Pinnacle wrote:30-06 is just a lot of gun. People mistake it for being benign. It isn't. Too much for most people to shoot.
Huh?
.30-06? Are you kidding me?
I know under 100# women who shoot .375 H&H regularly.
In any case, I doubt the problem is the cartridge.
Recoil's intolerabilty is the summation of several factors, some controllable, some not so much so.
First off is technique. One sure way to make sure that rifle smacks you good is to shoot off a bench with just a front rest bag, or worse yet, prone off a bag. The most tolerable (but least accurate) is standing offhand. Make sure you are using good contact (firm) with the pocket of the shoulder. The proliferation of .223's (and the pictures of the servicemen shooting them in body armor) have caused this simple factor to be badly neglected.
Second is fit of the rifle. If the length of pull is too long or too short it will cause problems. If the sights are such that you will need to crawl up on the stock, you will have trouble.
Third is weight of the rifle. Using an ultra light mountain rifle as a general purpose plinker is going to give more intolerable recoil. Heavy is good for shooting, light is for serious hunting guns and military rifles that are carried a lot more than shot.
Fourth would be the ammo. This has been covered above.
Fifth is the style of the stock. This will be different for everyone. Ruger's rifle stocks kick the daylights out of me. I have some custom stocks on hunting guns that make a .416 kick like a 30-06 from remington. This is very individualized, and some degree of custom fitting is needed, probably part of why the adjustable stocks are so popular with the military and police snipers.
Sixth is noise. The more muzzle blast, the more you will perceive recoil. Use good hearing protection.
Seventh is just plain experience. The more you have shot, the less likely recoil will bother you. I can't begin to count the number of guys I know who shoot a 3" 12 ga while hunting birds, but complain that a .308 has "too much kick..." even though the actual recoil weights are much worse from the shotgun. I think (going off fallible memory) that a handicap trap load will have more recoil energy than a average .30 06 sporter. This is why you should start a new shooter with a .22, and then move up as they gain confidence and ability.
Proper padding can help with tolerability of recoil, but really a PAST pad or a "sissy bag"is a bit of overkill for a .30-06, if you need it for that, you should pay some attention to the rest of the issues. I'm not saying don't use it, as you should be comfortable, but it will cause issues with fit. In brief, I don't think I've met any reasonably healthy guy who could not learn to shoot a .30-06. After all, the average height in the US was a few inches shorter back in 1917, people were generally smaller, yet we used the 1903 Springfield (a quite light piece) as our standard military arm to train thousands of recruits to an acceptable standard during WW I.