I'm thinking of buying a tikka t3 hunter stainless in 300 Win Mag. My main concern is that it may have too much recoil to still be a fun shooter, having never shot the 300 Win mag. I shoot fairly brisk 45/70 loads and don't have a problem with them. Will the recoil from the 300 win mag make my teeth rattle or what?

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Gun Control should come in three flavors: Safe, Semi and auto.

The best way I can think of to explain it is: the 300 is more of a sharp smack
as opposed to the big push of your big bore.
There are all kinds of recoil charts on the web,
http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm
A quick peek tells me that a 300WM is about equal to a 300 gr 45-70 at 1800 fps.

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"I have a tendency against which I should, perhaps, be on my guard, to swim against the stream..." Winston S. Churchill

I find my .300 Win is enough recoil that I don't enjoy shooting it. Without hearing protection it is too loud for the safety of anyone nearby as well. I do not consider it a "fun shooter".

I do consider it (with 200 grain Partitions at 2950 fps) a very effective hunting rifle for elk and moose, and that is how it gets used, but I do not shoot it very much except to sight it in and hunt with it. I have other "fun shooters" that are just, well ...... more fun.

I too have shot a pile of 45/70 rounds through a Marlin and after "rappin'" the lever with leather, shooting it did not bother me until I went over the 400 Gr. bullet .

As far as theT3 tikka rifles go, My 3006 is really all I am comfortable with as it comes out of the box. Then came the 338F t3 and "Snakes alive" that reciol was indeed more than I wanted to more than two shots with at the range .
So It was advised to install a limbsaver pad to the back of this rifle , which REALLY TAMED the beast .
I have no problems shooting a few box's off at the range and have shot my second deer now in two years with that gun.
I see so many 300 WM t3 ,s traded back in after being bought new , so like the S&W model 29 in 44 Mag , they too are being traded back in because of reciol .
My father in law has a P14 converted to 300WM and it is a pleaser to shoot with the steel butt , but then the rifle is heavy . The T3 tikka's are light ,so the Limbsaver pad thus makes it comfortable to shoot .
So spend a few bucks and buy a limbsaver pad along with the rifle . you will be glad you did .
Happy

A .300 Win Mag with a stock of good design and proper fit should not be hateful to shoot at all.

The Vanguard, Model 70 and Model 77 are examples of rifles that go well with the .300 win Mag for ease of shooting.

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"Too much gun always beats the alternative."
Elmer Keith

I think the sims recoil pads can be a huge help to you.

Yes.

The Limbsaver is money well spent if the recoil bothers you.

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"Too much gun always beats the alternative."
Elmer Keith

Well the limbsaver is one step up from no recoil pad but there are better ones out there.

I have owned several .300 Win Mags and it is one of my favorite calibers. I have never had a recoil problem with any of them. I had a Remington 700 BDL in 30/06 that was a beautiful piece of art, but it kicked a lot more than my .300 Win Mags due to the hard butt plate on that BDL.

If you are really worried about recoil, you may have a problem as it is "in your head" already. I suggest visiting a local gun club is possible and shooting someone else's.

FWIW, my 45/70 kicks more than my .300. This is "felt recoil", not calculated recoil.

Dan

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I know a lot of people are still in love with the Kick-eez recoil pads, but to suggest that a SVL Limbsaver recoil pad is "one step up from no recoil pad" is erroneous. It is a very good recoil pad and at worst, comparable to anything else on the market. It is, in fact, many steps up from the standard recoil pad that was offered on long guns for many years. Maybe it's not the best one, but it's awful dang close.

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Ask me about QDMA.

If you shoot a 7mm mag or light weight 30-06 well and the recoil don't bother you on them, it won't be a problem with the .300 WM. Did shoot one that hurt me, had a cheap scope with a short eye relief. The scope smacked the eyebrow and left a crescent shaped cut.

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Still Learnin' as I go!

NRA Life Member

Well I speak from personal experience using both pads on the same gun. First followed my fellow shooting acquantances recommendations on installed a Limbsaver. After shooting the rifle to zero in and check various loadings next morning I was black/blue from my neck down to my breast and my elbow. Never in my entire shooting years (nearly fifty) have I had such diasterous results with recoil.

Since I had installed a Kick-Eez on my 45-70 decided to have one of those installed on this rifle. About three weeks later after healing up, getting pad installed by gunsmith and loading some other bullet weights went to the range. Shot most of the afternoon with the combination testing loads verse zero for total higher shell count with no brusing the next morning. Too me that definately means something is happening that is better and I'm not referring to my imagination either.

Additionally several of my hunting buddies have had Remington rifles with Limbsavers that started ozing a sticky material so bad they practically had to pry them from there gun safe floors. Too Remingtons credit they did replace the pads at no cost.

What caliber of rifle (and what model and weight??) beat you that hard through a Limbsaver pad ??????

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"Too much gun always beats the alternative."
Elmer Keith

My personal experience with the Limbsaver pads has been positive. I think they are a very good pad. With that said, there are several out there and I would look at all of them and get the one you like best. With a good pad, most modern stock designs handle recoil pretty good. I've got a 300 Wby I am getting ready to shoot some 200gr Partitions through and I can't wait! When I want to take a break I will break out the 300 WSM.

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"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." U. S. Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

I prefer the Kick-Eeze pads because they come in more sizes and thicknesses than the Limbsavers , plus they don't feather as bad when you grind them to fit . As far as effectiveness they are comparable . With a thick cushy pad on a hard kicking rifle get all the eye relief you can , they do compress and reduce eye relief when fired !

I've fired one off the bench a few times and didn't find it that bad. A guy from the range let me have a few shots, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Deadly accurate too which from a rifle I wasn't familiar with was pretty impressive.

My Dad has a T3 in 223, and while it is incredibly accurate, he doesn't like the single stack plastic magazine. One doesn't allow a round up after the third shot. Pretty poor for an expensive rifle. The magazines aren't cheap either. Accuracy is definitely not a problem from the heavy barrel. He doesn't use it in the field and is purely a bench rifle for Dad. With the weight and magazine problems, you wouldn't want to relu on it.

Cheers from Downunder,

Steve

As stated above, proper fit of the stock to the shooter will go a long way to minimizing the felt recoil of any gun, relative the the cartridge being shot. I have 3 different TC Encore Pro Hunter Frames, synthetic thumbhole, synthetic standard, and a Boyds Laminated Thumbhole, all have the SVL Limbsaver recoil pad. My 300 WM recoil is not "Hateful" out of any of them. My hunting loads are 180 Nosler Accubond pushed by 70.2 gr of IMR 4350. Stout, yes, but I have never been black and blue from it. I also load some Nosler J4 comp. 168 gr bullets for woodchuck shooting, those are fairly mild.

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"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." -- George Washington

Ya know, the older I get, the less fun it becomes.

Now, "fun" is my .223, .243, and 7-08. The 7mm Mag is starting to be not fun. .300WM, or 300 magnums in general, are very useful, but they are on the heavy side to carry, and they all come back with more poke than a '06. I rate them not fun after about 5-10rds.

Excellent point TMan. I too find myself looking towards "milder" cartridges as I get older. Not that I am very old yet (43 years old). I credit my 16 year old daughter. She loves to shoot the .243, which has caused me to enjoy shooting it too.

Looking for .257 Bob or perhaps a Swede
Dan

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I've put used my 223 a lot, and before that the 222. I've shot a 243 a few times and found it very pleasant and delivering the required results, and I've just bought myself a 7mm 08 in Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. In the part of Australia I'm in, I don't require a magnum anything for what I hunt, but then again, we don't have the number of potentially dangerous game like in North America. If I had a bearing looking at me for a snack, I think I'll be wanting to be covered by something a little more appropriate than what I currently own!

My Dad's has always spoken highly of the 257 Roberts, but never owned one, and having shot a mates 6.5 Swede when I was much younger and being astonished at how it performed, I have always wanted to own one. Still I think my new 7mm 08 will mean I'll always love the 6.5 but won't own one but you never know.

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Cheers from the Great Southern Land Downunder,

Steve



My ID, OneShotKill, is not because I claim to do it all the time. It's just what I strive for each time I go hunting

“The world is full of better shooters than I am………”
Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Jack O’Connor page 305