I bought a Remington 700 30-06 a while back, not because I really needed one just because it had beautiful wood and it was marked down to half price. I went to sight it in today and dang...it kicked a lot more than I thought. I was wearing a T-shirt and that hard plastic butt plate started hurting my shoulder after only about a dozen rounds. If I keep the gun I'll probably have the stock shortened and good recoil pad put on it, but I want to shoot it some and check the accuracy before I spend more money on it. I could try a slip on recoil pad but the stock is already a tiny bit too long for me. Anyone use those strap on type pads that attach to your shoulder? I'm 56 and not normally too recoil sensitive, I can shoot boxes of 12 gauge and it not bother me a bit.

Fold a standard sized towel up into about a 6" x 9" rectangle, and stick it under your shirt, between the butt and your shoulder.

In general, felt recoil is much worse from the bench. Grains of bullet weight tend to effect things as well, 180 recoils harder than 150.

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Front sight and squeeze

06 has disproportionately more felt recoil than other calibers of similar weight and velocity.

Can't say why this is, just that it is.

A search should supply you with relative recoil values.

I was amazed, but there it is.

I have a Limbsaver vest for shooting in the summer.
Helps a lot.
Think your 30-06 kicks? Try a 300 Win., they all seem to try to break your shoulder...

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Don't cut the stock and add a recoil pad. It's the best way to ruin a rifle's value should it ever achieve collector status.

When shooting on the bench, use a shooting jacket with a padded shoulders and elbows or you may buy a recoil pad that straps to the shoulder. Another trick is to put a three-pound bag of shot between you and the rifle.

The reason I say this if you are a hunter, the one or two shots you may get at a head of game does not require a recoil pad. You won't even feel the recoil.

Recoil produced by a .30-06, assuming a rifle weight of at least 7.5-8 pounds with scope, is often considered the most the average or casual rifleman can withstand and still hit his target. Heavier guns require more frequent shooting to get acclimated to a rifle that can kill at both ends.

Started life with the '06 for deer hunting as a young lad in his early teens. Weighed a whopping total of 110 pounds back in those days. We all shot '06's on deer and the buddies said I was a wimp to complain about the recoil. Then they started making great game bullets. I got out of school and started buying a bunch of guns. Learned that low recoiling 25, 7mm rounds would kill deer just as quick as the '06 and not beat you to death when you needed to pop a few rounds off the bench. Welcome to the common sense club of "i don't like recoil". Keep the gun, enjoy it, I even have a 338 Win Mag I shoot off the bench, but it does have a 1" limb saver recoil pad attached to that exhibition grade custom french walnut stock. Just get one of the slide on recoil pads for the bench time and keep it for hunting only. Want a good mid size American game rifle (deer)? Go buy a 25 or 6.5 or 7mm rifle, only kicks about half as much and will kill the quicker if you use premium bullets. If you hunt, you will come to notice that one or two shots on game, you could shoot a 416 and not know it recoiled.

Light with a composite stock. WHOE! I shot with a padded jacket, but I had to switch to whoever was shooting it. Since it's not a valuable gun I did a 'bubba' stock trim and put on a recoil pad. (I sure wouldn't do a 'bubba' job on your rifle). Anyway the gun is more fun to shoot. Nowadays I load some VERY light loads that are really a hoot to shoot, but I can handle a standard to hot load if I want to. And there's always the old padded jacket. The 30-06 was chosen as a military round because it was thought that was the maximum your average soldier could take under battle conditions. Most military rifles were pretty heavy compared to my Savage.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ok, here are some generic values of recoil, in foot/pounds

Your 30 06 in a 8 lb gun with 165gr @ 2900 is 20 ft/lbs

a 284 Win in a 7.5 lb gun with 150 gr @ 2850 is 17 1/2 ftllbs

a 7x57 Mauser in a 8 3/4 lb gun with 139 @ 2700 is 11.7 ft/lbs

a 260 Rem in a 7 1/2 lb gun with 120 @ 2850 is 13.0 ft/lbs

a 250 Savage in 7 1/2 lb gun with 100 @ 2900 is 7.8 ft/lbs

a 243 in 7 1/2 lb gun with 100 @ 2950 is 8.8 ft/lbs

my 338 Win mag in a 8 lb gun with 200 @ 3000 is around 30 ft/lbs.

Shot my 338 last fall off the bench for about 35-40 rounds and was surprised what the 1" limbsaver did to the recoil. it was also cooler and I had a jacket on over a thick shirt. I could have enjoyed shooting several more rounds, but was out of the loads and the gun needed cleaning. Stock design and a hard butt plate can make some guns killers on both ends.

I have a 4 3/4 pound 284 with a limbsaver and Carbon fiber stock that is not all that uncomfortable to shoot from the bench. The carbon fiber does help in recoil reduction along with the design of the stock (one of Melvin Forbes crown jewels of the hunting rifle of the world). Actually ran 20-25 rounds thru it from a bench before with no complaints. I have friends with those steel butplates '06's that I would not shoot 5 times from a bench for a case of beer.

The Garand is a very soft shooting rifle. To me the Springfield 03A3 stomps me bad shooting the same round as the M1. Same round, close to the same weight, but vastly different feel.

Do what you need to to sight it in, when you shoot it while hunting, you won't feel a thing.

Power is cool, sometimes I like to shoot really hot ones in my .357. But when it gets down to it a lesser cartridge can take deer and for 'fun' shooting it would be better not to have a gun that takes 'getting used to' to handle. For that I think I'd like something in the 6-7 mm range with velocities about maybe 2600 fps. I'd have to do homework to see what that would be but it wouldn't have near the power of a 30-06.

One thing that pushed the 30-06 is that the military used it and the ammo was common (and for a long time, cheap) and if it was good enough for the US military it's good enough for about everybody.

Update: Aha. A .243 would be about right, and you can use them to hunt deer here.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I used to shoot national match with the M14 and later with an M1A and still later with an AR-15.

However I'd shoot some local DCM club matches with an M1 Garand, and on occasion with my 1903A1 or my 1903A3. Shooting a course of fire with an '03 will give you an appreciation for the folks who shot national match in the pre-Garand days. A seven pound rifle with a relatively narrow (compared to a Garand), curved steel buttplate generates about as much recoil as the average shooter can tolerate, and that was indeed the general reason why the battle rifle calibers of the era (.303, 8mm Mauser, .30-06, 7.62x54R) all have about the same level of power and recoil.

,,,,,,"MAN-UP" and get a 45/70 with a 500Gr bullet!

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Capt Rick Hiott
Charleston,SC

Most people wont admit it but there are very few shooters these days that can really handle the recoil of a 30-06. When I say handle I don't just mean take it or stand it, I mean take it and still shoot the rifle well. It is a big rifle cartridge heaving out a big heavy bullet and using a lot of powder to get it done. Everything is relative...of course you fell a 7 pound 03 more than an 11 pound gas operated Garand...of course bench recoil is worse...it's way worse than what you feel when you are shooting at a charging grizzly!!!!!!

I don't encourage anyone to subject themselves to unnecessary recoil just to prove something to themselves or anyone else. I shoot blackpowder rifles and pistols three or four times a week, crescent shaped buttstocks can be difficult for some folks to deal with, especially when you use them appropriately which is below the shoulder joint above the bicep muscle. I had problems wearing a t-shirt and shooting my original 1886 Winchester 45/70, I bought one of the P-Pads that strap onto your shoulder and are filled with some kind of gel, it really helped while shooting from the bench with 405gr flying bricks. I have an early 50's model 70 in 30-06 that has the original metal buttplate, it reminds me of my experiences shooting the old Springfield when I was a kid. When shooting that rifle from the bench I have taken to using the strap on P-Pad, it really helps during all the shooting developing a hunting load that also delivers outstanding accuracy. Something you may find helpful is that the new bullets with partition tips deliver a superior knockdown to the older style partition bullets with less weight, therefore a lighter 150gr bullet that recoils mildly will perform as well as the older style bullets in 165gr. weight.
I remember helping a buddy sight in his brother's brand new Model 77 Ruger in 30-06, we both thought we were in for a day of sore shoulders being accustomed to what the 30-06 usually delivers in the course of a day of shooting and of course we were unprepared and were wearing only t-shirts. We had four boxes of 165 gr. bullets and the in the box Model 77, I noticed it had a nice thick red butt pad. We layed over the hood of the truck and sighted in on some targets 25 yds away and started taking turns firing. Turns out that Model 77 was the mildest recoiling 30-06 both of us had ever fired, it was actually pleasant to shoot. I was so impressed I got myself one the following year, very nice rifle.

my wife when she was much younger, at age 26, weighed 120 lbs. at 5'2" & loved shooting USGI M2ball out of a as issued Garand & a as issued 1903 Springfield......her favorite shotgun was my grandpa's old Win mod 97, 12 ga that I put a Pachy recoil pad on for her to use as our "go to gun" on the farm, before I bought a Rem 870 12ga riot gun.. Recoil affects different people in much different ways.......

How well the stock fits has much to do with it too..and the fairly wide butt plates on the Garand & the 1903 helped her manage shooting them too, both off the bench & off hand.............

In 1984 or so, we'd picked up a NIB Rem 788 in .308 Win that came with a cheap scope , and had a very narrow/skinny (might have been birch) pale stock & that weighed about a lil less than 6lbs including the scope...........that puppy hurt me to shoot with Rem factory 150 gr loads first prone & then off the bench. It soon was traded off...... I've shot extended prone sessions with a brother-in-law's Rem 700 BDL in 7mmRem mag & much shooting of our Garand & a 1903 with USGI M2 ball that never bother me a whit..........but that stinking 788 HURT.........

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be safe,enjoylife,journey well

Call me a wuss, but a standard 30-06 bolt action rifle has about all the recoil I want in a rifle.

I had a Winchester 88 in .308 Winchester.
Traded it afer three shots for a 12 ga. Winchester 97 that kicks a lot less

I would go for the following:
(recoil based on Chuck Howks rifle recoil table atRifle Recoil Table

243 Win. (100 at 2960)________8.8
7mm-08 Rem. (140 at 2860)___12.6
300 Sav. (150 at 2630)________14.8
Nothing beats a 1928 Savage 99G in .300 Savage:

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

I have never been recoil sensitive. I have fired .30-06, .308, .338 and .416 both actions off the bench and never felt like I was getting kicked hard. I have been bruised afterward but didn't think much of it while shooting. I share my rifles with others at ranges and have to keep in mind that others may react differently to my rifles than I do and caution them to the recoil of the bigger calibers. What I have never understood is adults setting children with punishing rifles just to laugh at them when they get hurt. Same for men setting women up with the same kind of rifle and then not understanding why the women do not want anything to do with firearms.

Try a 300RUM, you will think the 30-06 tickles after that.

Are you leaning into the rifle, or sitting straight up? It'll hurt a lot more if you lean into it; sitting up allows you to "roll with the punch" a lot better.


Since the arthritis has taken over, I have become a lot more recoil sensitive.

This is a VERY important detail to consider.

I first started shooting NRA Highpower matches back in the late '70's. The only rifle I had that qualified for service rifle was an 03A3 Springfield - steel buttplate and all. A full match with sighters was 88 rounds and I shot a couple matches each month. With practice in between matches I was going through about 500 rounds of 30/06 per month. I learned to handle the recoil OK and shot some pretty good scores but it took some serious concentration. I still use the cartridge to hunt elk but have gone to the 5.56 for match shooting long ago. I still shoot some really big rifles from time to time, but I don't care for the high volume pounding that I used to like.

I will second the jacket when shooting the heavier recoiling guns. I don't mind recoil much, but my 338 mag flat hurts when fired off the bench wearing just a light shirt. With a lined Carhart jacket its not bad and as I use hunting in elk country I am going to be wearing a jacket then anyway. I have never noticed the recoil when taking game.

Another thing is shooting off a bench. You are sitting usually bend a bit into the gun. No adrenalin going for you. Off hand your whole body moves back helping to take up the recoil effect.

Remington 700's are light rifles.

A hard butt plate can bring the pain.

Are you pulling the butt tight to your shoulder?


someone above mentioned standing straight upright which allows your body to flex.

Also Remington and others offer reduced recoil ammo. This will put it down to the 243 level.

I have owned 375 H&H, 338, 300 Win Mags, 264's in win calibers and 257, 270, 300, 340 WBy's. I shot them off the bench. I'd rather shoot the 338 or 340 all day vs 2 boxes of 300 mag. It seems to push rather than crash into your shoulder.

My brother has used a 30-06 for 50 years and uses it well. He had me find him a good 300 Win Mag. He got rid of it, could not take the recoil.

Find a slip on pad or a vest type to cut recoil. This is what my wife uses for target shooting, it really reduces felt recoil.

Try a 458 Lott. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

^^ This x1000. As a milsurp owner there are some stock and buttplate designs that make me sure the designer never shot their own creation.

I wear one of those Limbsaver pad/vest gadgets when I shoot anything over 7.62x39. I just don't have enough meat in the shoulder area to risk not doing so.

Semi auto guns have less perceived recoil as the process seems to be spread in time. My FAL is a ***** cat to shoot compared to my Howa in .308.

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Release the Kraken

Stock design has a lot to do with felt recoil though not all, of course.

I've always been amused, or hurting, how much a .30-30 Winchester Model 94 can smack a fella.

I shot my 416 WBY magnum with it.....
Try 5 rounds fast with that!


It's gone now, no elephants or cape buffalo where I live.

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Imagine what it was like, during WWI/WWII, carrying a M1903/M1917 in combat. Keep in mind, body size and mass has changed a bit since then...... recoil still the same.....

Well, IMO, a bolt action, hard butt plated .30-06 rifle is not a 'range,' or plinking gun. That's a hunting rifle. Get it sighted in with the load you'll be carrying, and go hunt. In the field, when you fire on an animal, you will not notice the recoil, or even the sound. I've always been fine with the .30-06, but have known some guys that have not cared for the round.

Now, if you want to sit at a bench and shoot, you'll notice it more. To me, recoil is 50% psychological, and 50% technique. As for technique, pull the gun tight into the right spot in the crook of your shoulder where your pectoral muscle meets your shoulder muscle (more on your pec muscle). I've seen some people rest it on the shoulder bone; ouch. Some people don't pull the rifle in tight; definite bruise/ouch. Use a shoulder pad for bench-work if it bothers you, and try mixing in a lesser recoiling rifle during the session.

A recoil pad will help some, but IMO not a whole bunch. I suppose some recoil pads are better than others. I would not cut down the rifle. I'd get a different rifle before I did that.

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NRA Life Member

It's an American male thing...taking recoil. We really don't want/need it but we all take it. Why??? Because in America our grandpappy carried an 03 bolt gun with that sharp hard metal buttplate and he did complain, but we weren't around to hear it...then our pappy carried either the same rifle or a Garand...we never heard him complain...those guys were men!!! Now if we cant at least do the same thing, even if it is just to hunt with, well, you might as well blow fairy dust up our skirt and let us go pick daisy's and dye easter eggs with the kiddies!!!!!!

The Momentum (MxV) of the rifle is the same as the Momentum of what comes out the muzzle, namely the bullet plus the powder combustion gas. And the V part of the Momentum of the rifle is what you feel as recoil. The fit of the stock and dimensions and shape of the buttplate will affect how you feel the recoil, but do not reduce the velocity of the rearward-moving rifle. I don't think that recoil pads make a great deal of difference in what you feel. but there are some with a soft silicone filling which may help. At one time, Winchester offered a telescoping butt with a shock absorber inside for its shotguns. I've seen them, but never fired a shotgun with one of those on it. They were supposed to help a lot, and what they did was slow down the rearward movement of the rifle against the shooter's shoulder. I remember seeing ads long ago for some kind of tube full of mercury you could put in a hole in the stock which was supposed to help, but that always seemed like snake oil. Regarding semiautomatics, the old long recoil mechanism used in the humpback Browning A-5 and Remington Model 11 shotguns and Remington Model 8/81 rifles generate more felt recoil due to a lot of moving metal in the form of the barrel and bolt coming to a sudden stop against your shoulder. Try firing a Remington Model 81 in .35 Remington or .300 Savage and you will see exactly what I mean.

Best ways to reduce recoil: Use a heavier rifle, a lighter bullet, and/or a lower MV.

Shooting a 30-06 in a T shirt is just plain masochistic. I've know others to complain about the 760/30-06 combination recoil wise.
Wear a shooting jacket or use the towel suggestion. Recoil while hunting usually isn't an issue because of the thicker clothing worn or because of the excitement of the moment. But getting your shoulder pounded black and blue while bench shooting is a sure way to develop a bad flinching habit.

John

I second getting a shooting jacket with built in pad. Be sure and pull the gun to your shoulder. I wouldn't shoot an '06 or .308 in a bolt gun for long and certainly not on a bench. I would imagine it will be plenty accurate. It shouldn't take many rounds to find out.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Plenty of folks pay $150 to $200 an hour to have a woman beat them black and blue....no, I wasn't one of them, I just scheduled the... wait what were we talking about....

Oh yeah, recoil. Slip on pads work fine. Having a rifle that "fits" the shooter, an often elusive goal, helps a lot too. I would not worry about shortening the stock, by the time the rifle is collectable you will likely beblong dead, so enjoy your purchase.

I used to shoot a Russian...or was it Hungarian, I forget.....Model 44 carbine. Short rifle, steel butt plate...I put a slip on pad on eventually, but even in issue trim it was not terrible if one wore a jacket.

Some people do learn to enjoy the pain in a way. Some even seek it out. Tolerance will also vary. Most people can deal with a well fit and padded .30-06, some can't. No shame either way.

Way back when, I used to compete in local high power rifle matches. All local clubs and it was a lot of fun. I used a bolt action Springfield 30-06 and fired a lot of rounds through that rifle, mostly all military ammo. Honestly, the recoil never bothered me. The matches were not official, just us local guys getting together for some fun. The gun did not have a recoil pad but I did wear a shooting jacket with a lightly padded shoulder so that would have made it a tad easier.

I never was bothered at all by the recoil and I think the kick from a 12 gauge shotgun to be far worse.

IN 1977 I bought a Remington 700 ADL in .270, shot about 5 rounds with it off the bench. I put it back in the case, and took it down to the local gunsmith and had a Pac white line recoil pad put on it, and haven't looked back. I still have the rifle and and am not worried about collector value one whit, my heirs can do with it as they please, but I see it as improving the value of the gun.

When I was working with heavy recoiling rifles, 458, 416, 475 type, and shooting from a bench, I used a sissy bag my wife built. She sewed 2 6" pieces of tanned deer shin together and filled them with kitty litter. This completely eliminated felt recoil when put between shoulder and stock. Din not do anything for muzzle rise.

Give people a gun they aren't used to and find hard to control, especially the unexpected recoil and you get something like that young lady that shot herself in the head with a .500 S&W Magnum. It's an unsafe and irresponsible 'bubba' trick.

And the second point is that we should be encouraging potential shooters rather than scaring them away from the sport.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ever shoot a Mosin Nagant? It feels like someone hitting you in the shoulder with a splitting hammer each time you pull the trigger. Short stock, poor stock design, and a steel buttplate contribute to this more than the chambering in my opinion.

While I may differ with them on political and religious views, I find a lot of respect for the men who went into battle with these things.

And with a scope can give you a nice black eye, don't ask me how I know.

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Back to back World War Champs.

Never fired a scoped rifle, nor off a bench when I zeroed in a 700 BDL I bought from a friend. Busy in the moment I failed to get a good shoulder lock. It hurt. Couple more shots put me in at 50 yds.

Walking out to 100 I mentioned to my buddy what happened and he said to fold a towel dumbbell! Threw a dozen or so more, enough to the rifle was fine but my shoulder wasn't. Found a 1/3 baseball size lump right on the bone when I got home that night.

LimbSaver (Kick Eze?) pad later and I'm loving that 70's era gun.

Stock fit is #1 for accuracy and minimum recoil with a QUALITY recoil pad.

Take it to a gunsmith and get it fitted and a quality pad put on.

If you don't have the cash to make it right............
sell it.

I agree on the difference between a Garand and a fixed bolt rifle. I much prefer my Garand to my M1917 Eddystone. Plus, the stock design of the Eddy is nothing to write home about compared to the Garand. The Eddy has chin weld instead of cheek weld.

I sold my 30-06, and a lot of the reason for it was that I found it uncomfortable to shoot. I did run some surplus M2 Ball through it, which was a lot more pleasant than standard hunting loads, but at the end of the day I just didn't have any real use for it and couldn't make an excuse for keeping it around.

I think the biggest issue for me with that particular rifle(Ruger '77 with a tang safety) was that the stock was too short for me. It was really difficult for me to hold it securely and get a good picture through the scope, and it also left me with a cut on my forehead more than once.

Funny enough, a friend who's a fair bit shorter than I am could should it comfortably while he was constantly complaining about how much a Mosin-Nagant beat him up. I could shoot a Mosin all day-I'd be sore the next day, but I wouldn't be uncomfortable.

As someone said above, as much as anything I think stock fit is the most important thing.

I'll add in that I've shot other 30-06s, and didn't find them anywhere near as uncomfortable as my particular one.

I don't have a Garand, but have shot them several times. With surplus M2 Ball, I really do think that I could shoot one all day and not be any worse for wear(other than in my pocket).

Ain't no fast about it. Ask dashriprock about the 460 Weatherby.

Try this, wimp! LOL!

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Nationality: Confederate

All the points were covered. Hope you picked a few pointers out and use them.

I've shot most magnums, owned one or 3 in most calibers. I sold them all except for my WBY MK V in 300 mag.

I reload, as I got older I looked at caliber performance without rose colored glasses. When I compared the 270 Winchester vs a 7mm Mag or 270 WBY mag and 308/30-06 vs 300 mags I saw little improvement for normal hunting by the Mags, extra powder and noise was the 2 big ones.

I said normal hunting, not dangerous game nor ELK or Moose. I see value for big guns here.

And again I feel if you find some reduced recoil loads and shoot them you will love your new gun. The recoil will be cut drastically. It is like comparing your 30-06 to a 243 in the same rifle.

So you say the 30.06 kicks. It can. Heavy bullets and a poor stock will punish! A good stock and recoil pad will make the heavy .06 loads manageable. I took my first black bear with a scoped Ruger M77 in 30.06. When I returned I had a Marlin 1895Guide gun in 45.70 within a week. Took as couple of bears with the 1895 using Hot 405 g jsp. I took my B&C Black bear with the 1895. It kicked a little more than the 06. Then I wanted bigger! I went to the .375 Holland & Holland. It hurts! I took my largest with the 375.
The 30.06 is a great start in your collection of Big game guns!

old 1911 fan