quote:

My point, quite simply, is that ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL, the .338 will have a greater felt recoil than the .300

Has to be - the 338 Win Mag is more powerful than the 300 Win Mag, and so is its recoil.

Cartridge ---------- Bw x Velocity --------- Gw ------- Recoil Energy ------ Recoil Index
30-06 Spr ------- 180 gr @ 2700 fps ---- 8.0 Lb ------ 20.3 Ft-Lb ----------- 100.0
300 Win Mag --- 180 gr @ 2960 fps ---- 8.5 Lb ------ 25.9 Ft-Lb ----------- 127.6
338 Win Mag --- 250 gr @ 2700 fps ---- 9.0 Lb ------ 33.1 Ft-Lb ----------- 163.1

The 338 Win Mag is an under rated cartridge here in SA, and hence very few people have them. This is so only because it had a late start here in SA versus the 375 H&H, and due to the legal requirement of hunting buffalos with 9,3x 62 mm & a .375 H&H as a minimum.

A hunting buddy of mine shot a Blue Wildebeest with his 338 Win Mag whilst hunting with me, and I saw the carnage it caused with a Nosler Partition bullet. It is powerful and inflicts a serious wound. It escapes me that civil servants can make rules that exclude the 338 Win Mag based on kinetic energy levels whilst we know it is not the energy level that kills.

Warrior

Felt recoil is just that...FELT...and is as subjective as "who likes what" and "what is the BEST"...and everyone knows there AIN'T no such thang as "all things being equal" even though I use that trite phrase all the time.

Physics wise a 30 cal 200 gr bullet out of a 300 WM at a specific velocity in a specific weight gun, with a specific powder load weight..."all things being equal"...has exactly the same recoil as a 200 gr .338 cal bullet at the same velocity, rifle weight, powder weight. etc...caliber SIZE is not included in the recoil calculating formula.

This has been beaten to death on a hundred gun related forums for as long as I can remember...you can go to ANY online recoil calculator and work out all the factors.

One thing I guarantee will happen, though...tell someone he is shooting a 338 MAGGY and they will automatically envision all the BS stories they have heard and read and, of course, the 338 WM will hurt at BOTH ends.

I don't know how many times I've worked with flinchers in the past and no matter what, if I show them a XXXXXX cartridge and have them shoot it, THEY WILL MOST LIKELY JERK THE HELL OUT OF THE TRIGGER...even though I down loaded the round to the level of another rifle of a know lighter recoil level I KNOW they can shoot without jerking...and they WON'T believe me when I tell them the facts of life.

Some of it is the BS scattered all over the net, some of it is the need to show others they are hairy legged he persons and can at least talk about "THE RECOIL OF A...", much of this question is people WANT to interact on the net and need some kind of lead in...some people just want to stir the pot...some of it is just not being able to handle the recoil in their minds AND bodies...and the rest of the story is..."WHO KNOWS"...and it's all OK...it seems to be a quick and easy way to get a dialogue going.

There is no real answer, the answere is excruciatingly simple and equally excruciatingly complex...and it won't go away...but somewhere along the way SOMEONE will learn something...which is always good.

WARRIOR...there is no rhyme or reason to gov'ment agencies no matter WHERE they are located and as to carnage...THERE is another whale full of worms full of Sturm and Drang, sound and fury signifying .... ...
all it takes is a bit of fiddling with rifle weights, half pound more here, half pound less there and the recoil energies you list for the 300WM and 338 WM will be equal...just like it is done all over the world all the time...as I said "there AIN'T no such thing as 'all things bing equal'".

Luck

I'm with FOOBAR. This is such a subjective experience... The best would be to go and shoot a 338 and see for yourself. Stock design and the way the rifle is set up and whether it fits will all affect you.

My friend finds my 375H&H's recoil offensive. I feel the same about his 404. I've probably been hurt most by a 338 I shot, but the stock was nasty...

ARWL,

Whilst our recoil tolerance level might differ, we should all be able to recognize different recoil energy levels with reasonable jumps of say 30% at least, otherwise we are so insensitive that we could not tell whether our coffee has one, two or three teaspoons of sugar in it.

Naturally the above presupposes that the stock design must be the same - say all are Win M70's in 30-06, 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag. These jumps are by no means marginal that they cannot be felt. It is how the individual deals with recoil physically and mentally that is at issue here.

Warrior

I shot my ruger 77 with one hand like a pistol with 200 winchester power points. I owned a 12 guage mossberg once that I shot with the pistol grip and 3" buckshot with one hand as well.

Recoil tolerance has a lot to do with conditioning. If you dont think so just shoot your rifle with your off hand. My buddy and I shot our rifles left handed one day and we were doing the crappy flop afterwards nearly to tears. We only fired about 2 rounds each from our 338's.

Both of my 338's were ruger 77's I have owned 300 win mags in both the ruger 77 and mod 70. I have also owned 5 mod 70 300 rums. I think if you can handle one of them you can handle them all.

I found the 338 ultra in the bdl 700 to be a totally different beast though. I shot one of those next to a 8 pound 458 win mag and found it to be about the same as the 458... just nasty.

I have and shoot two 338 WM. One Browning BAR and a Weatherby. Both push in my opinion the Weatherby has more muzzel rise but that is expected being a bolt gun. Both vary managable. I have also shot the 300 WIN in both the same formats recoil a little sharper i think.
Thinking back dont think i have ever felt the recoil or even herd thee gun go off when shooting at game.