30-06 Recoil?

[gregintenn]

^^ 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.

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.

 

[Comrad]

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...

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

 

[soFlaNative]

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.

 

[Nevada Ed]

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.

 

[spad124]

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.

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.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

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).

 

[zzzippper]

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.

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

 

[1morethan8]

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

Try this, wimp! LOL!

 

[model70hunter]

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.

 

[old 1911 fan]

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

 

[Brian41]

I have that same Rem 700 in 30.06 since the 70s. I never used to mind the recoil when younger but it does get to me now shooting off the bench. I would get a pad if I was doing much shooting off the bench but I usually only do that to check my scope's zero. Shooting at game I never do notice the recoil but too in deer season I usually have a pretty heavy coat on too.
I did buy the same gun in 25.06 a couple years ago and find it has less recoil. Maybe not a lot less but I didn't notice it as much when I was shooting both guns off the bench a couple years ago.

 

[Rangerpat]

I own a Remington 700 BDL in .30-'06 and when I had a shoulder injury I switched to Remington Reduced Recoil ammo.
It's like shooting a .243 and a good deer round out to 200 yards.

 

[M E Morrison]

Try this, wimp! LOL!

In my brasher years I shot a 458 Win Mag built up on a 1909 Mauser. It was an 8 lb carbine, with no recoil pad - yep plenty of recoil to go around !!!

 

[sonora]

What famous person said, " the 30-06 is never a mistake"?

 

[woodsltc]

I've used/hunted with a 30.06 for 30++ years and have fired thousands of rounds sighting-in, practicing and hunting. I always use what I call a "sissy-pad" while sighting-in and practice shooting at different distances. I've never seen a reason to let the recoil beat me up when its just for practice or sighting-in. For the same reason I always wear ear protection to protect against the muzzle-blast when practicing.

I don't worry about the recoil or muzzle-blast when hunting because you just don't notice it when the adrenalin is flowing and you are probably only firing a couple of shots at the most anyway.


Don

 

[R. G. Amos]

I had a Winchester Featherweight chambered in 30-06. It was fun to shoot if done in moderation.

 

[Cyrano]

What famous person said, " the 30-06 is never a mistake"?

Me, among others.

 

[Glockman9mm]

I shot one of those Heapy cheapy Remington 770's years back in 30-06. Think I pulled the trigger a handful of times and I was done. I'm not recoil sensitive, I'll try about anything once but that was not really fun to shoot. It ranks up there with a mosin in my book.

A limb saver might be the trick, I've yet to try one though.