How not to handle a rifle

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http://www.firearmsid.com/A_featurevideo.htm

 :lol:

(I know it's an oldie, but it's a goodie)

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@ Cyberus

You can still fire rifles in the UK, but most ranges will only let you fire rim-fire weapons such as semi-automatic .22s. They usually have centre-fire carbines too, in popular handgun calibres susch as .38, .44 and .45. Black powder weapons are also popular. In fact those are the only handguns that are legal to fire in the UK.
If you want to fire heavy rifles you'll have to go to Bisley.

But I can pretty much guarantee (based on my visit to the US in 2003) that you'll be able to find somebody who will take you out to a quiet place and tear a cactus in half with an Uzi machine pistol or a self-loading rifle.

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@ Bloodline

It looks big and mean, I agree  :-P

http://www.newhollandconstruction.com/products/detail.asp?Reg=NA&RL=ENNA&id=887&archived=0

You got the model number right?

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@ Kenny

That video was taken from another website originally (I will find it) where several people (at least ten) fired the rifle. Although the recoil is brisk, it is not unmanageable: many of the shooters handled it just fine. If you play the video frame by frame you will see that our unfortunate man has not held the rifle firmly enough and he has allowed it to jump backwards at an angle. His stance wasn't ideal either.

Edit: here's the link

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

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Cartridge designations and nomenclature can be misleading.
Take these cartridges for example:

218 Mashburn Bee
223 Remington
5.56 Nato
219 Zipper
225 Winchester
220 Weatherby Rocket

Did you know that ALL of those are exactly .224 calibre?
And a .38 Special is actually a .357 and a .357 Magnum is a .357 with a bigger powder load and longer cartridge case.

So the calibre may not be what it is branded as, and the powder charge may vary from one cartridge to another even if the calibre is the same. A typical example of how this can be confusing is what happened to me on the range. Last year I completed a course involving several rifles, some of which were fully automatic. But my example involves the 'daddy' of the group, which was a single shot hunting rifle in 300 Winchester magnum. That's .308 of an inch, but the cartridge length is 3.3 inches. So there's a lot of powder in there. Well I fired that and it almost knocked my earguards off. I developed a lot of respect for that rifle.
Two weeks ago I was on a range in the UK where a guy had a replica Sharps Black Powder Rifle. The calibre of the thing was .541, firing a huge bullet that weighs 38grams!!
He offered me a go, and I was reluctant because the .308 had given me such a hard time, and here was a rifle that was over 50 calibre. In the end my ego got the better of me and I fired the thing, expecting to go home bruised.
Not so.
Although it was black powder (a class 1 explosive) there was less propelant than in the Winchester 300 Magnum, and recoil was a lot better than I thought. It's a rifle I could shoot all day, unlike the 300 Magnum.

There are a lot of factors to consider when discussing the firing of small arms. Velocity, weight of the weapon, height of the barrel relative to the grip - these all affect perceived recoil. My little 6.35mm Baby Browning has more recoil 'bite' than my Vektor 9mm, yet the Vektor hits a hell of a lot harder.

In terms of wounding effects...well don't get me started, that is after all my specialty. I have unfortunately seen too many gunshot victims.