Do you notice and difference in recoil between 7mm-08 vs .270?

N

NativeCraft

New member
Personally, I don't at all. But I heard a local gunshop owner suggesting the 7mm-08 as a recoil-friendly alternative to the .270 or .30-06. I dont't think that's enought of a step down to make any difference, but I don't know what I'd recommend either.
 
The .270 being based on the .30-06 has greater powder capacity than the 7mm-08 based on the smaller .308 case, so at similar velocity levels, it theoretically would have more recoil in a similar weight gun but I think the difference would be minimal. Don
 
AFAIK, the only real difference is short action vs long action. Ballistics and everything else are pretty much the same, I'd have to anticipate more or less the same level of recoil.
 
based upon my ownership experience with the 270,7-08 and 7-08 imp...the 270 & 7-08 imp "feel" the same..the 7-08 being less...shoot'n a 260 rem is where i can noticeably "feel " a significant decrease in "felt" recoil...and the 260rem was a much lighter rifle.
 
Just yesterday, I confirmed zero on my new FN Win Model 70 in 7-08 for our upcoming Deer season. It was, and is, a dream to shoot as far as recoil goes. I have never owned, or shot a 270, but my gut feel is recoil from a 270 would be greater than the 7-08.
 
I own both a 270 and 7-08. For me the recoil feels about the same since my 7-08 is a lightweight model seven. Lighter rifles let you feel more recoil. In the same weight rifles I'd have to say the 7-08 kicks less. Now that I'm not so young the 7-08 goes deer hunting.
 
with the same bullet weight the 270 uses more powder and is slightly faster. The recoil difference should be about 3 ft lbs more for the 270 in the same weight firearm.
 
I have never owned either of these calibers, but on chuckhawks.com, there's a recoil chart with recoil energy listed according to bullet weight/velocity. The two are close, a little over 4ft lbs difference, but given the choice, I think I'd rather have the 08.
 
I have both and I can not tell the difference. Kinda like comparing a 20g three inch mag to a 12ga, both shooting the same weight pay load.
 
I shoot a 7mm-08 in High Power Silhouette 40 round matches and deer hunting. The 7mm-08 is a very popular caliber there, the 06 and the 270 were once very common they are not anymore due to recoil. I have all the calibers mentioned and the 7mm-08 has noticeably less recoil its a short action nice to carry and will do just about anything the 270 will do.
that's my 2 cents, Sparky
 
Originally Posted By: 2muchgunIt sounds as if the gunshop owner considers the 270 and 30-06 to have similar recoil levels. They don't, IME.......

If you shot a .270 with a 150 grain bullet and a 30-06 with a 150 grain bullet at the same velocity I am guessing you could not tell any difference......

A .270 with 130 grain bullet and a 30-06 with 165 or 180 grain bullet there would be a noticeable difference. IMO.....
 
Originally Posted By: sumrifleOriginally Posted By: 2muchgunIt sounds as if the gunshop owner considers the 270 and 30-06 to have similar recoil levels. They don't, IME.......

If you shot a .270 with a 150 grain bullet and a 30-06 with a 150 grain bullet at the same velocity I am guessing you could not tell any difference......

A .270 with 130 grain bullet and a 30-06 with 165 or 180 grain bullet there would be a noticeable difference. IMO.....

sumrifle,

You are right on both counts. The 150g .270/.30-06 comparison is within a fraction of a foot pound with the .30-06 being a tiny bit less.

This thread got me interested, and I'm thinking about maybe upgrading from a .243 to something a bit heavier for deer if I enjoy my first deer hunt (I expect to enjoy it and the meat a lot), so I modeled a bunch of loads in QuickLoad which also has a recoil calculation. Keeping the rifle and bullet weight the same I modeled .300 Savage, 7mm-08, .270 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield. I also modeled the 7mm Rem mag with a 130g bullet but it still has noticablly more recoil than the .30-06.

QuickLoad gives two values for recoil. The first is the recoil before the bullet exits the muzzle which is the least one could experience even with a muzzle brake which doesn't do anything till after the bullet exits. In practice the Muzzle brake isn't quite that good. The second is the recoil due to the high pressure gas exiting the muzzle and turning the barrel into a rocket headed back towards the shooter. The muzzle brake deflects this gas back toward the shooter (which is why it is so loud) and tries to rocket the barrel away from the shooter reducing recoil.

I also used QuickTarget (which is included with QuickLoad) to look at the terminal velocity and energy at 300 yards which turns out to be the approximate point blank range on deer sized targets (+/- 3" from line of sight) for most of these cartridges.

I haven't had any luck trying to import a table so I'll just type in the numbers:

Recoil values are foot pounds before bullet exit/after bullet exit. Terminal conditions are Terminal Velocity (ft/sec)/impact energy (ft-lbs) at 300 yards. This is all model data, not actual range measurements, so absolute accuracy may be off a few percent but the trends are valid. rifle weight was 8.5 lbs in all cases. Bullet weight was 150g in all cases. In each case I picked the domestic powder that gave the highest muzzle velocity out of a 26" barrel. I intended to use a 24" barrel but had been doing some analysis of magnum cartridges which seem to like longer barrels and didn't notice I hadn't changed it till I was done. Values would be a bit less from 24" or 22" barrels but not a lot.

.300 Savage Recoil 7.65/11.8 Terminal conditions 2100/1474

7mm-08 Recoil 8.27/13.36 Terminal conditions 2216/1631

.270 Win. Recoil 10.73/18.0 Terminal conditions 2281/1733

.30-06 Spr. Recoil 10.3/17.36 Terminal conditions 2211/1620

The .300 Savage looks pretty good to me for my situation. I'm in PA, the deer aren't very big, the ranges are almost never as long as 300 yards, and the recoil looks like it would pleasant enough for a 67 year old to shoot that it would make it to the range for practice along with the varmint rifles (a good thing).

Fitch
 
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Fitch,

Excellent analysis!!!
Thanks for taking the time to address the issue, and to post your findings.
I do have an old Rem 722 in 300 Savage that is a dream to shoot, recoil wise. And, it is very accurate too, with 125 grain Nosler BT's, my rifle shot a perfect clover leaf group at 100 yards with 39.0 grains of RL-7.
For Deer hunting back there, we usually went to Perry County, just North of you in Carlisle, or up to DuBois, PA.

Take care,

Don
 
Agreed. The statement is too general. Most people shoot 130's in the 270 IMO. Most people shoot heavier bullets in the 30-06 IMO, also...........
 
I've shot .270, .280, .30-06, and 7mm Rem Mag, among others. My father traded off his .308 pump and got a Remmie Model 7 in 7mm-08. While he was on vacation I zeroed it for him using Winchester factory ammo. Despite the Model 7 being a smaller rifle, I felt like the 7mm-08 had less recoil than the standard longer cartridges. It seemed positively tame. All impressions are subjective, of course, but it just seemed like a real tame round, to me at least.
 
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