jimmy the foot

get a Knoxx stock. will cost you a little but should tam that baby just fine.

will79

Try a limbsaver slip-on pad and a scope with longer eye relief.

M77man

"M77Man: I do not know if anyone ever told you this or not. All caps on amessage boardis tanamount to screaming in a crowded room and is not polite. i used to have a 7mm Rem. Mag. and reloaded for it extensively.Assuming that the loads have the same operating pressure,any 140 grain bullet will give less recoil than 160 grain."

Sorry about the caps, I wasn't yelling,just trying to get my point accrossed that I have the very same gun and based on my actual experience the 140 grain Winchester Accubond kicked extremely hard while a 160 grain WolfAND a 150 grain Federal Power Shock hardly even felt the recoil at all. My experience with the same gun he has tells me it's more so based on powder charge then weight of round.

M77man

Without reading your original post how far are you shooting again? If it's under 300 yards why not try a box of the Federal Classic Power Shocks (blue box) for $16 at Gander Mountain or some other type of soft points? The Federals that I described have a muzzle velocity of 3050, not too shabby and they are very accurate out of my M77 SS 7MM Rem Mag. Man I wish you would try them. Eventually I will work my way up to a tougher bonded bullet when I hunt Elk in the future but these ones are a well constructed round in my opinion also so I think these ones are pretty tough too. $16 a box, can't beat that AND you don't have to rush into buying a new rifle right away AND it may help you (myself included) gain confidence

EKM

M77, very logical, but the wheels appear to be alreadyin motionthat he is downsizing his weaponry and isn't going to look back.

deerslayer32

lol try a .223

358WINMAN

A few questions here. Was the gun you received in the trade cut down in any way? Some guys do cut their stocks to fit better, then grind the recoil pad to fit. You could have a less than adequate length of pull( should be at least 13 1/2" min).
Bring a buddy to the range and have him measure your eye relief when standing offhand and then when seated at the bench. you may unconsciously be shifting significantly when you shoot off the bench.
What scope is mounted on that 7Mag? Some scopes have eye relief that changes quite a bit when you increase or decrease magnification. Leupold's web site offers both eye relief measurements on their scope specs- low power and max power. Zeiss offers one but they acutally get closer as you mag up. Your buddy should measure with a ruler while you hold the rifle. If the measurement is 3" or under, check the scope position in the rings. If you've got room to move forward, do so, if not your only other option may be to buy a compact scope if you want to spend the money. They usually are shorter.
Many of the guys who gave you feedback have truly posted great advice.
Try it. If none of these ideas work, give yourself peace of mind and get rid of the gun. A trade is great. A sale at least gives you money towards another gun. I too, hunt NY State and only use a BLR 81 in.358 Win there. Have yet to take a long shot there(over 150 yds). I like the small, short lever for hunting in the woods and that caliber shows no mercy on the critters. Very easy on the shoulder too. Buy a BLR in .270 or .308 and you'll be able to reach out much farther than we all need to. Recoil is very moderate and the rifle shoulders very nicely, points well and comes up fast on running game. I have a Leupold VXII 2 x 7 x 33 on mine. Scope never comes close.
Good luck in your quest and do what's best for you!

okboarhunter

just get a gun your happy with get a 270 or a 308 or if you wanna spend a lil extra bucks get wat the other people are tellin you to get

NJheadhunter71

Savage221, I had the same problem. I wanted a mag I could use for everything from dear to brown bear so I got the M77 in a 338 all weather which is stainless and had that Ruger zytel crap stock. I thought I just wasn't used to the recoil so I practiced over and over I even got the light may ammo in 180 gr balistic tips but it was still killing me! I even took a couple of well seasonedrifle men out to shoot it and everytime someone pulled the trigger I laughed (it kind of looked like someone gettingpunched by a prize fighter) All of them said dump the gun and get something else. I did some research and for 100 bucks I got a 3/4 finishedBoyds laminated stock and bedded and finished it myself. Then I spent 175.00 on an Answer muzzle break and had them do a trigger job for another50.00
It now shoots 225-300 grain ammo and it feels like a 243 (no lie) The laminant woodreally soaks up the recoil as far as the muzzle break before thestock it felt like a 270 (just as they advertised. Ididn't read enough post to see if you said it had a synthetis stock or not but if it does dump the stock and get a wood or fiberglass\epoxt type. I would stay away from full kevlar because it isn't muck of a recoil reducer. Included is a pic of my rifle. Oh yeah it will shootwithin2 1/2 3" at 200yrds and I can pop 1/2 gallon milk jugs at 400yrds. I honestly couldn't hit a pie plate at 100yrds beforemods.

NJheadhunter71

Yeah, oppppppssss what Imeant to say was DEER not DEAR. I had one to many tonight.