Best balance of recoil and terminal performance in a cartridge.

Recoil tolerance and flinch can be a learned and forgotten thing.

Reloading and bullet development have made many of the sub 30 cal rounds the equal of many magnums shooting factory vanilla bullets from yesteryear. Take the most gun that you can handle the recoil and shoot accurately. A 338 WM is not necessary if the common animals one would encounter are sub 200 lb whitetails and sub 300 lb blackies. On the other end of the scale a 270 to hunt Moose in Grizzly country .......

I would vote either 7x57 or 30-06...lean towards the 06.
 
H4831 said:
I always get a kick, pardon the pun, out of these people who say they are not bothered by recoil.

Oh, I notice it when I'm sighting in off the bench alright, but I sure don't when hunting. By the time I've finally found a moose etc. and have it in my scope I'm way too excited/focused to be bothered by recoil...it doesn't register.
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375 H&H in a 12 Lb rifle is not recoilish and will put all those mentioned to shame on terminal performance.
Something like a BRNO 602 with five rounds under the bolt! (nobody said i couldn't add rifle weight)
 
I've got a model 70 featherweight in 7x57. Recoil is light, but I've had some spectacular one shot kills on everything from whitetails to moose!
I have other rifles and calibres, but that is my choice.



VDD Group Canada
 
hoytcanon said:
I would agree if one did not reload... but if you do 7X57 does have an edge (allbeit a small edge)... it definitely has a higher "cool quotient..." and this is coming from a dyed-in-the-wool .308 case fan.
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What are you getting with 7x57?
I have a new Tikka in 7-08. With Norma 204 I got to 2850 with 140 grain Nosler red tip boat tail. 4350 would do as well, but you would have trouble getting that much in the case.
With 130 grain Speer and 4064 I got to 2925.
I quit all the loadings before there was any sign of bolt sticking, extractor marks on the brass or any other sign of excess pressure.
Will the 7x57 do much better than that?
 
The best balance in recoil and terminal performance, my vote would be for 7-08 cause it fits in a short action. 7x57 is a great cartridge but needs a standard action. If you reload, then the 284 win has an edge over the 7x57 in a standard action, and it has a cooler factor.
 
H4831 said:
What are you getting with 7x57?
I have a new Tikka in 7-08. With Norma 204 I got to 2850 with 140 grain Nosler red tip boat tail. 4350 would do as well, but you would have trouble getting that much in the case.
With 130 grain Speer and 4064 I got to 2925.
I quit all the loadings before there was any sign of bolt sticking, extractor marks on the brass or any other sign of excess pressure.
Will the 7x57 do much better than that?
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The 7x57 does take the edge by a few feet per second, it won't make a difference on game but the fact is there for the reloader. Look at the data on real guns in a ruger #1 with 20 inch barrel it gets 2965fts with a 140gr bullet. You can also compare the 7-08 with the 7x57 on the site and the old mauser still can run faster.http://http://www.realguns.com/loads/7x57mmmauser.htm
 
For me the 6.5X55 is hard to beat in the recoil vs performance category. I used to be a pretty dyed in the wool 308 fan and still am, but the 6.5 is milder and seems to kill game just as efficiently as the 308 in my experience.

Modern load development has also enhanced the 6.5 ability to put down game as it has for every other caliber. My vote is the 6.5 as the caliber that gives a lot but asks little in return.
 
For an all around, everyone can use it and highly effective hunting round you can't go wrong anywhere between 6.5x55 and 30-06. Any bigger and they start being hard for some shooters to handle and anything smaller and they lose some effectiveness when you get into moose and elk. There's a lot of real estate between those ditches.
 
Fassteel said:
Nothing tame about 308 recoil relative to 6.5x55... FS
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I shoot 6.5X55 and .308 in similar platforms, side by side on a regular basis... maybe a recoil calculator can tell you the difference between the two, but I honestly can't tell the difference in felt recoil with max loads, 129's vs 150's.
 
I use a .308 for all my big game. The recoil is acceptable on the range. As mentioned, a kill shot in the field - no recoil is felt because of adrenaline.

I shoot the .308 on the range, but moreso as a precursor to hunting season to make sure my scope is on and I'm proficient up to my expected field ranges. SO, I don't dislike range shooting with a .308. I DO NOT like range shooting with a 300 win mag, and find it annoying for recreational plinking.

I also use a .243 for a variety of fun. That caliber is just wonderful IMO. It can be fired all day at the range even with a heavier load. There is felt-recoil, but not annoying like various other 30cals. So, it's definitely my preference for long range fun.
 
7mm Rem Mag.

It's the best of the 270/280 and the 30-06 all in one.

Trajectory of the 270/280 and the recoil of the '06.

I own and use them all, as well as the 280AI
 
hoytcanon said:
I shoot the whole .308 family in several platforms... 7mm-08 is not inferior to 7X57 and I shoot and load for both...
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hoytcanon said:
I would agree if one did not reload... but if you do 7X57 does have an edge (allbeit a small edge)... it definitely has a higher "cool quotient..." and this is coming from a dyed-in-the-wool .308 case fan.
Click to expand...


So which is it?
 
9.3mauser said:
So which is it?
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A fair question... this past fall I was displeased with my 7X57 results based on reports that I read on what others were achieving with the cartridge... I subsequently began investigating loads developed by other 7X57 fans... my load development led me to RL19 and the 150-154 weight bullets... between this and disregarding current book data for the 7X57 (lawyerized severely) and paying close attention to pressure signs, I was finally able to capitalize on the case capacity of the 7X57 and see the, all be it marginal, advantage over my 7mm-08's... if you asked me a year ago, I would say based on my experience they are neck and neck... today, I am saying that the 7X57 does have the advantage the case capacity suggests that it should. I am always working and tweaking... my opinion will be adjusted on an ongoing basis based on the actual results that I am seeing... much of my winter months are spent going over notes and data that I compiled over the previous summer and fall... so asking me for clarification now, I would choose the 7X57 over the 7-08 in some platforms... such as the Ruger No.1... however, I do like compact rifles and so, also choose the 7-08 in those... it's give and take... depends on the context... for this thread, based on the question asked, the answer for me is 7X57... if the OP had added "in a compact rifle," I would have said 7-08, and with equal conviction.
 
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