Tikka t3x recoil

[Archer_32]

Looking for a new rifle now that we moved to Montana. I've been tossing around the idea of getting a 30-06 or 300 win mag in the tikka t3x but worried about recoil with the 300. I shot a 300 win mag that weighed about a pound or pound and a half more than the tikka would fully outfitted and found it not as punishing as I thought it might be. My question is, how much would that pound or pound and a half lighter rifle do for recoil? Enough that I should just go with the 30-06? I'll be hunting everything from deer to elk with hopefully a future moose hunt. I don't have the money for both and the mrs. said this is my only rifle purchase for a while. Any help would be appreciated!

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[vonb]

That’s a subjective question. How much repeated shooting will you be performing? A pound and a half can tame recoil to allow for more repeated shots. However, being subjected to repeated recoil will wear you down and inside flinching and other bad habits. Either will work for your needs. Ammunition is more expensive for the mag.

 

[archp625]

The weight/rifle does have impact on the recoil along with bullet weight and charge. Its not going to be fun to shoot a ton for target practicing. It you want it for a hunting rifle that's light weight get it. You will love it. Tikkas are awesome and accurate. I will also throw in there that the price of factory 300 Win Mag ammo will keep you from shooting it a ton too.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I own tikka in 6.5 and 308 and shot a borrowed 300 wm for a while to compare it against my remmy 300 which weighs a pound more. The tikka is a light 300. Expect some bite. Adding a limb saver recoil pad can help but it is still a powerful round from a light gun. It will never be as nice to shoot as a smaller round or the same round from a gun with more mass.

3006 is cheaper to shoot and softer. Probably plenty of round for a moose by most estimations. If I had only one bolt gun to hunt everything it would probably be a 3006. Depending on your length of shots the 250-400 extra FPS of the magnum may be worth putting up with the extra costs and recoil.

For me, you are going to carry a hunting rifle a lot more than you shoot it. 1-2 shots a year while hunting. A Few rounds to check zero and whatever practice you do. For most I bet that is far less than 100 rounds a year. For many, probably less than 20 if that, so you are not going to shoot it too much. Presuming it is capable to your desired max range then I would prefer a lighter gun over a heavier one and I will put up with recoil.

FWIW, if I didn’t already own the Remington I would have bought that tikka 300 from my buddy. It wasn’t pleasant to shoot but it is a heck of a gun for the $$$.

 

[Spoonman]

A 300 win mag shooting 180’s at say 2950fps with a rifle weight of 7lbs(Tikka) will produce about 36-37lbs of recoil energy. A 9lb rifle will produce about 27-28lbs of recoil energy. That being said its all up the the shooter on what you can handle and shoot accurately. Also stock design has something to do with the way recoil is felt.

 

[wyosam]

30-06 (or .270, .280, many of the .264s...) are more than capable of taking any game in the lower 48. Get something you are going to shoot well, which means something you will practice with.


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[Motown]

I don't know if you are set on a 30 cal but you might also want to consider the 7mag. The recoil is just a tad more than the 30-06 and substantially less than the 300win. You can shoot the 140's for deer and load up to 160's for Elk & Moose. Sound like it might be the perfect compromise for what you are looking for.

 

[Kenn]

I am turning my T3 into a 6.5 PRC just because of the recoil of the .300. Great caliber but the older I got the more I feared it. If you get it be sure you have plenty of eye relief on your scope. A Bell and Carlson stock tamed it a bit with a little extra weight and a wider butt, but I still hated shooting it.

 

[Archer_32]

Thanks for the replies everyone! This will be a hunting rifle and I do plan to shoot it as such; antelope, deer, black bear, and elk are possibilities here. 100 shots a year is probably a good estimate. I know the 30-06 will do 80% of my hunting needs but hunting out here is vastly different than Ohio so normally I would say 300 yards would be max shot but I'd like to be able to go a touch further if needed (after building the confidence to do so obviously). Plus, if I ever had the chance to go on a dream hunt (moose or bighorn) I'd like the extra performance of the 300wm.

I shot 20 shots with the ~8.5lbs 300wm savage 116 and felt a little sore but nothing to induce flinch but as I said that tikka would be 1-1.5 lbs lighter so I worry about recoil being too much. I already have a 308 r700 but it is a heavy gun (bull barrel and such) mostly for coyote so then if I start leaning towards the 30-06 I wonder if there is enough of a performance improvement between the 30-06 and the 308 which then makes me consider the 300wm again lol.

I've called every gun rental place in this state and no one has a 300wm let alone a tikka 300wm for me to try out. If I'm going to spend the money, and I can only get one right now, I want to spend wisely.

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[wilydawg]

If you're worried about recoil you could always add a muzzle brake...

 

[Archer_32]

Muzzle break isn't an option for me, nothing against them I just don't care for them. I do see their merits however.

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[Desk Jockey]

Lots of good input above.

My Final $0.02 - you can add weight to a light rifle to make it more shootable. Heavier scope. Bipod. Weight (like lead, cast or expoyed) attached to a bipod stud or in the forearm and buttstock. It’s a lot harder and expensive to make a heavy gun lighter to carry.

 

[Howard Mee]

I live here in MT as well. I’ve used most common calibers on our deer. I recently went to a lighter rifle. I went with a 6.5 because if the recoil issue. One day I went out to shoot my 30.06 and .270 and realized I had a bad case of target panic. I’m a good sized guy. It wasn’t a “pain” issue, it was some weird metal thing. Dry fire drills and switching to the 6.5 helped. No issues this year. I don’t think you’ll regret either choice, but if recoil is a legit issue, I chose to drop down in caliber.


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[lyle_destroys]

I'm a fan of having more gun than people think you need. Sure you can kill an elk with a 243 but a 300 will get it more dead lol. I have the 300wsm t3x and put a limbsaver on it. Shooting stout reloads it definitely bucks but I only shoot 3-5 at a time then take a break for the rifle to cool and check groups. The limbsaver made a huge difference in recoil, not so sharp more of a big push.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I've got both a tikka 300 wm and a tikka 7-08. I thought the 300 was going to be a monster to shoot, but with a limbsaver pad its really not bad at all. I do notice that after about 15-18 rounds I have to really bear down and pay attention to my trigger squezze. I've shot 30 rounds at the bench in a day and didnt too much soreness the next day. I am going to put a brake on it though, more for the muzzle jump than the recoil, but the recoil reduction isnt a bummer. The 7-08 is definetely a lot more pleasant to shoot for sure but I end up with my 300 for most hunts because I just have more confidence in the rifle. It really comes down to how much recoil you can handle, the 300 might be a bit much in a 7.5 pound gun. I like the post above suggesting a 7 rem mag, that could be a good option. Good luck and let us know whatever you get.

 

[16Bore]

270 or 30-06. 30-06 is all the punch I want from a 7# package.

 

[howl]

Recoil tolerance for game shooting is a mind game. If you're already thinking about it, don't go there. Whatever your comfortable max is, is what it is. So what is it? Are you used to printing groups with slug guns? Those kick at 300 mag level.

 

[Archer_32]

Recoil tolerance for game shooting is a mind game. If you're already thinking about it, don't go there. Whatever your comfortable max is, is what it is. So what is it? Are you used to printing groups with slug guns? Those kick at 300 mag level.

Lol, I fully expected to quickly remember the glory days of bench shooting the single shot 12ga sluggers I grew up on but I felt the 8.5# 300wm was way more tolerable when I shot it a few weeks ago. The real kicker is what that recoil will feel like out of a 7ish# gun versus 8.5#.

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[RazAlGhoul]

I have a T3 lite in 223, very nice rifle to shoot, very accurate, 1/2" groups at 100 yds , nice adjustable trigger. I didnt care for the synthetic stock so I put a boyds on mine.

 

[MrTim]

I have t3x superlight in 7RM. 7lbs with scope, unloaded, limbsaver recoil pad. Recoil is not bad shooting off the bench. However, if I went to 300wm I would want my setup to be closer to 7.5lbs total weight.