30-06 vs. 7mm Rem Mag felt recoil

The 7 mag kicks a lot harder in my bolt guns!

 

To me, 7mm mag has a different kind of recoil. A usual rifle kick is more sharp, but to me a 7mm mag kicks about like a shotgun. It is more of a push than a jarring feeling. It's definitely a more noticeable kick, but not terrible. It does tend to give me a headache after 10-15 shots though!

 

There are two ways to minimize the recoil of the 7mm Mag that come to mind.

The first is one of the recoil pads made from space age Sorbene rubber like Kickeze or Pachmayr Decelerator Recoil Pad. They only fit well when they are ground to fit the stock. It is a task better left to a gunsmith. There are slip on versions too as well as a strap on shoulder pad made of the the same rubber (by Past).

Second would be getting a semi-auto gun like the Browning BAR. Mine does not kick all that much more, if any more, than a 30-06 bolt gun.

Having said all that, I have a 7mm BAR and would not agin buy any high power belted case gun. If you are a reloader then 7mm Mag is tough on cases. If you reload in a regular manner you may only get a couple of reloads out of a case before you get a head separation right above the belt. Most 7mm chamber are cut with a generous amount of room for the shoulder of the case as the case head spaces on the belt not the shoulder as do all beltless rimless cases. When fired the shoulder moves forward stretching at the junction of the belt and the case body with the eventual head separation if you are not on top of case inspection after every firing. Belted cases for a reloader are a pain. The solution is to adjust the sizing die to not move the shoulder back during sizing or at least not more than a few thousandths. If you only shoot commercial ammo none of this is a problem as you'll throw the cases away (or recycle the brass).

LDBennett

 

i can shoot my BAR in 7 mag all day long and think nothing of it
now my remington 760 in 06, after about 10 shots i have had enough

 

Have two Ruger M77's, one on 30-06 and the other with 7MM Rem Mag. Both are fun to shoot but the 7 has more of a punch. A box of shells is plenty for one session but the accuracy of the guns makes me ignore it till after the guns are put away. I consider it noticeable but not objectionable. I may not be a good objective observer though since I find my 300 Wby and my 10 gauge fun to shoot too.

 

Ballistically (at least to 300 yards or so) the 30-06 in a comparable bullet weight is very similar. I have two 7mm rem mags--a #1 and an A-bolt--and they feel, to me, just like an -06.

As to case life; a competent handloader can get up to 10 reloads from brass handled properly. I have yet to have a case separation in my Browning 7mm rem mag. The #1 suffers from a common failing in that platform that requires it to be neck sized, which gives me as many reloads out of the brass as my Browning. The belt is an anachronism and is really not necessary anymore, but there it is.

 

Chuck Hawks....

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

 

The only 7mm Mag I have is a Browning BAR and with full length sizing it gets head separations after a couple of reloads if I don't catch that the case is stretching. I now size the cases to allow the case to try to headspace on the shoulder or nearly so, to minimize the case stretching and the case head separations.

The belt is necessary IF the gun is set up (and the industry standards say it would be) to head space on the belt. If the belt were not there then and the chamber were done per the standard then the case might seat too far into the chamber and stop on the shoulder, making it hard to get the firing pin to get a good strike. Until the industry removes the belt and starts head spacing on the shoulder, the belt is necessary. The new cartridge and chamber would no longer be 7mm Mag but re-named something else.

The history of the belt comes along with much older cartridges that had very shallow shoulders or none at all and those shoulders were inadequate to hold the case in place when the firing pin hit the primer. Because rimed cases are hard to feed without the rims colliding in the magazine a rimless solution was thought necessary. Hence the belt on a rimless case. There also was a bit of advertising hype since the belt made a case look stronger as did the Magnum names.

A modern large capacity case does not need the belt and some don't have it. Those that don't have a belt have a pronounced shoulders for head spacing rather than the earlier design shallow angle shoulders used over a century ago.

Indeed the fix for reloader is easy as I explained earlier if you: know you need it and know how to adjust the sizing die to achieve it. So it is worth mentioning for reloaders. When adjusted for a shoulder head spacing, the case failure mode is burned through necks, eventually.

LDBennett

 

I agree with Chuck Hawks, as the table shows the two are very comparable overall.
As a shooter of the .338 W.M. and being of smaller stature (5'9" and 165#), I personally believe MOST 'felt' recoil is in the shooters head.
To me, the recoil of the '06 is nothing, quite pleasant in fact.

 

I think the difference I feel may be somewhat explained by my use of 150 gr bullets in the 30-06 and 175 gr bullets in the 7MM mag. Those just happen to be the accuracy bullets for those two guns.

 

As far as Bolt Rifles, I have both, the .30-06 and the 7mm MAG and shoot in both the 150 grain lead. Both rifles are about the same weight and the 7mm Mag has the most "felt" recoil.

 

I believe the physics involving the bullet weight and velocity as well as the stock design to be the deterining factors in perceived recoil. A good stock design tames alot of recoil.

 

And stock design. If you hate a 7mm RM you will not be found of the 06 ether. 5% difference in recoil between most rifles. Like the difference between like weight 308 and 06.