younggun308

I've heard that it recoils less than a .338 Win. Mag., if that's true, then what does it recoil like? A 30-06, or more?

Pighunter56

the .338 Federal has about 24 or 25 ft lbs of recoil, so, a litte worse than the 30-06.

MinnFinn

For whitetail deer for 200 yds or under, I'd take .30-06 anytime. For Elk, which you may be taking shots out to 300+ yds, I'd recommend .300 WM or one of that family of calibers. It's going to shot flatter and with the .30 slug in a variety of types (e.g. Accubond, Failsafe, etc.) you'll get excellent penetration and expansion through boken and vitals.

Cryptic Gypsy

I would rather have a 308 and 30-06 combination myself. If you are set on the 7mm combo I would go for the 7-08 and 280. I am not a fan of magnums myself, aside from the 44remmag. A reloader can do wonders with the 30-06.

A11en

I've been shooting a .243 and .30-06 for many years. If you exclude brown bears, the .30-06 is adequate for all North American game. While the .270 and .280 can take an elk, most of the experts will tell you a .30 cal is preferred for elk sized game. Have plenty of experience with the 06, I would highly recommend it.

This spring I bought a .300 WSM (Stainless Model 700). The new R3 recoil pad makes it a pleasure to shoot. It kicks harder than the .30-06, but not as hard as the 12 gauge with 3.5 inch mags. The .300 WSM has the best of both worlds. The same .30 cal bullet as a .30-06 but with better trajectory than the 7mm mag and more power than both the .30-06 and the 7mm mag.

Dubbya

I have a 300 win mag, a .243, and a 280 Rem. The .280 may be my favorite gun, you can load up to 170gr bullets or as low as 125 I believe. The gun is pretty flat shooting and the recoil isn't bad at all, it's plenty big enough to handle all the hooved animals in North America. I like my 300 as well but I'd rather tote the 280 around for sure.

dr. bullseye

To be honest, I don't believe that I have ever shot a larger caliber rifle that had a decent recoil pad on it. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do that in the near future so that I could go with the .300win mag because that's what I think I would like for the elk/moose/caribou gun. Thanks for all the advice and comments.

James B

Get a good 280. Its the only rifle you would ever really need in North America.

ShatoDavis

Ditto, Great Minds think alike!

tschaef

I like my 308 so much that when I wanted another big game gun in a different action I bought another 308. The recoil is tolerable, and its fine for moose or elk, just pass on the mile long shots.