Ruger M77 Shooters, Step in

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Downeaster
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Ruger M77 Shooters, Step in

Post by Downeaster » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:48 pm

Daughter just got gifted an M77 in .30-06

We took it out to sight it in today, using 165 and 180 gr. loads.

Got it sighted in and it shoots nice groups, but man, that thing kicks like a mule! It's been a long while since I've shot an Aught Six, but it kicks WAY harder than my Rem 700 in .308

One opinion is that it may be due to the straighter pull on the Ruger stock.

Any experience or opinions on that?
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bearandoldman
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Re: Ruger M77 Shooters, Step in

Post by bearandoldman » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:59 pm

Downeaster wrote:Daughter just got gifted an M77 in .30-06

We took it out to sight it in today, using 165 and 180 gr. loads.

Got it sighted in and it shoots nice groups, but man, that thing kicks like a mule! It's been a long while since I've shot an Aught Six, but it kicks WAY harder than my Rem 700 in .308

One opinion is that it may be due to the straighter pull on the Ruger stock.

Any experience or opinions on that?
Have your LGS install a muzzle brake. My bud had one put in his .308 and it kicks like a .223.
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Post by Bullseye » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:07 pm

One of the things I've noticed over the years is the lighter the rifle the bigger the felt recoil, especially with 30-06 round. This is a field gun and therefore made to be hauled around the countryside so they made them lightweight for that purpose.

One of the harder recoiling 30-06's I thought was a Springfield '03 which had a surprising recoil kick to it due to the relatively diminutive size and weight.

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Post by Downeaster » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:40 pm

Bullseye wrote:One of the things I've noticed over the years is the lighter the rifle the bigger the felt recoil, especially with 30-06 round. This is a field gun and therefore made to be hauled around the countryside so they made them lightweight for that purpose.

One of the harder recoiling 30-06's I thought was a Springfield '03 which had a surprising recoil kick to it due to the relatively diminutive size and weight.

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Good point, B/E. She's a little gal and one of the reasons she likes it is because it fits her and she's comfortable with lugging it around.

Just for S&G's, I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison between it and my Rem 700, using the same bullet weight in both rifles. It'll be subjective as all get out, but I think it'll be interesting.
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Post by Georgezilla » Tue Aug 06, 2013 11:46 am

Yup, likely due to it being a light firearm, as BE points out. This is due to what is called the conservation of momentum in physics. The firearm and the projectile leaving the barrel are a system and the momentum that the system has before and after firing have to be essentially the same. Momentum is mass X velocity, so a larger firearm will be able to meet the zero momentum condition at a much lower velocity (recoil speed), thus accelerating the shooter of the firearm less.

A lot of people say that the shooter will experience the same force as a target would, which is not true; the target experiences the same force as the FIREARM.

BOM has a good point about the muzzle break. Muzzle breaks redirect some of the momentum so the shooter experiences less recoil.

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