I am interested in finding out how much difference there is in a 300 WSM as compared to a 30-06. I don't know anything about the 300WSM and have never fired one but have been told it packs a strong wallop in the recoil department. If you have shot both the 300WSM and a 30-06 with the same weight bullet, how much greater is the recoil in the 300, 25%,50% or 100% in your opinion.

I have shot both, and I would say that the recoil difference is less than 25%!

That is based on what I felt when I pulled the trigger, and not actual measurements though!

No firsthand experience with 300WSM, but have a suggestion.

Have you checked some of the sites that have lists/charts of the recoil in ft/lbs for various calibers.

I cannot recall offhand, where to tell you to look, but there is more than one site.

That might give you some basis for comparison in ft/lbs to ft/lbs.

Hope this helps.

JCB, I gave up reloading many years ago but as old as I am I find it hard to believe you can get 200 gr. in a 300WSM case. Correct me if I am wrong.

I knew it was a joke!!!

Actual recoil is a function of several variables: bullet weight, bullet velocity, powder wieght, rifle weight.

Perceived recoil is subjective and involves how well the rifle stock fits the individual.

To try to give you an answer you can deal with, we will ignor stock fit and other uncontrollable variables.

Using the HuntAmerica recoil calculator (there are lots of recoil calculators on the internet), using the same rifle weight, and 180gr bullets at published factory velocities, and an average powder weight,

the 30/06 recoil would be about 20 ft-lbs (180gr bullet @ 2700)

the 300WSM recoil would be about 27 Ft-lbs (180gr bullet @ 3000 fps)

That's 35% more.

Thanks guys, I believe I can handle that amount of recoil difference.

I own both rifles. My 30-06 is a Savage 110 and my 300wsm is a Winchester Model 70. Believe it or not my 30-06 kicks just as hard or harder than my 30-06. A lot of it depends on the rifles barrel length and weight but my Savage hurts!
Not to mention, I need to shoot Federal High Energy rounds at 180gr to get anywhere near the performance of a normal 150gr in 300wsm. When you figure this, I'll shoot the 300wsm over the 30-06 all day. Wait...scratch that. Wanna buy a 30-06?

I have shot both and own one (06) and I think my o6 hurts as bad if not worse. I also have a 270wsm and my 06 is noticably worse.

Just an observation here, but I have noticed that very few people notice recoil when shooting at hair.

Shooting at paper from a bench is one thing, shooting at a living animal, while your heart is running wide open and the adrenalin is pumping, few folks ever notice when the gun fires.

I know the op was talking 300 WSM, and yes I agree usually you don't notice when you are aiming at hair. Now with that being said, I saw more gut shot deer and wounded deer with 300 Mags, than from any other calibre, while I was guiding. I lay that to not enough practice and the little bench shooting that was done to get the scope close caused a lot of flinching and trigger jerking instead of trigger squeezing. JMO

Me and you need to set down and write a book.

If we can get WileyCoyote to add a chapter or two, we will have a best seller.

Too many folks, get to reading stuff and talking to their cronies, and end up buying and trying to use rifles way beyond what they are needing to deal with.

To touch on the OP, yes, it was about the 300 WSM versus the 30-06 in terms of recoil, but from having shot both a 30-06 and a 300 Win Mag, the difference in recoil is noticeable.

yes the 300 Win Mag is not the 300 WSM, but the folks that I have talked to that have shot both, claim there is no difference in the felt recoil in rifles of the same weight.

Problem is, in the WSM most rifles built for it are lighter than the same gun built for the 300 Win Mag.

There fore many folks have stated that the felt recoil is more for the WSM than for the regular mag..

As for your statement on wounding, as I have stated on here before, the outfitter I hunt elk with in Colorado, has stated many times that over his years of guiding, he has seen more elk shot and lost with 7mm Rem Mags than any other round.

His thought mirrored yours, people were unable to spend enough bench time with the gun, because the first half dozen rounds or so scared them so bad that they could not concentrate on the shot because of the fear of the recoil.

Would love to "jaw" with you some day.

The 7 mag is the next one down on the list for gut shooting and wounding.

I don't think my .300 wsm is bad at all. Its really not any more noticeable to me than on 06 or 270.

I have a 270WSM in a model 70 coyote and I would say the felt recoil between it and my remmy 700 30-06 with a muzzle break are comparable. The 270 is a heavier rifle which I feel accounts for the difference. With a break on it I would say it theoretically should have less felt recoil. If the rifles were the same weight I would say about 25 percent difference. There is a difference between these two and the 300 Remington Ultra Mag with 180 grains though and it has a break on it as well.