30/06 Recoil Question

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dts686

New member
First, I would like to say thank you to all of you Art of the Rifle folks for all the help you've given me as I try to make the best decisions on my road to being a rifle shooter/hunter.

I have decided on a Weatherby Vanguard rifle. I want to get that rifle in 30/06. If I get the rifle in 30/06 can I manage the recoil enough with products like Limbsaver to shoot the rifle comfortably. When I go to the range I wouldn't want the pain of recoil to limit my shooting.

Thank you again for you knowledge and wisdom!
 
You should be fine with just the recoil pad on the Vanguard, if not maybe try the same rifle in a .270 win, it has less recoil than the 06. But to answer your first question YES, you should be fine. I have the Vanguard 7mm rem mag and its a pleasure to shoot.:) Good luck and good shooting dude!:)
 
Can you manage a Mosin-Nagant?

Lots of folks have bought lots of those Mosin-Nagant M91-30s so odds are that one of your buddies has one.
The ballistics and recoil of a 7.62X54 round are close enough to .30-06 for recoil comparison. So, if you've ever fired a Mosin-Nagant M91-30 then you have a reasonable baseline from which to decide. If not then ask your buddies to see if any of them have one.
 
Although there are going to be many posts that minimize the recoil of a 30-06, I have found shooting one from the bench, not all that pleasant. Also, was kicked black and blue from shooting an M1 Garand in basic training and using an M1 Garand in service rifle competition, even with a mushy-soft add-on recoil pad. My scores jumped with I switched to an AR-15 for service rifle competition.
Nevertheless, as mentioned, there will be many who will say that the recoil of the 30-06 is not all that bad...but I disagree in that it is not what I would call, "pleasant", where as a .243 is.
 
30.06 cartridge

I have no expierience with Weatherby rifles, but lots with the cartridge. I dont know what the overall cartridge length is but start with the bullet about .10 off the lands. Some guns like it into the lands and some off. Stick with the IMR powders for hunting. IMR4064 for the lighter bullets and IMR4350 for the heavier ones. Recoil is all relative. But, its going to kick somewhat. Nowhere near a magnum. You'll get used to it. Have fun and practice alot. Hope this helps.
 
I have a Remington ADL in 30-06. It kicks like a mule. I could stand no more than about three rounds. My Garand is a tabby cat compared to the Remington.

I put a Decelerator pad on it and that tamed it. Now no more kick than my 30-30.
 
I don't think that the recoil from a .30-06 is severe if there is any kind of reasonable recoil pad on the stock.

The reason that the M1903 Springfields and M1s seem to be severe is that they don't have recoil pads, just a steel stock back plate instead of a pad.

The M1903 to me is the worst offender because the bolt action gives your shoulder all the recoil and the stock is relatively thin. I bought a slide over recoil pad for the stock and it made quite a difference. If you have a problem, you might try one of those.

I have a new CZ 550 in .30-06 and a 2005 M70 in .270 and both have very nice pads on the stock. The .30-06 moves a bit more but it doesn't hurt. I can shoot them all day and not have any discomfort as long as I have the stocks set on my shoulder slot correctly.

I think you'll be fine.
 
I have no problem with shooting the 30-06 from the bench. I routinely shoot 20 rounds from a pre-accutrigger Savage 110 with factory butt pad when I'm out shooting this rifle. One thing that helps is making sure you have the rifle tight against your shoulder or it will kick like a mule.
 
I have a MN sporter, which as stated is similar to the 30.06, and my son has a .308, which isn't too far apart...
I find the .308 is more of a "kick" than the MN, which is more of a "shove" to me...

A lot of variables, including the stock/weight, and how you shoulder the rifle. I put a Limbsaver grind-to-fit on my MN, and have no problem sending 100 rounds downrange in a day.

This should help:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm
 
A 30.06 rifle of average weight with a decent recoil pad will not be bad as far as recoil. Shoot one (model 700 adl, wood stock, like my first center fire rifle) without a recoil pad and after about 10 to 20 shots at the bench you start to feel some discomfort.
 
06 recoil

I have a Weatherby Mark V 30-06 and the recoil isn't bad at all. My hunting buddy has a Remington Mtn Rifle (700 BDL lightweight) It is unpleasant to shoot. I also have a Ruger lightweight bolt action .308. It only weighs 5.75 lbs and the recoil is similar to my Weatherby. I have no explaination as to why Larry's Remington has more felt recoil (stock design?) That thing is a shoulder bruiser! The weight difference between our 06's is negligable. One thing is that his recoil pad, the one that came with it is about as soft as a hocky puck but it's more than just the pad.
 
A big factor in perceived recoil is the fit of the rifle. Make sure the length of pull is reasonable for you. Sometimes adding the slip on pads can increase the length of pull sufficiently that it seems to make the recoil worse.
 
Don't automatically dismiss the idea of reduced recoil ammunition. The 180 grain bullet is worse than a 150. a 125 will be lower still. Unless you are shooting at extended ranges, a 125 grain bullet will perform well on deer sized game; it's only flaw is slightly worse ballistics.

you would almost without a doubt get better performance out of a 270 with 125 grain bullets, but that is irrelevant.

If you handload, you can even take the 125 grain loads into reduced velocity ranges for range practice, and lessen recoil still more.

In general: Lighter bullets, slower powders, and reduced charges diminish felt recoil. That is the science of it.
 
If you plan to go hunting with your Weatherby, consider putting on your jacket that you would be wearing while hunting (or a similar weight jacket). This will decrease the recoil somewhat and also make your practice shooting position closer to your "work day" shooting position.
My 2 c.
 
I've never noticed '06 recoil in the field. Part of it's the body position, some of it's adrenalin. :)

At the bench, one helpful trick is to interpose a small sandbag between the buttpad and my shoulder. That spreads the impact over a wider area of my shoulder and adds weight against recoil. Length of pull is less critical at the bench.
 
Felt recoil is a result of several factors... Caliber, bullet weight, weight of rifle, design of stock, FIT of stock to shooter, type of recoil pad.

A really good example of that would be my Mosin-Nagant. It's an M44, the shorter one, and I've taken all the "extra" wood and bayonet off it. It is now a fairly short, light rifle, with an incredibly poorly designed stock. The stock was designed to be used to "butt stroke" the enemy if necessary, not to be comfortable to shoot. It is just slightly less powerful than the '06, but the felt recoil from it is considerably worse than the Interarms Mk X that I used to own in that caliber. I could comfortably shoot 20-30 rounds in one session, with it, but I'm pretty tired of the recoil of the Mosin after about 10-15 rounds.

As someone else mentioned, if the Weatherby is a little too unpleasant to shoot as-is, you could put a Limbsaver recoil pad on it, or a Pachmayr De-celerator. Either of those would probably take MOST of the felt recoil out of it.
The '06 is not a punishing rifle, if you have it set up correctly.
 
I've had mine so long now I'm not even sure if they still make them, but my PAST Recoil Shield (straps on over clothes) tames even the .416 Remington Magnum for 12-15 shots at the bench (the worst of all positions for feeling recoil). It makes a 30-06 almost unnoticeable, even over 40+ rounds.

It is about 3/4" thick, so when I do load development in the summer wearing a t-shirt, it makes the LOP about the same as wearing a winter coat over a flannel shirt and long underwear. I do not wear it hunting, as I don't notice the recoil due to the excitement of the hunt along with normal field shooting positions.

It does pretty much the same thing that Art mentioned with the sand bag, except you don't have to reposition it all the time as you are wearing it securely.

Don't forget good hearing protection as well, as believe it or not, less noise helps perceived recoil. I wear the soft foam plugs under a muff style hearing protector.
 
Dts686:

When boot camp Marines were qualifying with the M1 or the M14, most were shooting a large caliber rifle for the first timed. With the exception of about four Marine the whole platoon qualified at least marksman, and five or six qualified expert. I think that most people can handle 30/06 class rifles with little or no problems.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
Recoil (in a 30-06) can be reduced by proper shooting positions.

I'm a CMP GSM MI and when I conduct clinics this topic always comes up.

We're not talking about hunting rifles with recoil pads, we're talking about US Military Surplus Rifles such as the 1903s 1917 Enfields and M1 Garands. These rifles have steal butt plates seem to kick.............that is until you work your posiition a bit.

I ran into the same problems coaching ladies and M14s when I was coaching for the National Guard Rifle team.

A solid postition, using the sling, can reduce felt recoil. Tight into your shoulder eliminates being "wacked", you non-shooting arm rapped in the sling also helps absorb the energy from recoil before it gets to your shoulder.
 
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