[BTC]

Does anyone have any experience with reduced recoil rounds made by Federal and Remington? I noticed Federal has a Reduced Recoil round in the .308 which is a 170 gr. flat nosed bonded bullet and Remington offers a 125gr in the .308. I'm wondering if the advertised 50% reduction in recoil is actually that much tamer and if they are accurate.

My son got a Remington Youth .308 for Christmas and he loves the gun but the recoil and muzzle blast from the 20" barrel is more than his 60lb frame can handle. He's a good shot but the other day he was shooting about a 6-8" group at 25 yards. I shot and almost had the holes touching each other so I gave it back to him and told him it was ready. Actually I had not loaded it and he prepared for the shot as usual then pulled or jerked the trigger in anticipation of the recoil and the muzzle was dancing. I told him I thought the recoil was a little much for him and he was "flinching". Although he didnt seem to care for my little experiment, he agrees that the reduced loads might be the best option.

I 'm going to pick up a box as soon as I find one but I would like to hear from anyone who has tried them.

 

[Hill Farm Hunter]

Have not tried them, but all I have read has been good. Point of impact at 100 yards is supposed to be close to the same as well. Let us know how they turn out.

 

[dirtdart]

BTC, They should be fine. I know my son was recoil sensative when he started shooting a .308.....and he was shooting my old heavy pre-64 Mod.70 that usually has no felt recoil. Solved the problem by loading some 135gr Sierra Single-Shot pistol bullet with enough IMR 3031 to get it up around 300 Savage speed (2650fps) and it did the trick. Gave 50 or so to a nephew and he killed a deer last year with those 135's even after passing through 1.5" metal tube leg of the feeder he shot the deer behind. You won't find too many centerfire rifle cartridges in 30 cal. that are a bad choice for anything.

 

[twodog]

I have always wondered why we have reduced recoil rounds that basically duplicate the 30/30 or other old proven performers. I think maybe we push our kids to fast into the big guns. I know back when I started out I don't remember many kids starting with heavy recoiling rifles. Most used a shotgun and buckshot or a lever action 30/30, 32 Special even a few 25/35s and 35 Remingtons. There were many deer killed by young hunters with these guns so they do work. It just seems nowdays everyone looks past these old standbys trying to move up quickly. I did it with my son and have always wondered if I did the right thing. He just has never enjoyed shooting as much as I do and wonder if that is the reason.

 

[hogman]

look at the ballistics of the rr ammo. you just dont want to be shooting anything past 200 yds with that stuff. 100 yds or under accuracy should be fine.

 

[Sylamore]

Reduced loads

twodog, has a good point about not starting a shooter on to much recoil.
I like to start a young shooter on a 30/30 with 173 gr/gas check, cast bullet reloads at about 700 to 900 FPS. Cast bullets can be shot at these slow velocities whereas a jacketed bullet generally cannot, perhaps even failing to exit the barrel. With cast bullet reloads the young person can target shoot the rifle with very little recoil and get use to the rifle; how it handles, noise etc. Then when they start hunting you can go up on the reload to 1200-1400 fps and have an adequate round out to 75 yards. As the young shooter grows over a couple of years he can move up to full loads with jacketed bullets up to 2000-2300 fps. You could do the same thing with any .30 cal rifle. JMO :thumb:

 

[BTC]

I agree that sometimes we get a little ahead of ourselves when choosing to go up. My son is 10 and he has already taken 8 deer with a 50 cal muzzleloader, 30/30 and 22/250. He has never had any recoil problems with anything other than heavy 6's in a H&R single barrel. (It hurts me,too.) I let him choose between a new Marlin 30/30 and the Remington Youth 700. We originally planned on a .243 but I led him to the .308 thinking it was a great deer round that he could use as long as he wanted to. I've hunted since I was 8 or 9 and have used a 12ga, 30/30, .270 and now a 30/06. The first .308 I ever shot was his youth model and I love guns and have shot many different ones-just never a .308. My lack of experience with the .308 is to blame for this problem. I have read about it a lot and was drawn to it because it's a 30 caliber (my personal favorite) and it's supposed to be inherently accurate, which it seems to be. The youth model is just a little light for this round at it's maximum loading I think. I'm going to try the reduced loads and I think they might be just the thing. Even though he shot several rounds of Remington 150 gr. today and only pulled one about 6" to the right and low. I am not sure if I'll go for the Remingtons in 125gr or the 170gr in Federal.

 

[BTC]

My wife brought home two boxes of Remington "Managed Recoil" shells in .308 today. We havent had time yet to put any shots on paper but we did fire four rounds and they seem to have very little recoil at all. I was surprised by how tame they actually are. Hopefully this weekend we can test them a little further. My son said he thought the recoil was less than a 30/30.

 

[possum]

I have always wondered why we have reduced recoil rounds that basically duplicate the 30/30 or other old proven performers. I think maybe we push our kids to fast into the big guns. I know back when I started out I don't remember many kids starting with heavy recoiling rifles. Most used a shotgun and buckshot or a lever action 30/30, 32 Special even a few 25/35s and 35 Remingtons. There were many deer killed by young hunters with these guns so they do work. It just seems nowdays everyone looks past these old standbys trying to move up quickly. I did it with my son and have always wondered if I did the right thing. He just has never enjoyed shooting as much as I do and wonder if that is the reason.

You got me to thinkin about my first deer rifle an old and I mean OLD 32/20 pump gun. You could actually watch the bullets flight path to the target. Then I finally got to graduate to a big gun the 30/30, then on to the 30.06. My son got his first rifle at the age of 11 it was a Savage .243.

 

[Wes Ramsey]

BTC,

One other thing you might consider is a shoulder-worn recoil pad. I got one for Christmas a few years ago, and until I wore it I never realized how much I was anticipating the recoil - even from my .270. I don't think it was because I was scared of the recoil, but after shooting 30-50 rounds each from my .270 and .50 ML, my shoulder would be 4-5 different colors of bruised for weeks, and the thought of that still makes me flinch! I didn't realize just how much I was flinching until I shot my .22 for the first time in a couple of years. I couldn't help but flinch, even though I knew it had no recoil. It was a learned response.

It really is amazing how much energy those pads absorb, and for a new shooter on a big gun I can't think of a better training aid. It will really help him learn to not fear the recoil, and the gun shoulders very much like it would if I was wearing a heavy coat, so it kinda helps simulate real field conditions.

One other thing - if he's learned to flinch already, then he'll probably still flinch with the reduced recoil loads. Since you have about a year to work with him before deer season starts, put him behind a .22 and teach him proper trigger squeeze. When you can tell that he isn't flinching, have him shoot the .308 some, but load it for him and don't let him watch - just like you did before. Give it to him unloaded a few times and let him flinch. Once he sees what he's doing wrong he can start to understand how to avoid it.

 

[possum]

put him behind a .22 and teach him proper trigger squeeze. When you can tell that he isn't flinching, have him shoot the .308 some, but load it for him and don't let him watch - just like you did before. Give it to him unloaded a few times and let him flinch. Once he sees what he's doing wrong he can start to understand how to avoid it.

That little trick has worked well for me, my son and my nephew. I can't speak for them but it taught me to sit there and take the arse whippin the Model 70 30/06 gives me.

 

[dirtdart]

Yep, Possum. You got that right. You know it's on the way.....You just got to deal with it. It's all mental anyway.

 

[BTC]

At the range

After 40 rds of the Remington 125gr managed recoild rounds and only 20 of the Federal Low Recoil rds (170gr) we have decided on the Federals. Both have very mild recoil which seems to have taken away the flinching factor. However, the Remington loads didnt produce good groups. I would say they were in the 5" range while the Federal rounds were in the 1 1/2" range at 100 yards. I would have preferred the 125gr loads because of the better trajectory but it doesnt matter how they hold up if they dont shoot well. Most of his shots are inside 50 yards anyway and the flat-nosed 170's should do fine work. In a few years he may be able to handle the full loads.

 

[Sylamore]

Btc,

A lot of young shooters never learn to pull the rifle stock in tight against the sholder. Therefore they get a big thump instead of a push when the rifle is fired. Often a lightly held rifle with a scope will also produce a nice cut around the eyebrow. I check my young ones every time to be sure they have the rifle stock in the proper position and tight against the sholder before they fire the round.

 

[varmit_master]

Hi BTC sounds like the rd is going to work for the young hunter i am glad.:thumb: I started out my mom and dad bought me a Rem 78 sportsman rifle in a 30 06 . Dad said i needed to shoot the 150gr core -lokt i thought i needed to shoot the 180gr ones so that is what i got.:smack: Being my first rifle i wish they would have had factory loads like the new Remington load out back then. Again i an glad they work out for your son and hope he can get him a deer next yr. VM:thumb:

 

[BTC]

Thanks VM. :biggrin: I'm going to stock up on the Federals and let him punish armadillos around the house during the offseason. By next deer season he'll be used to that new rifle. :biggrin:

 

[varmit_master]

Hi BTC sounds good sounds like you always have a hunting buddy now. VM:thumb: