So I was doing some back issue reading of some rifle mag's just laying around the house and I hit an article killing the 30-06. He had one main point. RECOIL. That got me thinking. Why do we put up with heavy recoil? Why doesn't the average hunter have a lighter caliber? I mean a dead deer is still dead even if you kill it with a rock or a boulder right? What's wrong with a 7mm-08 or 25-06. At this point the heaviest caliber I would even consider would be a .270 and I'm getting close to totally ruling that out. Call me what you will but I'm starting to see it as pure logic. I like to shoot. I don't like the shoulder pain. What do you guys think?

Makes great sense to me. I have and love to use a 25/06 for deer. A 7mm-08 is about ideal also. You can only kill them so dead. To my way of thinking, excessive recoil can be / is detrimental to accurate shooting. IMO, when you get above a 30/06 with 180 grainers that's enough for me. I'm way past (in my life) worrying about a "macho image". Old Guys Rule!

Don't want a smaller caliber. Gotguns in .308, .30-06 and .300 Win Mag. Recoil from these guns does not bother me. Recoil from 150 grains of Pyrodex and a 300 grain sabot bullet does sometimes bother me a little. Recoil from the .375 Alaskan does bother me.

I started shooting and hunting with a 30-06 when I was 12. It ruined my shooting for a long tome due to recoil. I had a flinch. I had to muzzle break it and put a recoil pad on it to retrain myself. Now I am comfortable shooting anything. When I start my son shooting it will be with a light caliber and slowy move up.

My take on calibers, is whatever turns your crank.

I shoot a 30-06 and a 870 slug gun, that 870 with 3in, mags or Rem buckhammers are a lot worst then the 06, they'll get your attention. If you want to find out about recoil try some of the 3.5 turk loads about 75 lbs plus of recoil. Rich

If I were only hunting deer, I wouldn't ownmy .30-'06: I probably would go witha 7mm-08. I bought my .30-'06 because I wanted to include elk onmy ticket.

However, I didn't buy it before borrowing one & shooting a box of shells. It wasn't exceedingly pleasant, but I felt I could handle it. As it turns out, I got my '06 in a rifle that fits me like a dream, and it also has a Sims pad on it, so I can handle it much better than the rifle I borrowed for my "test".

Still, I need to concentrate on my breathing, and posture, and trigger control, and sight picture... quite a bit with each shot.I also bring along my .22lr to practice those basics while the barrel cools on my .30-'06. For me, a range session might include 1-ish box of '06, and 2 boxes of .22lr.

I know there are those who think a .30-'06 won't kill an elk, and that even a .375 doesn't have any recoil. Good for them. They can shoot their guns, & I'll keep mine.

I also feel the 30-06 gives more recoil than I wish to take, from a deer rifle.

IF I could start my gun collection all over again?
I would have a 25-06 for my deer & antelope rifle.
I wouldhave a 338-win mag or 338-ultra mag for elk & bear hunting.

"Still, I need to concentrate on my breathing, and posture, and trigger control, and sight picture... quite a bit with each shot.I also bring along my .22lr to practice those basics while the barrel cools on my .30-'06."

You are doing it the right waytaking that .22 along with you. A .22 is also comes in very handy if one gets the flinches from shooting a high power.A few shots with a .22 and the flinches are gone.

i agree completely. i can go through 2+ boxes of 30-06 for the heck of it but i can't stand patterning my turkey gun. it beats the heck out of me but my '06 doesn't bother me.