Everyone who loves guns, loves big guns. Don’t believe me? Pull out a .44 Rem. Mag. at your range and watch everyone flock. Uncase a .500 S&W Magnumand a couple bystanders might even work up enough courage to ask if they can pull the trigger a time or two.
The same gravitational pull applies to long-guns, too. Shooters will stop and stare for a bit at a $15K Perazzi, but when the .50 BMG lays down at the line, everyone drops what they’re doing to take in the experience.
Aesthetically, this makes sense, right? Big guns are generally beautiful: A large hunk of metal crafted into a high-functioning piece of working art. Even anX-Frame revolver is stunning through its polished simplicity.
But I believe it’s the power that really draws shooters to the big guns—the heft of nearly 5 pounds of wheelgun muscle in-hand, or the invisible percussive blow as a projectile more than a half-inch wide leaves a muzzle for a target thousands of yards away. That’s pure power.
The problem is, most of us hate recoil as much as we love big guns—and there’s no way to have one without the other. Newton’s third law demands it. Admittedly, there was a time I chose a .300 Winchester Magnum when a .270 Winchester would’ve been more than adequate. Why? Power. OK … and because
I thought it was the tough thing to do.
This Gun Digest magazine May 2022 issue in your hands is dedicated to the big guns that captivate our dreams, the big bores that go with them and the excitement they conjure within each of us.
Like we all seem to do, I’ve smartened up a fair amount as birthdays whiz by, and I can now admit to myself—and, finally, to other shooters—that I really don’t like recoil all that much. I definitely ain’t afraid of it, but I damn sure don’t enjoy it.
However, there are times when I simply want (OK, need) to feel the power at the tip of my trigger finger … and the equal-and-opposite reaction to sending a massive projectile downrange is simply worth it.

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• Guns & Ammo – June 2022
• GQ USA – May 2022