The recoil and blast are not that bad. When I first started I only did about 25-30 rounds on the bench. But for bench work i now use a PAST shoulder pad and did about 60 rounds last time. To give some perspective, I'm 6'2", weigh 180 (OK, 190
) I shoot IPSC and go through a lot of major power rounds a year plus lots of slugs and a couple thousand centerfire rifle a year ( mostly 7:62 x 39) so muzzle blast is not an issue- I did however wear both headset and inner protectors. I got no beefs form other people at the range when I was shooting it but othey were all experienced shooters)
Recoil - its more like a heavy push than a snap you have to make sure you pull it back snug into your shoulder pocket and put some downward pressure on the foreend it likes to jump. I got lazy once and let the stock slide onto my arm and got a bruise but that would have happened with an '06.
Practicing from field positions sitting kneeling standing etc it's a dream & i can shoot it all day. no milk jug is safe out to 200 yards from the field positions. I'm running a leupold scout scope (heavy duplex) in quick detach rings but for load development I used a Burris 3X9 mounted on the rear position.
I changed the trigger to a Timney which breaks at around 2 1/2 pounds. The factory one is OK but is not adjustable & runs about 6 pounds, which to my mind makes load development in particular difficult to do. that's a personal choice others prefer to have a little more weight which can be done if tou leave the original ruger trigger spring in.
Mty best load - appears safe in my rifle but may not be in others - which is a bit below max was 66 grains of RL19 in a winchester case and a Winchester regular primer pushing a 180 Grain speer Grand slam which gave me 3 shot groups between 0.2 and 0.3 inches at 100 yards -off the bench, no wind. velocity was around 2735 FPS with not much variation. So i figure I get the same velocity as a 30:06 with a regular (24 inch)- barrel, and 5 shot groups should still be under 1" at 100 yards. - which gives me a feeling of confidence, although of course it's not intended for benchrest competition.
the gun carries like a dream
. i hiked the bush for a week with it & hardly realized it was there. none of the hanging up on branches and swinging weight that i had the year before with my 26 inch barreled Ruger 77.
