My buddy has decided to buy his son a Remington 700 ADL for the upcoming deer season. He was originally thinking about a 270 Winchester, but now has a chance to get him a 7mm-08. His son is a fair size teenager, but he still a little worried about recoil. Is there really that much difference in the "felt" recoil between this calibers ? Ben

Either would make a fine deer round. The 7mm-08 is one of my personal favorites, but there certainly isn't anything wrong with a 270.

As for recoil, if he can handle one, he can handle the other. I doubt if most guys could tell the difference. BTW, both are on the mild side.

Glad to see another teenager joining our ranks!

Ben, both of my girls that are 11 and 9 years old have been shooting a 7mm08 for the past 2 years and they both handle the recoil fine we shoot factroy anmmo in the 140gr. Win SuperX and have taken 6 deer and 4 hogs. So i think if he feels comfortable with the fit of the gun it will work.

Doc in Texas

The recoil of either of these cartridges should certainly not be a problem for your friends' son. I am 13, 5' 11', 125 lbs. and have a Win. M-70 in .300 Winny that I shoot with complete comfort. I used to have a Rem. M-700 ADL in .308 and to describe the recoil I would say very manageable. He should have no problem.

I admit to bias, but I love the 7mm-08. Very light recoil, very accurate, easy to carry.

Bob

My wife is tiny, and a friend's son who borrows her rifle is even tiny. He's less than 5', and 73# and shoots an 7.75# 708, with 100gr hp at 2800. It's a butterfly load, and accurate. I can't feel it go off.
jeffe

The 7mm-08 offers very similar recoil but in a lighter, more manageable SA rifle. Something to consider for the young ones and the ladies.

Ben:

Here are calculated recoil numbers in a 7lb. rifle
1st # = ft/lb recoil, 2nd # = recoil velocity

270: 130 gr. @ 3000 fps. = 23 ftlb w/14 fps
7-08: 140 gr. @ 2800 fps. = 17 ftlb w/13 fps

7-08 delivers about 26% less recoil in equal weight guns.

JimF - Interesting numbers. I should have thought they would be a bit closer together.

Probably the rifle in question will come in at 8 or 8.5 pounds by the time they hang scope, sling etc. on it and this should dampen recoil even more.

The bottom line is neither rifle is known as a "kicker." And surely both are excellent cartridges.

The real FELT recoil the lad gets will depend on how well he and the rifle fit...and the position he's shooting from. But I'd say he's gonna be fine. And next year he'll be even bigger. Not to worry.

[ 08-01-2002, 19:48: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

JimF,
I'm not sure that the way you compare the 7mm-08 and the .270 is really comparing apples to apples. First, in a given model a short action and a long action will almost never weigh the same amount. The difference usually seems to be about 4oz which will help recoil in favor of the .270. Also, with the bullet weights that you mention the 7mm-08 can be pushed to almost 70fps faster than your 2800fps estimate. The data I used to calculate the recoil of each is as follows:

7mm-08
Rifle weight: 7lbs
Bullet weight: 140gr
Powder weight: 48gr (H4350)
Velocity: 2868

.270
Rifle weight: 7.25lbs
Bullet weight: 130gr
Powder weight: 54.3gr (H4350)
Velocity: 3012

When these numbers are used the recoil energy for the 7mm-08 comes to 17.9ft.-lbs. while the .270 equals 18.4ft.-lbs. The difference is hardly worth mentioning (less than a 3% difference). Plenty close enough for gun fit to take care of. The data that I used are the closest that I could find to Remingtons factory velocity and gun weights are as listed on Winchester's website for the M70 Featherweight. Bullet weights are as you listed and powder weight and velocity came from the Hodgdon website. I realize that there are nearly an infinite number of combinations of powders, bullet weights, gun weights/configurations/manufacturerers, but I really think the numbers are closer than your data indicate. There may even be different formulas for calculating recoil (although I've only ever seen 1, I won't pretend to know close to everything!) that is responsible for our discrepancy. I guess the most important point is that both are excellent cartridges with tolerable recoil. ------- Bob

[ 08-01-2002, 20:21: Message edited by: bobvthunter ]

I agree with the 7mm/'08, but if I were buying a Remington, it would have to be a Model 7 , for the light weight and handy size vs a 700.