. Now take a 147gr bullet with 7 grains of Longshot (max load for 147 gr is 4.7gr; 33,800psi). 7gr is almost 1.5 times the max load for 147 grain bullets. See a potentially dangerous situation here?


I said CAN for a reason. You can very easily blow your gun up using the same powder charge for two different bullet weights. This is why it's important, as you mentioned everyone with half a brain does, to check the reloading manual. You CAN get away with it and get lucky (or if the charge is within the min/max for both weights then it's not luck...) using the same exact powder charge.

[masameet]

... I have another question about technique. I usually hold the gun tightly and sort of fight with the recoil to keep the muzzle down. Is this improper technique? Should I just sort of hold loose and let the muzzle flip higher?

Yeah, sounds like your technique needs work. Most likely it's not just one thing.

This shooter's blog offers some good info on shooting technique: http://advancedshooting.blogspot.com...un-recoil.html

Todd Jarrett also has videos on YouTube worth watching.

[f33dback]

I have another question about technique. I usually hold the gun tightly and sort of fight with the recoil to keep the muzzle down. Is this improper technique? Should I just sort of hold loose and let the muzzle flip higher?

Check this:

http://www.eohc.ca/gripstance.asp

And recoil control:

http://www.eohc.ca/recoilcontrol.asp