What's the hardest kicking handgun you have shot?

[AERacing1813]

Wondering what the hardest kicking / snappiest pistol's y'all have shot

for me personally, nothing more then a hot loaded 357mag from a 4" smith, nothing to bad, I want to move up and try out some real power houses!

[Carmady]

If you want a kick put one of those .357s in a derringer. They'll hold two, but one will be enough.

[74A95]

500 S&W.

[AERacing1813]

I want to try one! or a air weight smith snub nose 357! no local ranges have them as rentals, nor do i ever see people with them

[Targa]

Hardest kicking? Probably my .454 Ruger SBH. Snappiest? Would have to say my Ruger SP101 2” with .357’s.

[74A95]

The 12 oz 357 snubs are painful to shoot because they are so light - i have one. but their recoil is nothing compared to large caliber magnums.

[Targa]

or a air weight smith snub nose 357

I’d rather pull the trigger on my .454 with my teeth...

[ammo.crafter]

357 Maximum.

I have a shooting buddy that has a derringer that fires a 45 Colt. It mangled his hand at the first shot.

[Cheapshooter]

Handgun, technically, my TC Contender with a 10" 45-70 barrel.
The 35 Remington Super 14 barrel comes in second.
For a more traditional firearm it would have to be my Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Magnum with Winchester Supreme 250gr.

[Aguila Blanca]

S&W500.

Five shots. That was enough. hated it. Never again.

[JohnKSa]

I've shot a few rounds from a 500S&W from the bench getting a handgun scope zeroed for a guy. I've shot a lot of .44Mag and put a few rounds through a .454 Casull. My first gun was a .357Mag revolver and I've shot thousands of full-power loadings through it over the years. I once shot 1000 rounds of 10mm in one day.

Honestly, of all the handguns I've shot over the years, my least favorite was a J-Frame S&W in .38Spl. Not even shooting +P, just with standard pressure ammo. Maybe it was a hand fit issue, I don't know. But I'd shoot several boxes of .44Mag or 100 rounds of full power .357Mag through my GP100 before I'd put a cylinder's worth through a J-Frame .38spl.

[Bill DeShivs]

This one.
20 ga. SBS pistol.

[2ndtimer]

.458 Win Mag, full length, chambered in a custom Remington XP-100 single shot bolt action. Fired one "mid range" loaded with a 350 gr cast bullet, and one round with a full 500 gr jacketed solid. One of each was plenty, fired from creedmoor position, the elbow pad was welcome!

[kozak6]

My buddy had some kind of tiny .380, maybe a Beretta?

It was downright nasty to shoot. Each shot was like being smacked in the hand with a hammer. None of us were willing to fire more than a single magazine through it, and those last couple rounds in the mag were a struggle.

[JJ45]

Not the most powerful handgun I have shot but the most unpleasant is/was my 2.75" Ruger Speed Six with full power .357 factory loads or my reloads with maximum charge of Lil' Gun powder....it's not a light weight "snubby" either at about 33 ounces.

I would imagine shooting a light weight snubby with those loads would be no fun. The .357 is somewhat over bore capacity and the relatively small bore/large case causes a loud report which IMO is worse than any perceived recoil.

[Old Stony]

Owned a 4 3/4 inch 454 Casull for a while. You would pull the trigger and the barrel would be pointing straight up in the air from the rotation in your hand. I loved the 454's when they first hit the market and owned a bunch of them....but that one got traded off !
Also had a derringer in 45/70 and .410 calibers.....that 45/70 barrel seemed to make the pistol want to separate your thumb from your index finger....

[Carmady]

my least favorite was a J-Frame S&W in .38Spl.

Did it have those little factory wooden grips with an exposed backstrap?

[mk70ss]

.45-70 Contender.

[sparkyv]

Small framed (J frame), short barreled SW .357 perfomance center M60. Cut up my trigger finger pretty good.

[darkgael]

A T/C Encore pistol - 15" barrel chambered for 500 S&W. Shooting 600 grainers, it hurt from the first shot.

[big al hunter]

Hardest recoil would be my 454 Casull with full power hunting loads. Second would be 44 mag. Both out of 7 inch Ruger revolvers. The Casull has a scope, so that tames it a little. The snappiest would be a 2 inch barrel 357 mag with a 5 shot cylinder. But even that snap wasn't as bad as 44 mag for me. But I have large hands and the little grip on the 357 wasn't comfortable.

If you want big but manageable, shoot it a lot, look into 44 mag. Lots of different loads available. And the options for a hand loader are tremendous.

[lee n. field]

Originally Posted by AERacing1813

Wondering what the hardest kicking / snappiest pistol's y'all have shot

for me personally, nothing more then a hot loaded 357mag from a 4" smith, nothing to bad, I want to move up and try out some real power houses!

.357 through my Taurus snubby. I've only done it a few time, because it's scary.

[stinkeypete]

Biggest push... .454 Cassul with 300 g XTPs loaded hot
Biggest slap in the palm... .357 maximum
Biggest twisting out of hand, Glock 22. For some reason, I could not get that thing to work for me

[USNRet93]

Originally Posted by kozak6

My buddy had some kind of tiny .380, maybe a Beretta?

It was downright nasty to shoot. Each shot was like being smacked in the hand with a hammer. None of us were willing to fire more than a single magazine through it, and those last couple rounds in the mag were a struggle.

LCP for me..nasty..Followed by a S&W 642, followed by a Ruger LC-9S..

Son has a new S&W 686+..real joy even with .357..

[peterg7]

Snappiest= LCP, P-11

Having owned the mags from .357-.44 recoil wasn’t as much of an issue as the concussive blast.

Most painful would be a cut down H&R single shot 20 gauge, not really a handgun per say.


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