Thread: "Feather in my hat" 308win Featherweight load development

The felt recoil you experienced @dannyb is a potential problem as you know. If its feeling awkward shooting in those controlled conditions, it can be a real problem in the field when you’re trying to find a rest in gnarly country.

It may be stock shape related.

When my Tikka .308 was in its factory laminated stock, it could really bite if the stock wasn’t tightly well controlled. The 178gr ELD-X load I used for a time could really kick you on an awkward lie, especially shooting uphill. But for reasons I’ve never fully understood, as soon as I fitted the @DPT chassis, the recoil problem instantly disappeared with the same load. Night and day. Now I simply do not notice it, no matter what I’m doing. Same for the wife, she’s deadly with that rifle in the chassis. And that’s with a simple straight buffer tube and alloy buttstock, no fancy adjustable stock (and no recoil pad). It must be something to do with the recoil vector, the fact that the buffer tube is exactly level with the barrel, the recoil is sent in a perfectly straight line.

A few years ago one of the guys that used to be on this forum was making carbon Tikka stocks I think. I can’t remember his username but he was pretty well-known. I clearly remember a well-written explanation as to why the Tikka stocks transferred recoil the way they do and what could be changed with aftermarket handmade stocks to reduce the felt recoil impulse. But I’m buggered if I can find that thread anymore. Not that any of this is particularly helpful!

Considering the use of this rifle (range, topography, quarry) I’m not sure that spending a lot amount of time on the range trying to get a tiny group is going to pay off. You might well end up chasing your tail. A 1” to 2” group at 100yd is good enough to target red deer shoulders all day long. A good frangible hunting bullet will drop the deer from the spine to relatively low in the chest, its a way bigger target than a sub-MOA group really needs. Sub-MOA is great for long-range varminting, but a bit pointless for 200-300m deer, especially if you are holding over with the reticle.

Just my 2c worth…. Probably a reflection on a determined effort in the last couple of years to simplify what I do and the consequent bonus of not faffing around anywhere near as much as I used to!