What is the largest caliber you've ever shot?

[Twiggy]

The largest caliber firearm I have ever owned would've been my Mosin of course chambered in 7.62x54r, unless you also count my 12gauge.

The largest caliber I've ever shot though was a .50cal desert eagle, when a guy at my club brought his in and let a group of us take turns.

That was a few years ago, when I was mid-20's, 6'4 and about 300lbs, and the recoil did push me back about a foot and a half.

I brought a younger female friend of mine along once, and all she shot was my old surplus Beretta .22cal target pistol. I did offer her later on to shoot my Berretta 92s (9mm) but she was like "no, thanks". lol.

[YepYep]

Women always know what she wants and men always want to try the limits~ [emoji38]

[Twiggy]

Women always know what she wants and men always want to try the limits~ [emoji38]

Except for when it comes to where/what they want to eat...

[Daryl]

Largest calibre rifle I have shot is .75 rifle(11bore). I regularly, as in most every month, shoot a .69 cal rifle(14 bore) in a monthly postal match contest.
Those are muzzleloaders. I have also shot trap with an 11 bore English gun, also .750.
The largest pistol or revolver ctg. fired, was a 5 1/2" .500 S&W Magnum. I thought it was quite nice to shoot with factory ammo, & very accurate at 50yards standing.
I would rather shoot that revolver, than my own 4" model 29 S&W with the small round butt grips. With those grips, the .44 kicked more than the .500 S&W Magnum
& absolutely stung my hand - a sharp and biting pain. I was loading 300gr. Truncated cone commercial cast slugs with 21gr. W296- probably 1,100fps only - but - PAIN!
With those grips, only 2 fingers fit on the grips & index on the trigger. The little finger curls under the butt.
I should note here that with the normal factory magnum grips or my current rubber pachmyers, the .44 magnum is nice to shoot with 275SWC at 1,210fps.
The largest calibre ctgs. rifles I have shot, are 4, .50 cal. rifles. I own only 2 of those currently, a Model 1876 Winchester in .50/95 & a m74 Sharps in .50/70.
I have shot the .50/95 on targets up to 1,000 meters, as well as with my brother's Sharps in .50/90 on the 1000 meter target. My own rolling block in .50/90,
I've only shot to 300meters. I sold it to a fellow who needed it more than I did. The .50/70, an original 1859 barrel, I removed from the action and replaced it
with a .45 barrel & chambered it for the Sharps 1.9" straight case. It is my long range black powder competition rifle, however I also shoot smokeless in it for
hunting with up to 560gr. paper patched bullets.
Here's the 11 bore English Fowler I used for trap at rendezvous.

[Twiggy]

I'd love to get to shoot a muzzleloader some day, but looking online and from what I have seen in local collectors shops/antique shops (this is war of 1812 central here) muzzle loaders are very expensive.

Do some manufacturers still make modern muzzleloaders or are they all antiques now?

[canadaman30]

458 WM.
Nothing pleasurable about it. Have no intentions to ever use one again.
Makes my 7mmRM feel like pussycat..

[Daryl]

My 1876 Winchester is a joy to use, but of course pales in power to even my .375/06IMP. That one matches perfectly with factory ammo in a .375H&H.
It kicks a bit, but current favourite is a made in September or 1936, .30 US Gov.(.30/06) It is gorgeous. Currently it has a 3-9 Burris on it. The stadia wires
are perfectly matched to my 180gr. handloads and give me zeroing lines to 400 yards.
Target is 5 shots at 100 meters using an old 4X Lyman Perma Center.

[Daryl]

This is my favourite ML, currently and has been since 1986, when my brother built it.
I finished it in True Oil. This finish is not used as much nowadays, but it worked well for me.

[Daryl]

This is from a couple years of string cuts. I used rifles,.32, .40, 45, 58 and .69 calibre as well as my 20 bore flintlock fowler.
These are shot at about 18 yards. The smoothbore fowler cards are marked .62.

[Normk]

Some black powder ~75 cal but I don't consider them as large caliber. It's funny how different people classify "large caliber." I think it it in terms of large energy/large recoil.

10 gauge double shotgun, of course, but who hasn't. Those double trigger shots with 2-1/2 oz loads got one's attention but no problem with practice.

My 450 Ackley was fairly nasty, but not as nasty as a friend's 460 Wby. The Ackley was interesting to put through 50 rounds, shooting ice in the Yukon River.

Not as much recoil, but a lot more class were my two 500 English double rifles, What a privilege to have owned three classic English doubles.

I still feel separation depression from selling those three. 360 #2 NE, 500 Nitro for BP Express, 500 No. 2 Express, IIRC.

[Daryl]

Interesting thoughts on calibre.
I'd forgotten about the AYA Matedor 10gauge SxS I used for geese.
At .774", 10 bore is the largest calibre I've shot. Did I ever double it, no I'm not that foolish.
It is not something to do with any double. I did it on purpose with a Baikal O/U 12 bore and the rear of the
front trigger cut to the bone on my middle finger - dumb thing to do. I was a kid once a-pon-a time.
In rifles, the largest calibre is .75. .75/100's of an inch, is the calibre.
Energy or case size, has absolutely nothing to do with calibre.
I did shoot a .500 Barnes Supreme, a wildcat using a .460 Wtby case necked up to shoot a .510" bullet.
It used 125gr. IMR3031 under a 600gr. Barnes bullet - pushing it at 2,700fps. That was the most recoil I've shot.
A .460 WTBY uses 125gr. IMR4831 to push a .458" 500gr. bullet at 2,700fps.
I was a mere 6'1" and 185 pounds and it spun me around like a weathercock & I ended up behind the yellow line at the Barnet Range.
Some guns kick. Some big ones don't.
Shot a .338 Lapua in the British Army's Sniper Rifle with the scope they issue as well. Local chap bought one. $10,000.00 for the rifle, $5,000.00 for the scope.
I fired one shot and like the owner said, "it won't kick as much as your WTBY .243", that I happened to be shooting on the bench beside him.
He was right, but the muzzleblast blew my hat off the bench beside his.
Normk - do you belong to the nitroexpress forum?

[CZ-Sniper]

For pistol: .44 Magnum
Rifle: 8mm Mauser
Shotgun: 12 ga defence slugs

[grantmac]

.50BMG but the mount took the recoil.

[Dukemeister]

I am lucky, in my early career I got to travel with army officers to many industrial sites and bases. I got to shoot many types of guns and artillery, the biggest was probably 120mm on a Leopard Tank, and a couple Eryx missiles.. don't know the caliber although that was more of a spectator sport @ about $30k per round there weren't enough for us to all have a go - that was back in the 90s.

[Daryl]

120mm is 4.7244inches. That's a large bore, but quite a common "size" with all of the current allies I think.
Seems to me, the Leo, like the Abrams uses a smoothbore, as-in guided, while the Brit. 120 is rifled???