Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What rifle soaks up the most 300 WM recoil?

I freely admit I’m a recoil wuss. I’m on my second 300 with a brake, a Tikka. The rifle shoots awesome, but I just don’t like the percussion that comes of the brake.

I’m willing to add some weight in exchange for less recoil. I once had a Weatherby Vanguard 2 in 7 RM that seemed to tame the recoil pretty good. My first was a Win EW that I found the recoil to be too harsh so I put the brake on.

Any thoughts?

One thing to be aware of is that felt recoil is influenced by stock fit and by stock design. A stock that fits well will produce less felt recoil. And certain stock designs, even when well fitting, will increase felt recoil.

Which design is best for you, and what fits you is very personal. If your serious about reducing felt recoil, a visit to a rifle-stock fitter is worth the expense. Even if you don't get a custom made stock for you, knowing what works and what doesn't, will help you choose a factory stock that is best for you.

JMHO

One thought would be considering the actual need for a 300 magnum.

What brand of brake are you using?

One, in a practical sense for the vast majority of hunting, a .308 will do most everything you likely need, without the recoil and you won’t need a brake. Second, stock design! You want little to no drop at the heel and a negative forward cant to the comb. I think some palm swell helps too. Forget about light rifles also. If you must have a magnum, you want 7.5-8# to the gun minimum.

.................................Everything has trade offs and some compromising. For starters, why not just try a $20-$25 slip on/slip off recoil pad for some more recoil absorption? Without using the brake maybe your recoil pad on the Tikka is not quite absorbing enough felt recoil?............Try a slip on without using the brake and see how she feels...........I use a Limbsaver slip on for my 'lil 300 WSM Ruger Frontier compact........Does a good job.

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Find a smith who fits stocks. As an example, I had a post 64 M70 in 30-06 that weighed about 9 1/4 lbs. I replaced it with a M700 30-06 with a stock that was fit for me that weighs 7 1/4 lbs. With the same 180gr load clocking 2800fps the lighter rifle has far less felt recoil. When I got my 375 H&H I took it to my smith and had him duplicate the dimensions of the 30-06. The difference between the factory stock and the custom fit is night and day.

I have a beater 300 WM, older Savage 111, the LH version of the old 110. The stock has been painted with truck bed liner & krylon.
The felt recoil was terrible, I shortened the stock and put on a fairly thick shotgun recoil pad. Good enough now.

Senderos are nice, heavy, not a walk about type rifle.

I’ll be different and recommend practicing with the brake more. I really didn’t like brakes until I put one on a 22-250 so I could spot the hits on prairie dogs though scope. The percussion from the brake bothered me and I didn’t like using it. Now several tens of thousands of rounds later it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s all in practice and getting used to it.

Nothing will tame the recoil like a brake and once you get used to them you don’t notice them.

The simple answer is to provide more rifle weight. The other alternative is to shoot a much more shoulder friendly cartridge.

Well, to answer the title to the thread, of the over a dozen 300 Win mags I've owned, for some reason, the Cooper model 52 soaks up recoil better than any I've owned. Maybe it's stock fit. Who knows? I do know two things OP. You are shooting a very lightweight rifle to be shooting a 300 Win mag and, all else being equal, weight is your friend when it comes to recoil.

The heaviest.

Just step down to a 7mm Remington Mag and enjoy shooting your rifle instead of dreading the recoil.

There are no flies on the 7mm Rem Mag.

Have you considered a suppressor?

Sendero and similar work well w/o a brake. I like the brakes that have three big perpendicular holes in them. Have never noticed the blast when behind the rifle. I had one put on a Mod 700 Classic ( its sorta heavy by itself) and it was a sweetherat. My recent Kimber 8400 300 WSM feels like a 30-06, with no brake. I have a very light Kimber 84L classic in 270 that is also a kitten to shoot w/o a brake. Since I like to walk around and Still-Hunt I like the light rifles. If I was to sit in a Box Stand in Texas, the heavier the better and at least a 4.5x14 something scope!

As others have said, weight is your friend in that cartridge. Stock fit also plays a big role. I've owned a couple of 300WMs but I no longer own them. The first was an older 700 BDL Deluxe. It wasn't fun to shoot for me, but it wasn't terrible. The second was a Browning BAR. Even though it was heavier than the 700, and had the added benefit of the gas recoil system, it was almost painful for me to shoot. It quickly went down the road.

Look into a .308

Exactly.

Or 30-06, 280 Rem/AI, 270, 7mm-08, etc. Why punish yourself with recoil when going down in cartridge will provide the same terminal and ballistic performance bundled in lighter/compact rifle platform, with an added round in the magazine. I personally despise brakes for the noise and will never consider them as an option. Other folks have no issue with them.

Good luck!