I am going to buy my wife her first rifle tomorrow and can't decide between the 270 win or the 308 win. The gun will be a ruger American which is about 6.5 lbs not scoped. I personally have not shot a 308 in a bolt action so my question is would it be okay for for my wife? She weighs about 110 lbs.

Thanks

why not .243 or 7mm08

We need a little more bullet for where we are going that is why I am wanting to get the 30 cal.

I haven't shot the Ruger, but I have Marlin X7s in both .270 and .308. Very near same weight as the Ruger. The .308 is nicer to shoot, but I like them both. I also have a 7MM-08 X7 and I don't think it is much less recoil than the .308.

.308 has less recoil than a .270, at least the the way it feels.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm


For reference.

The 270 will have slightly more recoil, but it's not enough to tell the difference between the two. If you increase the bullet weight, recoil goes up. If you decrease the bullet weight, recoil goes down. With a 7.2# rifle (scoped) and shooting a 308 Win with a 165 grain bullet at 2650 fps, and comparing it to the same weight rifle in 270 Win shooting a 130 grain bullet at 3100 fps, here are the recoil amounts:

308
Recoil Impulse in (lbs sec) 2.74
Velocity of recoiling firearm (fps) 12.25
Free recoil energy in (ft/lbs) 16.77

270 Win
Recoil Impulse in (lbs sec) 2.76
Velocity of recoiling firearm (fps) 12.36
Free recoil energy in (ft/lbs) 17.08

I'm using this website: http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

Exactly what I was looking for!

308 it is.

Thanks for yalls help

for reference...

get weight of bullet AND gun

determine muzzle velocity of bullet

multiply bullet weight by muzzle velocity to determine bullet's momentum

divide this amount by the weight of the gun

the resultant will be your recoil velocity of your firearm.

This as well. Thanks Chad

where are you going?

Why would you need more bullet?

If she's uncomfortable with the recoil, you can try some "Managed Recoil" ammo. Works great on deer out to 200 yards, or so.

Personally, I find the recoil velocity more obnoxious than the recoil energy. It's indicative of "snappiness", for lack of a better term.

7-08 works for pretty much anything from what I've recently found

Yup.

Doing load development on one now.

If you need more gun than a 7mm08 but don't like recoil there is always room for a break.

In my opinion, .270 Win has always had a bite to its recoil; more of a slap than a hard push.

Normally, I'd say that the 308 doesn't kick much, but a couple of days ago I put aside the 223 and the 220 and the 260 I'd been shooting and I dusted off the Ruger International (308) and my Sako 270. The 270 has a fairly hot load and it kicks a bit, particulary after spending weeks with the smaller caliber rifles. Then I grabbed that light Ruger and cranked off a few rounds of 308 (a medium to slightly hot load). Yessir, that little rascal had a good kick. So...if your petite wife has an issue with recoil, I really think that a real light rifle in 308 might not make her happy. It will kick. Still, you could handload something a bit lighter and reduce recoil.

My 4A Texas football playing grandson dodges that Ruger 308 (his rifle) and always manages to get his sticky fingers on my Ruger Compact in 260. The 260, with hot loads, recoils noticeably less than the equally light 308. The boy is recoil shy, though he would never admit it out loud. He's a lot bigger than your wife.

I have never heard of the term recoil impulse before or can't recall the term. Is that basically a form of perceived recoil measurement?