Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Most surprisingly good recoil experience

The thread about worst recoil made me think about my most pleasantly surprising experience with recoil. I have one of Melvin's rifles chambered in .340 Bee that I fully expected to kick like a mule, but it just doesn't. Sure, there is some recoil, but it's not particularly abusive and that rifle is much easier to shoot than I anticipated. I credit Melvin's stock design for a lot of that.

My first and only centerfire rifle for years was a Rem 770 in 300wm. I killed several deer with it and it was manageable in spite of the stock sucking. But the next rifle I bought was a M70 in 708 and I remember wondering "why didn't I feel it?" after firing. Now anything 280 or 06 and down is categorized as pleasant.

Most properly fitting .375’s. I’ll shoot em all day over most of the smaller stuff. Ie: .300’s, .338’s etc

I don’t want to admit it, but of my rifles, the 6.5 CM

how a rifle stock fits one just like a shotgun can make ot break felt recoil

First time on a Barrett 82. Felt like a 20 ga gas autoloader. With less vertical rise. Could not believe it.

Probably a Browning A-bolt 30-06. Very mild for an Aught Six

Heard horror stories about the recoil of a Marlin Guide Gun 45-70…..with somewhat heavy bullets pushed a bit. First experience shooting mine with 430 grain cast at 1800 fps…..proved it to be pretty much a “pussy cat”. It was a healthy “pussy cat” but, certainly not violent! 😉 memtb

Montana in 7-08.

Brother used to have a M7 in 308 that sucked out loud, was nervous this would bark.

162s have been incredibly pleasant.

My first "magnum" rifle was a Ruger 77 in .300 WM. That thing beat the living chit out of me.

Fast forward to 2015. A friend had custom 300WM in a Manners stock. It also had a SilencerCo Harvester suppressor on it. That thing was downright pleasant to shoot.

Model 70 .358 STA. I expected it to be more than it is.

My Nula 300 Win Mag was so supprised love that rifle.

I'm sensing a theme here.

Absolutely, but the stock design also matters. A Ruger boat paddle might fit like a glove, but that's a chitty design.

.17 Remington for the win!

358 win on a boat paddle 77 MKII. Every dip dip I ran into locally assured me the paddle would belt me.

The 7mm STW has suprisingly mild recoil in my opinion, considering the powder capacity.

My Kimber Montana 300WSM completely shocked me with how well it handles recoil.

Worst = 45-70 Guide gun with 405 grain slugs I hopped to 1,700fps. Books suggest I could push it to 2,400. No way. Serious kick back and one can feel it torque as well. Still have 85 rounds that need to be shot up. Then I'll drop it back down to something civil like 1,200 fps.

A 30-378 is not too bad.

Yeah my Guide Gun is brutal with the 405 at 1,600