120/123 .264” vs 147 recoil?

TimberHunter

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Currently shooting 147 in a 6.5cm. Spotting shots prone isn’t an issue. Kneeing/seated spotting is tricky where a 223/77 is much easier.

Does any one have actual experience in felt recoil between 120 and 147 in a 6.5cm? Recoil data doesn’t show a massive difference


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I have noticed a difference between 140’s with RL26 and 130’s with RL16 and even less recoil with 110’s and varget.
This was in a 22” ruger American predator with the Boyd’s prairie hunter stock and suppressor. Obviously this stock design is not ideal for recoil mitigation.

From a felt recoil perspective I would say 110’s have 30% less recoil despite going 300fps faster
 
I guess I’m in the minority.
Out of my tikka, I thought 147’s definitely had a different recoil impulse compared to 130’s. Enough that out of a lighter hunting gun I spot the 130’s much more consistently.

I’m also not running either load on the edge of pressure which I think helps.
 
Currently shooting 147 in a 6.5cm. Spotting shots prone isn’t an issue. Kneeing/seated spotting is tricky where a 223/77 is much easier.

Does any one have actual experience in felt recoil between 120 and 147 in a 6.5cm? Recoil data doesn’t show a massive difference


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It’s not as much felt recoil that is noticeable, it’s reticle/rifle jump during recoil. I prefer good 130gr bullets for most uses in the 6.5cm. Even better, probably for your use- is the 107gr TMK.
 
It’s not as much felt recoil that is noticeable, it’s reticle/rifle jump during recoil. I prefer good 130gr bullets for most uses in the 6.5cm. Even better, probably for your use- is the 107gr TMK.

Good point, reticle movement is the main concern the more I think about it. Is the reticle movement reduced enough by using 130s / 120s / 107s to be noticeable/worthwhile vs the 147?

243/6cm will come next year


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Currently shooting 147 in a 6.5cm. Spotting shots prone isn’t an issue. Kneeing/seated spotting is tricky where a 223/77 is much easier.

Does any one have actual experience in felt recoil between 120 and 147 in a 6.5cm? Recoil data doesn’t show a massive difference


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The difference between 147 ELDM, 143 ELDX, and 156 Berger is noticeable when I step down to 129 SSTs and 130 TMKs.

Not so much in that it’s not really “recoiling” any less but spotting shots from seated position does become easier (reticle moving on target less).

If you aren’t already using a Rokstok or stock with good shooting ergos, that’s an even bigger “upgrade” in shot spotting versus moving to a lighter bullet.

Also, the infamous “zoom” where guys think they need 15 power to hit a 10” gong at 500 yards. This causes more missed spots than the other two by far.
 
The difference between 147 ELDM, 143 ELDX, and 156 Berger is noticeable when I step down to 129 SSTs and 130 TMKs.

Not so much in that it’s not really “recoiling” any less but spotting shots from seated position does become easier (reticle moving on target less).

If you aren’t already using a Rokstok or stock with good shooting ergos, that’s an even bigger “upgrade” in shot spotting versus moving to a lighter bullet.

Also, the infamous “zoom” where guys think they need 15 power to hit a 10” gong at 500 yards. This causes more missed spots than the other two by far.

Appreciate the info

I shot the Rokstok for a few days during the S2H class, I brought basically facorey tikkas with me. The difference was slightly noticeable with 223 but that may be due to the already low recoil.

I try to stick around 10x when shooting at further distances


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Appreciate the info

I shot the Rokstok for a few days during the S2H class, I brought basically facorey tikkas with me. The difference was slightly noticeable with 223 but that may be due to the already low recoil.
The Rokstok is noticeable at all cartridges, but the higher you go in recoil, the more noticeable it is that it’s assisting you.
I try to stick around 10x when shooting at further distances
I leave my variable power scopes somewhere in the 6-8x range with the parallax set to 200 yards. I don’t need anymore “zoom” or to fuss with anything on both targets and animals until around 7-800 yards; where is then goes up to somewhere in the 10ish range.

I’d recommend working on trying the same. 10X is a lot of zoom for inside 600 yards and makes spotting shots more difficult.
 
The Rokstok is noticeable at all cartridges, but the higher you go in recoil, the more noticeable it is that it’s assisting you.

I leave my variable power scopes somewhere in the 6-8x range with the parallax set to 200 yards. I don’t need anymore “zoom” or to fuss with anything on both targets and animals until around 7-800 yards; where is then goes up to somewhere in the 10ish range.

I’d recommend working on trying the same. 10X is a lot of zoom for inside 600 yards and makes spotting shots more difficult.

I spent 3 hours shooting tonight. Most of which was seated with backpack with hiking sticks and then seated and kneeling with just backpack. I hiked to a canyon so it was realistic hunting situations.

What I learned:
1. When seated or kneeling- 6.5 w/147 suppressed 9.5lb gun set to 6x can spot shots about the same as the 223 8.5lb gun with a fixed 10x. This was from 300-700 yards. No clear winner, if 223 had 6x scope, that would be the winner as far as spotting shots

2- prone they are about the same with the 6.5 scope magnification turned down. Shot out to 1040 yards with 8/9x with the 6.5

3. I need a lower power scope for the 223


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I spent 3 hours shooting tonight. Most of which was seated with backpack with hiking sticks and then seated and kneeling with just backpack. I hiked to a canyon so it was realistic hunting situations.

What I learned:
1. When seated or kneeling- 6.5 w/147 suppressed 9.5lb gun set to 6x can spot shots about the same as the 223 8.5lb gun with a fixed 10x. This was from 300-700 yards. No clear winner, if 223 had 6x scope, that would be the winner as far as spotting shots

2- prone they are about the same with the 6.5 scope magnification turned down. Shot out to 1040 yards with 8/9x with the 6.5

3. I need a lower power scope for the 223


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Yeah man. 6-8X is where it’s at for me, whether it’s 650 yards on a mule deer across a canyon (last year kill) 30 yards in the woods on a whitetail (last year kill) ,or 800 yards on an elk in a field (2 years ago kill).

We overthink “zoom” and use stupid ideas like “aim small miss small” and add an extra step in the killing process that is almost always not needed. On top of that, it greatly reduces our ability to spot hits and follow up or track the animals movement in the scope.

A fixed 8x50 scope that’s reliable with a good hunting reticle is all I’d use on hunting guns if it existed.
 
Good point, reticle movement is the main concern the more I think about it. Is the reticle movement reduced enough by using 130s / 120s / 107s to be noticeable/worthwhile vs the 147?


Absolutely. It’s why I went to 130gr bullets 10 years or so ago. In a factory Tikka with 20oz scope, not suppressed or braked- from seated at 400 yards:

With 147’s I could spot about 50% of impacts. With 130’s, I could spot 80% or more of impacts.
 
Absolutely. It’s why I went to 130gr bullets 10 years or so ago. In a factory Tikka with 20oz scope, not suppressed or braked- from seated at 400 yards:

With 147’s I could spot about 50% of impacts. With 130’s, I could spot 80% or more of impacts.
Currently using 147s, would there be a difference in recoil with 140s ?
 
The Rokstok is noticeable at all cartridges, but the higher you go in recoil, the more noticeable it is that it’s assisting you.
The Rokstok made a huge difference on my iron sight .308 Tikka. I had it in a factory laminate stock and it wasn’t really fun with the shorter barrel and low comb. When I switched to the Rokstok, it became a totally different rifle.

Not exactly a 6.5CM, but my 6.5x55 Tikka with iron sights (read ~1.5lbs lighter than a scoped rifle) has a noticeable difference between 123/130gr loads and 147gr loads all about the same pressure. I tried some 100grs through it and it was another noticeable decrease in recoil (not that much different than my scoped .223 Tikka). Like Form suggested, I think I’ll switch to 107TMK once I burn through this last box of 123gr SSTs I had sitting around.

All these are suppressed 20” barrels in a Rokstok and go through Hunter drills every time they’re at the range.
 
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