.308 Recoil??

Felt recoil

I was set to explain it, but Cowboy has done a very good job of explaining how important the shape of the stock is to felt recoil.
I find the Model 88 Winchester in 308 a very miserable rifle to shoot. With the large drop at the heal, the rifle kicks up. And it soon has a sore on my cheek. On the other hand my very old Husqvarna in 30-06, though a light weight rifle, has a nice fitting stock with a pear shape forend, allowing the left hand take a good part of the recoil. It is a very pleasant rifle to shoot, with less apparent recoil than most 308 rifles. My shortened up Lee Enfield kicks quite a bit worse.
The Schultz and Larsen rifles have a beautiful stock, designed all the way to lesson the felt recoil. Accordingly, both their 7x61 magnum and their 308 Norma magnum, have less felt recoil than the average 30-06!
 
Years ago, I purchased a PAST shoulder pad because the stock on the C7 rifle wasn't long enough for me. Now if I feel the need to go out and put about 50-100 rds of .303, .30-06 or .45-70 downrange I'll slip it on. Recoil is hardly felt and I shoot more rounds in practice.
 
Recoil? What recoil? Is a .308 supposed to have recoil???? You oughta try my .45-70 lever gun with a 405 gr bullet @ 1900 fps. Now THAT'S recoil:eek:. I owned a .303 light years ago and it kicked a lot harder than my Tikka SS/Lam .308 does
 
If you are apprehensive about .308 recoil, you migh consider a 7mm - 08 which is has a 308 case necked down to .284. With 140 gr bullets, recoil is pretty mild in a hunting weight rifle. Ballistics are good and with some bullets, exceed those of the 308 down range 300+ yds because the bullet shape is "slimmer" and long.
Having said that, I consider the .308 the best "all round" caliber. My 308's have all been accurate and recoil has never added any "flinch factor". I have shot thousands of 308 rounds. A 308 will kill anything in this country that is legal to shoot.
 
The .308 is not a hard kicker at all. It's much like the .303 in kick. Boom? What boom? It's a peep squeek next to a .300 Win Mag. in size, powder capacity, recoil, and sound. Yet many shoot .300's.

maltextract, those 7.62x54r in a mosin nagant carbine are real snappy kickers! WTH were they thinking of when they made these things for war?
 
Here's how I deal with recoil. What is the worse thing that it can possibly do to me? .... Your .308 will not harm you in any way shape of form. Just make sure you have enough scope eye relief to not get a scope "kiss". Someone mentioned a PAST recoil pad...good idea. But to sum it it up an without trying to make myself sound like to much of a HE man....go for it buddy. Go hard, bo big or go home. My .375 is pretty intimidating to most people, I tell them, go ahead and give it a try. All come away with all limbs intact and always say "it wasn't as bad as I thought". I should mention that my .375 is a wooosy no good for nuthin' .375H&H, now I don't know what the king of .375's will do to you ..... if you can find ammo for it. :jerkit::jerkit::jerkit:
 
you're getting excellent advice so far.

just some extra thoughts for you

i have a tikka lite synthetic, kick is not bad but far more felt than a belgium metric FN i had years ago

for me, there is still something to be said about semi auto rifle, gas op etc. that does reduce recoil a bit, weight is a big factor too, my fn was close to 8.75 lbs i believe, with the fairly straight stock

i have a 375 h&h in a browning a bolt, which is fairly light as compare to standard such as the rem 700 etc, by at least 1.5 lbs, while the 375 is managable, i expect harsher treatment from the browning a bolt.

it is not the 308 cartridge (which is terrific), but the rifle set up, and if you still remain recoil sensitive, then go heavier rifle, possibly semi auto, better recoil pad, proper stock measurements for your own body measurements, etc.
 
Depends clearly on rifle weight! My Israeli Mauser shoots the .308 almost like a pellet gun. My small 7x57 has more recoil. 8mm Mauser is in my opinion the ugliest to shoot below magnum caliber.
 
.308 recoil is not bad at all. id even say a bit less than .303 but that all depends on the rifle. every .303 ive shot was a milsurp so im sure that was a factor in felt recoil. theyre generally heavier but not exactly big on ergonomics or comfortable buttpads :)

IMO adding lead to your rifle for .308 is unneccessary. if anything, upgrade the recoil pad to a high quality one like a limbsaver.

if you are getting into target shooting i highly recommend the Savages. not only are they very accurate out of the box, but there are hundreds of aftermarket accessories, stocks, barrels, triggers, parts, etc for them that are widely available and easily interchangeable. your rifle can constantly evolve with you - you can change/upgrade the stock, barrel, trigger, etc yourself as your needs change.
its a switchbarrel rifle so with a cheap barrel nut wrench, headspace gauges and something to hold the action (vise and some blocks of wood) you can actually change your own barrels (and even chamberings with a simple bolt-head swap) - so later on you can install match barrels yourself.

i would start with the Savage 10FP, theyre around $570 at LeBarons after club card discount... you will ideally need to upgrade the stock though (the factory stock is pretty flimsy) - Boyds and Richards Microfit both sell laminate benchrest/varmint stocks that will probably cost you a bit more than a couple hundred bucks after shipping into Canada.
alternately, for $865 you can get the Savage 110 FCP ready to go in an HS Precision fibreglass stock and just go shoot, without having to wait for a stock to clear customs. IMO the HS Precision stocks with their full length aluminum bedding blocks (for the Remington 700s at least) are a vast improvement over a laminate stock, but ive never seen the inside of a Savage 10FCP stock so i dont know if these are made the same way - i would assume they are but you should check.

depending on how serious you are about building a specialized target rifle, another option is the Savage model F/TR. its a bit more money, around $1050, but its a stainless heavy barreled target rifle in a laminate stock. rather than the standard Savage 10/110 action it uses the new Savage target action with target Accutrigger that allows finer trigger adjustment (down to 6oz), a much more rigid single-shot solid-bottomed action with a very small ejection port, and a 30" barrel. its also nearly 13lbs, so recoil would be minimal. this is specifically for target use though and wouldnt make a good hunting rifle IMO.
Target-Actions_RBolt-RPort.jpg


dont forget to leave money for the scope and quality rings/bases. a target rifle with a $100 Bushnell is a travesty.
 
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caljay30 said:
Going to get myself a .308 I think, been reading about calibers and it got me thinking a little more about the recoil. I have a .303, will the recoil of the .308 be close to the .303?? I just don't want to take anything for granted, so I thought I should ask before I put my money down. Does the .308 really bruise the shoulder, or is it just the boom factor that you need to learn to ignore??

Thanks!
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Find someone who has a .458 mag and shoot some 500 grain dangerous game loads,then you will never be worried about the lil .308 :50cal:
 
I don't notice a recoil difference between .303 and .308 either.
My .308 is a M70 featherweight with a factory (hardest plastic ever made, and really thin too) recoil pad, and it hardly boots back at all. Never a bruise from it, hell, not even mild discomfort! I can only imagine how plush a .308 with a 26" heavy barrel and full stock would be too shoot!
 
I agree with yodave and cowboy. It's all about the weight of the rifle and the stock design. If you go with one of the new ultralights you will get a pretty good kick from a .308 with full load 180gr. bullets. what you should do, if possible, is shoot one first before investing alot of money into a gun you are not comfortable shooting. Unless you are out after bears, the calibre does not matter that much. If you can hit your mark when you want, then it's all about bullet design.
 
Hey Manbearpig,

I've ordered a Savage 12FV. I was going to go with the 10fp but then I figured out the 12fv is pretty much the same thing only with a longer barrel and it's cheaper. I also thought that the longer barrel might come in a bit handy in the future. From what I read the longer barrel could translate into more fps, and yes I have also read that one might not see it unless you reload. I figured if the savages are as good as everyone says then the extra 2" shouldn't be a hinderance and may come in handy as I get more and more into it.

I think for the first year I'll just keep it all factory and just learn the sport. Once my finances can take it, I'll put a new stock on the list.
 
yeah, nothing wrong with the 26" barrel. should be another 50 FPS or so at the cost of a bit of handiness but youre intending to use this for target shooting anyway so it shouldnt matter.

*if* the recoil bothers you (the Savage factory stock is very light so it will add to felt recoil), remove the butt pad and make a beanbag full of lead shot or small fishing weights (dont have to sew it shut, you can just use a twist-tie). stuff it into the stock, jam a wafer of styrofoam or folded piece of neoprene behind it, and re-attach the factory pad. it will give the effect of an epoxy/lead-filled stock but is completely removable - so if you end up replacing the stock later on you can sell the original stock on the EE.

have you decided what scope/bases/rings youll put on it?
 
Cowboy said:
The felt recoil is determined by weight of the rifle but more so by the configuration of the stock. The more drop at the comb and heel, the more recoil felt. Ask any trap shooter and they'll tell you a about recoil. The straighter the stock the less recoil. In my opinion the 303 has more drop and will actually have more felt recoil than a model 70. In the old days a rem 700 with a target scope wasall we used for silhoutte and you shoot 40 rnds per match.

8 3/4 lbs for the rifle add rings and scope your still around 10 lbs.
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I have to agree with this post 100% On my .303 with the old original stock after a few rounds the shoulder started to feel it ( that brass but-plate - ouch! ) I sporterized the rifle with an ATI stock and I shot a full box of 180gr with no soreness at all. I wanted to keep shooting but ran out of ammo. The new stock reduced felt recoil significantly
 
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