I shoot a 30-06 savage, and it kicks like hell. Im wanting to drop down to a 165 grn. Really like the federal premium vital shok with ballistc tip. But what can I do to decrease felt recoil. Ive thought about a pad, but the scope is already really far from my eye. Any suggestions?thanks

Is it synthetic stock? If so fill the stock with sand. I did this to my 06 and it helped a crap ton with it.

Yep. It's the best way. Makes the gun heavier to tote, obviously.

Get a decelerator recoil pad.
It screws in the place of the OEM buttpad.
They're typically no thicker than OE.

Really makes it more comfortable.

The gun is solid wood. Ill lookup the degenerator pads, thanks. Keep em coming.

Sims pad is what I use. Decreases felt recoil up to 70%

Suppressor will reduce recoil and noise and spoil you. You could buy a different rifle cheaper though.

http://wittmachine.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=180

Try this, no machine work necessary

very cool. Bet Id need to take off my front sight.

"Degenerator pads" that's funny.

Load some reduced loads ,or if you don't reload buy some reduced loads. Shoot the lightest bullets the gun will shoot well that are designed for the game being hunted.

so ive been looking at which liads to use. And usually i shoot 180 grn. Causr thats what we just shoit. But would like to try 165 grn to reduce recoul. But can I get by with 150 for whitetail and hogs?

Darn right you can,even something like the Hornady Custom lite 125's,as long as your gun will group them well. I don't even like to shoot 165's in a 30-06 because of recoil.

One of those soft Limb saver recoil pads will help too but I would tackle it at the source first with the ammo.

We're dealing with physics here. There have been no developments that bypass the laws of physics, so you have very limited choices. 1). A lighter recoil load. That doesn't mean a lighter bullet will automatically generate less recoil. A light bullet traveling real fast might generate the same recoil as a heavy bullet traveling slow. Somebody that knows physics better than me will have to figure that out. 2). Make the gun heavier so that it absorbs the recoil. What you want to reduce is actually "perceived recoil" that's the amount of recoil transferred to your shoulder. By making your gun heavier, it takes more energy to actually move the gun, so less of that energy actually ends up on your shoulder. Add a heavier scope, heavier rings and bases, maybe a heavier stock. All of the weight added to the gun will reduce the perceived recoil, even though the gun is still expending the same amount of energy. These are the only options I see.

I guarantee a lighter bullet will recoil less,at least in any factory load.

I wish they sold the Beretta "Kick off" system as an add on feature. It's a trampoline effect on the butt pad of shotguns. It's awesome.

go to 150-grain bullets. significant reduction. limbsaver is excellent advice.

I went to short action. .308, 7-08 and .243 a little easier on shoulder.

Sims makes a good recoil pad

I don't know where you developed that opinion but it's not backed up by data. Not all lighter loads recoil less. The physics equation for kinetic energy = .5 x mass x velocity squared. This suggests that velocity plays a bigger role in recoil than the mass of the projectile. However, the only data I've found on the topic is the Chuck Hawks table and it seems to suggest lots of variation. There are instances on his table where the middle weight load gave the highest measured recoil, the .270, .280, and .30-.30 all fall into this category. Again, I don't claim to be a physics expert, but I know that there is a definite correlation to bullet speed and bullet weight that both play a role in felt recoil. To suggest a lighter bullet will always have lower recoil just doesn't add up.

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

I developed that opinion by actually shooting thousands of rounds of different weight factory ammo over the last 30 years.