ORIGINAL: savage221
Ok, now that the regular season is over here in New York State I have a question for more experienced rifle shooters than myself. Last year I bought a Ruger M77 mark II bolt action in 7mm magnum. It kicks like a government mule (worse than my 10ga BPS) and I’ve been hit in the forehead so many times by the scope that I’m flinching like crazy whenever I pull the trigger. The flinching cost me two doe this season that were both gimmy shots
(70 yards standing still in open cut fields, I just thank god that they were clean misses).
I like the gun a lot; it shoots flat, its light and comes up nice but I can’t keep it if I can’t get over the recoil issue. So, the question is what do I do? Do I toss it and get something chambered in a smaller caliber say 30-06? Do I invest in a better recoil pad? Will moving the scope forward help at all? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Please just don’t get too technical; I do a lot of bird hunting (upland and waterfowl) and know more about shotguns than rifles. Thanks in advance.
Easy answer, change your ammo. I bought the very same rifle this year, same caliber but in stainless synthetic. The first box of ammo I used for it was 140 grain Winchester Accubonds and it kicked way too hard for me that I too was considering getting a lesser caliber but I tried a box of Federal Classic Powershock 150 grains and it kicks less then my 30-06 does now. By the way, 30-06 is actually a larger caliber just uses less of a charge but not much. You gain about 200 fps and fpe over the 30-06 with the 7mm Rem Mag
So what type of ammo were you using?