30-06 Kicks too much? BULL ****

Zorro

New member
30-06 Kicks too much? Blarney!

Sorry but the 30-06 is a soft recoiling *****cat of a gun.

Even .300 Winchester Magnum is just a little bit more than a 30-06.

I don't think I am a mutant and my FAVORITE Varmit round is 7mm Remington Magnum!

So...all you .308 shooters get over your SLOW bullets and and hit your target with WAY less drop!

;)
 
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Foxy

New member
Just a quick look at my military standard ammunition charts..

30-06:
174gr@2675 - Ball M1
150gr@2500 - Ball M2

7.62x51:
150gr@2750 - US Ball M59
150gr@2750 - US AP M61

It looks like to me that the 7.62x51 is just about as speedy as .30-06.

:confused:

Trolling?
 

Mike Weber

New member
30-06 Recoil

Fired one of these rifles the first time when I was nine years old. I've never been bothered by the recoil of any rifle that I've fired since then. The old Springfield almost put me into a barbed wire fence. Stayed on my feet though. Anyone who thinks that a 30-06 is a hard kicker should try an 1861 Enfield Artillery Musketoon .58 cal. with a heavy load or a 50-140 Sharps
 

AR-10

New member
What does your uber ammo cost?
What do you shoot, like, twenty rounds a year?

My 7.62X51 runs me $.18 a round, and I shoot it all the time.

Unless your rolling your own for a quarter or less, I think I will stick with the incredibly slow ammo I have.

Thread Title needs work.
 

johnwill

New member
I fail to see the point of this whole thread. Felt recoil is a subjective thing, and it rarely has much to do with caliber. The stock design, action type, and rifle weight has far more to do with felt recoil than similar calibers. I rate the 30-06 and .308 as similar calibers in this context.

In addition, if you want to varmint shoot with a 600 Nitro Express, have at it, you don't need our permission. :)
 

Marko Kloos

New member
Amen. It all depends on the launch platform. If you think .308 is tame, try the Ruger Ultra Light M77 in that caliber. It has a 20" barrel and weighs all of six pounds...it'll rattle your fillings.

My most savage kicker is a Steyr Mannlicher M1895/34 chambered in 8x56R Hungarian, a cartridge in the same class as the .30-40 Krag or the .303 British. They make compact and handy lever guns in .45-70 and .444 Marlin that will teach you the meaning of recoil.

(For a real experience, try a 12ga. 3 1/2" Magnum load out of a lightweight Benelli Nova without the optional recoil buffer installed.)

Conversely, .30-06 out of a heavy old battle rifle like the M1917 is not terribly punishing. Simple physics...the lighter the rifle and the bigger the cartridge, the higher the perceived recoil, with bolt and lever guns kicking worse than autoloaders.

In two equally configured Ruger M77s, I doubt I could tell the difference in recoil between a .308 and a .30-06, unless you load them with vastly disparate loads and bullet weights.
 
I've been fortunate enough, in part through my association with American Rifleman magazine, to have fired some real thumpers over the years...

.505 Gibbs, .470 Nitro, .460 Wby., .425 Wesley Richards, etc.

As John Will says, recoil is a subjective thing.

I was MUCH more bothered by the recoil out of an Ithaca Model 37 firing 1 1/4 ounce slugs than I was from the .505 Gibbs, which has a fearsome reputation as a shoulder breaker.
 

_YoYo_

New member
I agree with johnwill.. It has nothing to do with caliber. I could shoot 300 rounds out of my 870 and be sore as hell the next morning.. I could shoot the same 300 rounds through my Banelli 391 with the mercury recoil reducer and the angle porting and not even think twice... my .308 weighs about 15 pounds, i can shoot it all day without a problem...
you want some kick.. take the brake off of my M99... or load up some 10ga buckshot and shoot it in my barretta both barrels same time..
 

Shooter 973

New member
30-06 Kicks?

Some thing that has been over looked is the fit of the rifle to the shooter. If the fit is to short or to long the recoil is different than if it is correct for the shooter. Also the cheek weld of the stock to the face has some effect on recoil as well as noise and preconceptions of the expected recoil. All of these thing can make a huge differance. :)
 

Cornbread2

Moderator
My M1a and my Garand kicks from the bench. They are very nice to shoot from prone with a sling like they are designed to be shot.

The Garand is 30-06 and the M1a is .308. There is not that much difference in recoil between the two.

I can shoot them both all day and they will not bother me.

Two rounds from a Remington pump 30-06 hurts like hell.

A .243 in the Remington pump rifle kicks much more than my Garand.

My old Turk Mauser will stomp you with Yugo ammo but it is not bad with the Turk ammo.

Most of the old M-44 carbines in 7.62-54 have a lot of recoil but you get used to them after a while.
 
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Crimper-D

New member
Felt recoil can be partially removed...

By using a muzzel brake.:)

Case in point: By BSA Monarch Majestic is a 30-06 that weighs in at about 6.5lbs scoped, slung and loaded = a "Featherweight", it has a recoil I feel is somewhat less than my Ruger M77 .243:cool:
Reason? The BSA people cut a "BESA Recoil Reducer" into the muzzel end when they made the little rifle, In effect, they Magna-Ported their rifle a couple of decades before Magnaporting came on the scene. Their claim was that felt recoil was reduced by up to 50% - Having shot mine for a couple decades, I'd say they were about right:D The Minus side of this equation is, while this arrangement makes it lots more comfortable to shoot the light little weapon, it can make you decidedly unpopular with shooters on the line on either side of you:eek: Talk about Muzzelblast!:D

Fun little gun to tote around all day in the heat...that couple of pounds less makes a big difference. You may only shoot the gun once on a hunt...but you have to carry the sucker all the way in and out.;)
 

Redlg155

New member
The more I shoot, the less I want my rifles to recoil. I generally want to get the least recoiling, most accurate, efficent weapon available to do the job at hand.

To me..the 30-06 recoil is very manageable. Especially in a gas operated rifle. But if I could do the same job with a .243, I'll use it instead.

Gezz....I must be getting soft.

Good Shooting
RED
 

RON in PA

New member
Compare the felt recoil of 30/06 in a M1 rifle with the felt recoil in a 1903 Springfield. Weight and stock design are critical to the comfort of shooting.
 
Ron,

The M1 is gas operated, the 1903 is bolt action.

The fact that the M1 is gas operated softens the recoil SIGNIFICANTLY over the 1903.

That factor alone will make a huge difference in felt recoil.
 

Khornet

New member
Foxy,

I think your data is off. My 1943 GI manual for the 03A3 specifies M2 ball at 2800 fps 150 gr bullet.
 

johnwill

New member
As a case in point, I had an HK-91 until recently, got too good a price for it, and I sold it. While it only shoots the .308, it was an uncomfortable rifle to shoot, and the apparent recoil was greater than any of my 30-06 or .308 rifles. I believe most of it was the really poor design of the buttstock, since it wasn't a lightweight rifle. I suspect that the roller locking action may have added to the felt recoil, though I really don't know for sure. In any case, it was a wimpy .308, but that didn't stop it from kicking. :)
 
John,

That's funny. A friend of mine has a 91, and I think it's a real *****cat.

You sure you're not just a wimp or something? :)
 

johnwill

New member
That's funny. A friend of mine has a 91, and I think it's a real *****cat.
You should have coughed up the $2500 and bought mine, then you wouldn't have to borrow a friend's gun. :) Like I said earlier in this thread, felt recoil is very subjective. If you like the HK, who am I to argue, I didn't like it, and now it's been "recycled".
 
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