My .308 hurts my tender body/wallet. Suggestions?
- Thread starter themarauder
- Start date
i had the same problem with my .308 but it does get better once you shoulder heals it gets stronger. my 308 is a stevens and is only 6.5lbs and kicks harder than the same gun in a 7mm mag that i shot with a heavier stock. my first time out my shoulder was sore for a week, by the third time it was just slightly sore just for the next day, this is after about 50 rounds. before you spend any money just give it some more time im sure your shoulder will get stronger.
Before you go about throwing money at the problem, consider technique... The first rifle I ever shot was my friend's late father's Savage 99C in .308. I hated the recoil at first - I honestly thought it would be a turn off to rifle shooting in general because it was unsettling. Instead of looking for what gadget I could get to fix it, I just revised my technique and it did the trick; before long, I was shooting .303's with metal bullplates and 300 Win. Mag's without issue, and I'm no superman.
All I did was to make sure that the butt was very snug against the shoulder, kind of like a cheek weld, and that my shoulder was very relaxed and would absorb some of the recoil. That's all there is to it.
Give it a shot, then try the "accessories".
All I did was to make sure that the butt was very snug against the shoulder, kind of like a cheek weld, and that my shoulder was very relaxed and would absorb some of the recoil. That's all there is to it.
Give it a shot, then try the "accessories".
- Location
- Sudbury, On
Spot on redman. I'll add, a good "trick" is trying to mimick recoil. That is, when you're holding the butt of the rifle in your shoulder, try "ramming" it backwards. If you feel even a slight tinge of pain, it'll be supremely amplified with the gun being fired, even more so with a lightweight rifle.
I shoot a 308 target rifle from a bench wehn testing ammo. Sometimes I shoot 200 roudsn in one sitting. All I wear is a T shirt. No bruises. Nothing uncomfortable. From this i conclude 308 does not generate enough kick to hurt.
But when I took the muzzle brake of my wifes IA in 308 (a heavy rifle. About 12 pounds, i think) she complained about how much it licked and had big bruises to prove it.
From this I conclude that felt recoil has a lot to do with how you hold the rifle.
becasue wife can't usea brake in ORA competiotion, i got her the PAST strap on pad. This solved the problem for her. That is a solution to half your problem.
As for the cost of ammo, look at this way. When you are shooting, your are not sailing or golfing. Think of all the money you are saving.
You can lower costs dramatically by handloading. The Sierra 155 and the Sierra 175 are forgining bullets to load and a good palce to start. One of your shooting buddies must load, right? Buy a couple boxes of bullets, a case of beer, a pound of powder (RL15, VArget, 4895, WW748) and spend an evening re-laoding your own brass. Good fun and a fraction of the cost for better ammo.
But when I took the muzzle brake of my wifes IA in 308 (a heavy rifle. About 12 pounds, i think) she complained about how much it licked and had big bruises to prove it.
From this I conclude that felt recoil has a lot to do with how you hold the rifle.
becasue wife can't usea brake in ORA competiotion, i got her the PAST strap on pad. This solved the problem for her. That is a solution to half your problem.
As for the cost of ammo, look at this way. When you are shooting, your are not sailing or golfing. Think of all the money you are saving.
You can lower costs dramatically by handloading. The Sierra 155 and the Sierra 175 are forgining bullets to load and a good palce to start. One of your shooting buddies must load, right? Buy a couple boxes of bullets, a case of beer, a pound of powder (RL15, VArget, 4895, WW748) and spend an evening re-laoding your own brass. Good fun and a fraction of the cost for better ammo.
X2 a Past or muzzle loader shoulder pad will make a world of difference. If you don't get the pain issue resolved you will develop a nasty flinch. As for the cost, get into reloading.
Brian
Length of pull on the stock also makes a huge difference. If the stock is too long for you, it'll feel like substantially more recoil. Being average height I can shoot a .308 in a standard 13 1/2 LOP all day. No bruises. When I tried a buddies with a longer LOP the rifle jumped substantial more and I was worried about getting an "idot mark" from the scope. The felt recoil was more noticeable. Not bad but more. If your technique is off and the length is too long this would make shooting the rifle very unpleasant.
My 700P groups with 'factory match' around .6 (Hornady,'tap', Speer) and .4 with 180 gr fed fusion for 25.00 @ box
I sighted in my 5R milspec with 165 fusion. 3/4 moa at 100 yards and only 1 click low compared to my Federal Gold 168 match ammo. It was a pleasant surprise. Looks like I'll have to give the 180 grain a try too
- Location
- Virden, MB
Eat more Wheaties.
You'll be a little more regular too.
When I first took the stock off of my SPS-Varmint in .308 (had a nice R3 recoil pad on it) and put on a 700P take off... I found it beat on me pretty hard shooting prone off of a bipod. Since then I've worked on my position a fair amount and preload the bipod a bit more and its not nearly as bad as it was. I'm still getting a little tender by the time I've fired 25 rounds or so, but nowhere near as bad as when I first put it on. No bruising worth mentioning.
I would tend to agree with some of the suggestions to work on position and pull it into your shoulder a little harder. If you can't make that work a little better... go for a nice squishy recoil pad, a shoulder pad/shooting jacket or a smaller caliber (.223 etc).
I would tend to agree with some of the suggestions to work on position and pull it into your shoulder a little harder. If you can't make that work a little better... go for a nice squishy recoil pad, a shoulder pad/shooting jacket or a smaller caliber (.223 etc).
lineofsight
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland, BC
Put on a recoil pad, world of difference - however - check your length of pull as the pad will increase it if you dont cut length off the stock to compensate.
Try different techniques - find my groups, ability to spot my own hits, and recoil all improved dramatically with a firmer hold against the shoulder.
Muzzle break last resort, and really shouldnt be necessary for .308. I used to like the idea of the muzzle break but now find it adds unpleasantness to the shooting environment.
Try different techniques - find my groups, ability to spot my own hits, and recoil all improved dramatically with a firmer hold against the shoulder.
Muzzle break last resort, and really shouldnt be necessary for .308. I used to like the idea of the muzzle break but now find it adds unpleasantness to the shooting environment.
Funny you should mention that... I have a TR style shooting jacket, and at the Farky I found that around the 45th shot, my shoulder was starting to hurt. Next day, we only shot 2 strings, but it was starting to hurt around the second string. Last night I took out some of the stitches that hold the rubber shoulder "grip" (it's not really a pad, just meant to keep the butt from slipping while reducing wear and tear on the jacket), cut a piece of that blue camping type foam, slipped it in and re-stitched it. The whole thing took about an hour, and I was surprised to see how little padding there was originally, and how low on the shoulder it sat. I'm looking forward to trying it out at the "Running Of The V-Bulls" at the end of October.
