low recoil 30/06 rounds (aka pussy bullets), do they exist?

Recoil is proportionate to the weight of the bullet AND THE WEIGHT OF THE POWDER shot down the barrel. A 180 grain bullet and 50 gr of powder is 230 gr shot out the muzzle.

A 125 grain bullet and 30 gr of 4198 is only 155 gr out the muzzle. Less kick.
 
Recoil is proportionate to the weight of the bullet AND THE WEIGHT OF THE POWDER shot down the barrel. A 180 grain bullet and 50 gr of powder is 230 gr shot out the muzzle.

A 125 grain bullet and 30 gr of 4198 is only 155 gr out the muzzle. Less kick.

gotcha;)

thanks for the suggestions!
 
I just finished putting a hunting rifle together so my funds are a bit too low to start on a target platform just yet which is why i'd like to play around with my 30/06 for now. I've been using 165-180 grain winchesters so far but my nerves are shot after firing 30-40 rounds:redface:

So is there such a thing as a low-recoiling 06 round? I read that they can vary from 55 to 200gr, would a lighter bullets have lighter recoil?

Shooting a standard hunting-weight rifle is *much* more punishing than shooting a target rifle that weighs twice as much. And a super light .308 or .30-06 can be a seriously intimidating rig.

Here's another way you can greatly reduce the recoil of your hunting rifle. If it has a composite or plastic stock, it may well have a hollow butt. Tap on the side, and if it sounds hollow, it almost certainly is.

Remove (unscrew) the buttplate and/or butt pad. On some stocks this reveals the large empty space. On other stocks, you can drill a 1/2" or 5/8" hole. Fill the butt with lead shot, or cast pistol bullets, etc. Then replace your buttplate and butt pad.

You'll now have a rifle that will weight 3-5 pounds more, and its balance will be comicly horrible (it might balance around the trigger ;-). But it will be a complete pussycat to shoot. You can shoot, test, and practice with full power hunting and target ammo, and learn to shoot your rifle very, very well.

If and when you want to make your rifle light again, just remove the weights you added.
 
Problem with going ultra light bullets is the liklihood that the twist of your barrel will be too tight. Re-loading your own and finding a manageable lower speed node is the only real answer.

I wish all those people looking to buy a 300 WM/WSM as their first "precision rifle" would read this and take note. a 30-06 has less recoil than a 300 and it is still a thumper in a light gun...


I wish I had read that a couple months ago. I recently bought a 5R in 308 as my first rifle and the only thing I'm learning is how to flinch. I'm going to put it in the safe for a while and get a Savage 12 or 700P in 223.
 
Thats good to know, is it because the powder charge is reduced along with the weight of the bullet? sorry for the noob questions... i'm a centerfire amateur.

I bought a limbsaver recoil pad which does help at first but makes no difference after an hour of shooting.
Really? I put a limbsaver on my .303 and it was night and day difference. I can shoot that thing all day without blinking.

Is there really any point to shooting "wussy rounds"? All you'd really be doing is turning money into noise... is it really possible to get good accuracy with a massively under powered load? With the shoulder angle on 30-06 and other factors I wouldn't think you'd get very good accuracy at low power.
I wish I had read that a couple months ago. I recently bought a 5R in 308 as my first rifle and the only thing I'm learning is how to flinch. I'm going to put it in the safe for a while and get a Savage 12 or 700P in 223.
If the pad on your 5R is anything like the one on my XCR (I wouldn't be surprised to find it's the same stock), it blows.... WAY too hard. I dunno if they have glued it on or what but I want to put a limbsaver on. That said, I can put 50rnds down range and I find my flinch is going away. I'm getting used to the .308 recoil.
 
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BeerDrinker,

Ganderite makes the point well in answer to your question near the bottom of the first page of this thread. One extra little point about the contribution of the powder to the recoil: grain for grain, powder contributes more to recoil, because the average velocity of the gases exiting the barrel is even higher than the projective velocity. If I remember right, the amount by which the velocity of the gases exceeds the bullet velocity is lower too for reduced recoil load recipes, so between bullet, powder and gas velocity, there are three forces acting at once to reduce recoil when you back off on both the bullet and the powder.

RG

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Obtunded
Problem with going ultra light bullets is the liklihood that the twist of your barrel will be too tight. Re-loading your own and finding a manageable lower speed node is the only real answer.

I wish all those people looking to buy a 300 WM/WSM as their first "precision rifle" would read this and take note. a 30-06 has less recoil than a 300 and it is still a thumper in a light gun...

I wish I had read that a couple months ago. I recently bought a 5R in 308 as my first rifle and the only thing I'm learning is how to flinch. I'm going to put it in the safe for a while and get a Savage 12 or 700P in 223

Good advice there... A good quality 22 lr would be the best rifle to start with, but no one ever does.
 
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