Free: Contests & Raffles.
Chuck Hawks recoil table list almost all calibers.Recoil for a 180 grn. in those calibres are close if the weights of the guns are the same.300 has only 2#'s.Look it up.
300 Win. Mag. in a light rifle is going to have a lot of recoil. If you're only shooting to 300 yards your 308 will do just fine. But if you really want a new rifle, I would recommend the 30/06.
My advice is to find somebody who will let you shoot theirs so you can see for yourself before you buy. It may not bother you as bad as you think. Felt recoil varies so much between individual setups it’s hard to tell until you shoot it. I have a 270 wsm that is fairly unpleasant to shoot and a 338 wm that doesn’t bother me much at all, even though they’re both fairly light rifles it’s just a different feeling recoil
Stock design plays a big role too, but I can tell you my .300wsm kicks significantly less than my old .300 win mag in near identical rifle weights. Ive never shot a .308 to compare it to.
following along, just the other day my wife started talking about maybe getting a elk rifle for herself, of course i'm onboard with the idea, i archery hunt elk, but was thinking of a .308 for her. she shoots my .270win (weatherby vangaurd) all day and doesnt bother her (she loves ringing the gong at the range)(not trying to thread jack)
I'm looking at buying a new rifle for elk and have been looking seriously at 300WM, 300WSM, or 30-06. I currently shoot a Rem 700 in .308 with a pretty short barrel and the recoil is very comfortable, but I know that I'm fairly recoil sensitive. I also have a good slip on recoil pad on it because I'm tall and need the extra length.My question is how much more punishing is the 300WM/300 WSM vs the 308. I really want to go that direction, but I'm a little nervous about buying a rifle only to find out I can't handle the recoil. I 62 and doubt I will be taking shots at 500 yards, but I would like to be able to reach out to 300+ yards if I need to. Oh yeah, I would like a moderately light gun for comfortable carry. So, it's pretty simple...I want a powerful, flat shooting rifle with no recoil that's not too heavy. Any advice?
In two of the same rifles 300wm is going to have substantially more recoil than a .308. It’s simply physics.
Put a break on it and most all recoil is gone. My 300 rum bounces like a 223 and is a pleasure to shoot.
One thing I did not see mentioned is practice. I am pretty insensitive to recoil, but after not shooting big guns for awhile (a couple months) I found myself anticipating and flinching after a few shots. Once I recognized this I found I could turn off the flinch and shoot well again. As long as I shot a couple times a month I was good to go.