BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[gpcinc]

how does the recoil of the 300 win mag, 7mm rem mag, and the 30-06 compare?

i have a win 270 model 70. and would like a slighly larger gun but would like to keep the recoil down. would still like something that has good knock down power up to 300yds. bighorn sheep, elk, and maybe something like bear. i have decided on the remington 700 bdl in ss and synthetic.

[Zippy240sx]

Well I shoot a 7MM Rem Mag and a 30-06 a lot and I dont even feel a dif between them. A 300 Win Mag isnt that bad either and all will take big game down at 300 yards. Just dont make my mistake and get the recoil of a 300 WBY Mag to the face it hurts BAD!

[bitmasher]

I'd say 7mm, 30-06, 300 in order from least to hardest kicking.

If you can get to a range, gpcinc, and give each a try that will be your best bet for deciding which is right for you.

How did you manage to take a WBY to the face Zippy? Get a little too close to the scope? :wink:

[Zippy240sx]

Well it was on a rest kuz i was sighting it in and the rest sort of broke leting go of the gun. Then Wam it came back and busted me really good I was spitin blood for about 15 minutes. But I managed to fire 15 more shots after that so I was happy. So my advice do not use a cheap gun rest or vise on big calibers.

[gpcinc]

from everything i've read (mind you that i am a novice and am seeking advice/input) it seems that a 30-06 will take most everything that you could hunt in north america. and if you were going to hunt big bear, then you would step up past a 300 to say a 338 or so? so why would i buy a 300 win mag?....

[Zippy240sx]

Well personally i would not buy a 338 for bear i would just take a 300 win mag kuz it will take any bear as long as u can make a vital shot. I know people that have taken kodiak bear win 300 win mag so it will work.
So why buy a 300 win mag kuz u can use it on deer, bear, elk, and all for less recoil than a 338.

[bitmasher]

Yes the rule of thumb is that a 30-06 is sufficient for all north american game except brown bear.

Why shoot a 300 WIN MAG? Some people prefer to shoot the largest caliber they can accurately so they have more knock down power.

Sounds like you got thumped pretty good Zippy240sx, ouch.

[ This Message was edited by: bitmasher on 2003-09-14 22:20 ]

[Captain_Obvious]

I saw it happen. We had just put a Zeiss Conquest on the rifle and we were sighting it in when he fired a shot and the gun came off the rest and slammed right into his head.

[Zippy240sx]

Yea Captain did see it and he laughed at it. So shhh its our secret when he goes deer huntin he will find out i took the firing pin out of his gun.

[gpcinc]

well, i looked up the recoil of the 300,7mm, and 06.......the 300 win mag recoils with about 25lbs. that's apparently the same as a 20ga shotgun. is that right? if so, then why do so many complain about the recoil? i grew up with a 20ga. comments? thanks. scott.

[Captain_Obvious]

Its complicated, it all depends on loads. A 180 grain bullet fired from a typical 300 Winchester Magnum rifle weighing 8.5 lbs will have approximately 26.5 ft-lbs. This is more than the average shooter can handle on a continuing basis, and excessive exposure to this may result in either flinching or jerking the trigger, which causes erratic or inaccurate shot placement. There are differences in the manner in which a rifle or shotgun is fired, which probably accounts for that discrepency.

[Captain_Obvious]

Zippy! That doesn't inspire confidence!

[bitmasher]

The 25 ft*lb's is about right for a 300 win mag; however the comparison to the 20 gauge is not quite right. You can have 25 ft*lb or more of recoil with a 20 gauge, but it usually runs around 14 or 15 ft*lbs.

The kick of a shot gun is dependant on the amount of shot you have in it. Usually if you have .875 oz of shot the kick is not going to reach 25 ft*lb. So to figure out how hard your 20 gauge was kicking you need to know how much shot you had in it. It might have been 25 ft*lb, but probably was not.

Generally, I have found a 300 kicks harder than a 12 gauge, which kicks harder than a 20 gauge with typical boxed loads. The critical word there is "typical", because you can make a 12 or 20 gauge kick hard much harder than a 300 win mag (especially the 12 gauge) with the right loads.

Foot pounds is a strange unit, but you can get a visual like this: 25 ft*lb of energy is exactly a 2.5 lb weight dropped from a height of 10 feet. Like wise 50 ft*lb is 5 pounds dropped from 10 feet.

Better watch out there Zippy240sx, pay back is always sweet. :wink:

[Captain_Obvious]

With 3-inch magnum shells, firing loads at 1275-1300 fps, you're getting belted with about 60.8 ft-lbs in a typical 7 1/2 lb shotgun, 12 gauge. This is about the same as the recoil of a 378 Weatherby Magnum, this hits even harder than a typical 458 Winchester Magnum. This is elephant-gun recoil we're talking about!

[bitmasher]

Yeah you can make the 12 gauge kick hard.

Last night I was fiddling with some numbers trying to come up with a better comparision than "2.5 lb weight dropped from 10 feet".

Well here are some numbers. According to this site a human punch delivers around 35 Joules of energy (to get that number they assume what works out to be a 1.5 lb hand flying at 22 miles/hour or so).

35 Joules of energy is 47.5 ft*lb. So 60 ft*lb is considerable more than a human punch.

I'm not sure that I quite believe the 22 miles/hour though, I figure most people punch faster than that. Consider that an average high school baseball player can throw a ball at 70 miles/hour, so their arm is at least moving 70 mph..... Course most people don't punch like they throw a ball, so who knows.....

Anyway 25 ft*lb is considerable less than a human punch (probably), but 60 ft*lb is getting thumped pretty good. Oh and you can see from the numbers that Zippy took a pretty good shot to the mouth. :wink:

[ This Message was edited by: bitmasher on 2003-09-17 22:52 ]