RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Try to set your rest up so you are sitting up straight, this will let your body move back and ease the thump on your shoulder. Also if you have a sling on the rifle adjust it properly in the " Hasty sling" and shoot with it off the bench, this will make a lot of difference and give you practise using a sling as shooting aid.

RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Keep shooting the pain will eventually go away.
When I started with skeet I was in pain.
The next week it hurt less.
Now I feel very little even after firing 100s of shots.

RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Clearanceman,

I handload and in my opinion either or both, barrel or bullet weight, will lesson the amount recoil. I personally like the 125 weight for whitetails. Shot the 150s' for years. Here in Georgia we have a lot wild hogs and I have shot them with both weight bullets with great success.

But back to the recoil, the 125 would be my choice.

dog1

RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Thanks dog1,
So 125s in a 30-06 still might be slightly higher recoil energy than 117s in a 25-06 because of the difference in barrel diameter? Interesting. I have never seen such a test in a gun mag, I am sure they have done them. Just dozens of articles about the best caliber for whitetails [X(] That gets pretty old, a good article on how barrel diameter effects recoil energy would be nice.

RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Thanks for the suggestion Dog1, but as I said earlier in the post, I bought 10 boxes of that ammo and I am not changing till that is used up. I am hoping to get a dillon 550b over the winter and start reloading. Then I will work to find the most consistent load I can get.

RE: 30.06 = shoulder turned to hamburger
 

Just thought I' d chime in here, being I' m a big 30-06 fan. Shot many different 06' s from Rem. gamemaster to savage to Weatherby all shoot differently. My fathers old Rem. gamemaster pump would beat me up somthing mean. Shot a lot of big heavy bolt action 06' s that felt like a 22. I shoot a Weatherby Mark V ultralight weight now it only weighs 6.4 pounds with the scope on it, Can shoot it all day without a care in the world. Technically speaking the 30-06 is rated as a moderate kicker but a lot of things go into that. bullet size, type of action, stock shape, weight, shooting postion, and even proper shooting stanz. I will say one thing I never shoot more than a 20 rounds in one shooting session " less rounds more often" will get you farther than shooting all day just before the season. I guess what I' m tryin to say is try several different loads and technices and you will get it. Practice, practice, practice.