ARE THERE ANY PHYSICIAN/SHOOTERS HERE???

[kybob]

let me preface my question. i had 4X bypass surgery in 99. did all the things my cardiovasular surgeon said to do in the post-op period. 7 months later all the wires holding my sternum together broke, had another surgery to remove the broken wires and get rewired again. i still can feel movement once in a while, despite doing all the right stuff.

now i shoot .22. but i want to get back to shooting my heavy recoil shotguns and rifles. i asked my cardio-vascular surgeon if shooting the guns would cause more wire breakage. but he is not a gunguy and could not give me an answer. i want to shoot the rifles once again, but don't want to cause more damage either.

anyone here been in a similar situation??? any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Last Lemming]

1. I'm the former--but not the later

were you shooting prior to the first sternal wire dehiscence?

[kybob]

3. no

i didn't shoot anything as i didn't know if it would be damaging, but some how, despite all the recommended precautions, bing, bing, boing they went. just started again with the .22s a few months ago.

[Last Lemming]

6. A sucky complication

but not unheard of--these kinds of complication are are so often impossible to retrace to a specific cause--you wish you could be you never can. As far as shooting large recoil rifles--most docs would just say--hey, if you are slamming something up against one shoulder--thus producing increase stress across the sternum--that can't be good--but then your mother would probably tell you the same. The question is in many ways unanswerable--how could a doc advise you based on his experiences in previous circumstances--when you are probably the only patient he has had that has posed the question--

Might look at it this way--what if you shoot--and you get a dehiscence--could you blame the shooting--why not--You are entering a world in which there is no perfect knowledge

Sounds like the gun guys below have more specific good advice than a doc could give you at this point

[librechik]

2. Sternum to kybob: Stop beating me up!

why don't you switch to target rifles without so much kick? or even pistols? The thrill is hitting the target, right? Not the jolt?

[kybob]

4. because

i also like shooting the milsurps i have, i could stick to the .22's but i miss the roar and the flames of the bigger calibers.

[benEzra]

5. Get thee to a gunstore...

and buy a heavy-ish rifle that throws a smallish bullet at high velocity, and then fit it with a high-efficiency muzzle brake (which will drastically decrease the recoil, and will drastically increase the smoke, flame, and muzzle blast you miss). I'm thinking something like a 100-grain bullet at 3000 fps; some .243 or .270 loads might be in the ballpark, but I didn't stop to look it up.

Or go get a heavy-barrel AR-15 clone or Armalite AR-180 and fit either with a muzzle brake. Negligible recoil (especially compared to hunting calibers), but plenty of smoke and blast and uber-cool looks to boot. :) Or if you are partial to eastern-bloc aesthetics, get a SAR-2 (civilian AK-74 lookalike, chambered for the very-light-recoiling 5.45x39mm, and many have muzzle brakes).

If that's too much, invest in a P.A.S.T. shooting vest with built-in recoil pad.

If you really, really want to shoot a shotgun, get a 20-gauge and shoot the reduced-recoil loads, OR if you have to have a 12 get a heavy autoloader (action cycling softens the recoil) and have the barrel ported.

(That's assuming recoil proves to be indeed a problem.)

[Lefty48197]

7. You mean right to lifers?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Mark H]

8. LOL! n/t

[Squatch]

9. Physician shooters? There have been a couple doctors...

that I've disagreed with, but I've never wanted to shoot one.

:freak: :freak: :freak:

[Dolomite]

10. if it's dangerous for you to shoot

(as your Dr is alluding to), ask him if he thinks its a good idea to disconnect the airbag system in your car.