1970Ranger

I have an M77 All-Weather in .30-06and found that it kicks less than a buddies Savage '06 with a walnut stock. I wouldn't trade in your gun for another because you'll end up losing money. I didn't see what grain bullet you were shooting but go for the lightest possible. There is no need for a heavy bullet in a 7 mag or .30-06 or .308, etc. for whitetails. I used to shoot 180 gr. bullets out of my '06 but got sick of getting smacked by the scope after few time when I wasn't holding my head just right (my fault completely). I switched to the 150's and that cured my problem, and they are flatter shooting than the heavy bullets and much more forgiving when it comes to eye relief and recoil. A light bullet will just about eliminate any guess work on range and holdover on a whitetail.

bigcountry

Goodness, this post amazes me. This is a gun page. If your flinching there is a reason why. You might have started off with too much gun, and not developed the muscle memory to handle the gun. I wouldn't sell it or trade it, as I am a gun enthusist. I have guns that generate 8 ft-lbs of recoil to ones that can generate 40 ft-lbs. I am no tuff guy, but usually shoot alot. Practice, practice, practice is the key. Maybe get you 308 or 243win, and work with it for a while. Don't hit the range once a year to sight in. Try to go once or twice a month. Then come back to the ruger. No reason just to give up on it. Its not a question of need. One does not need any rifle for deer.In fact, I havn't killed a deer with a centerfire for 2 years.If you want to learn to handle recoil, work up to it.

savage221

Trade for the 740 didn't work out. I'm going to look at a BAR in .308 on Friday. Took the scope off the Ruger rings tonight so one of three things will happen:
1 - I will trade it in for this BAR on Friday
2 - I will trade it in for another gun sometime before the Spring so I can spend the Spring and Summer shooting it
3 - I will keep it, re-mount the scope, by a new recoil pad, move to a low recoil ammo and give it one more season (but this I thingk is the most unlikely of the three

M77man

"What weight bullets are you shooting? If you are using heavy bullets, you may want to try 140 grain loads. i do not find that the 7mm Magnum has that much recoil. It is about like a .30-06 with alight 150 grain load."

You couldn't be more wrong. Savage221 listen to me, I BOUGHT THE VERY SAME GUN YOU DID IN THE SAME CALIBER. THE FIRST BOX OF SHELLSI FIRED WERE 140 GRAIN WINCHESTER ACCUBONDS (SLOWER BURNING POWDER) AND IT KICKED THE LIVING TAR OUT OF ME. THEN I TRIED A BOX OF WOLF 160 GRAIN AMMO (FASTER BURNINGPOWDER) AND THE KICK SEEMED LIKE IT DISAPPEARED ALL TOGETHER. I WANTED TO TRY FEDERAL CLASSIC POWER SHOCK 150 GRAIN AND IT DIDN'T KICK EITHER.

bigcountry

Why not buy ya a new rifle? I never understood the one gun theory. I keep all mine. I even have my first deer rifle. You seem to like it, why not keep and learn the skills to shoot properly and come back to it.

Jeff Ovington

NowI am assuming that the gunis properly fittedfor yoursize and stature...Quite frankly this should have been done before purchasing it in the first place..
I'm going to second this..
Don't get rid of it...Like others have mentioned keep it and practice, or buy another to pratice on....
Reducing your cal from 7mm mag down to a 30-06 isn't a drastic "recoil
reduction"....
In doing so,this still may not solve your problem..
Get your hands a gun in a cal your sure to be able to handle,and work up to the 7mm mag...

alsaqr

M77Man: I do not know if anyone ever told you this or not. All caps on amessage boardis tanamount to screaming in a crowded room and is not polite. i used to have a 7mm Rem. Mag. and reloaded for it extensively.Assuming that the loads have the same operating pressure,any 140 grain bullet will give less recoil than 160 grain.

Been reloading for 40 years. i am not a big guy-weigh 160 pounds and have seldom been bothered by recoil, even from my .375 Alaskan even at age 67. This cartridge is a blown out and expanded .348 Winchester case and is close enough in power to the .375Holland and HollandMagnum that it does not matter to the animal that gets hit.

Normal sized folks who get hurt by30 pounds of recoil, are doing something wrong.

chr103yod

Wow, those all caps were so loud they hurt my ears.

savage221

Having enough $$$ to go buy a fews guns to get myself conditioned to the 7mm would be nice but I'm a young guy with a young family. For me, it's one rifle to rule them all so to speak. The 7mm goes (maybe on Friday)and either a used RemingtonWoodsmaster in 30.06 or a BAR in .308 are taking it's place. I'm half thinking that I'm going to go back to my slug barrel 870 next year and forget this rifle business all together

alsaqr

savage 221, i am sorry that the gun did not work out for you. Hope that the next one works out better. i wish you and yours the very best in the world.