I bought a used TC ProHunter that came with a muzzleloader and 300 Win Mag barrel. Typically I use a muzzleloader barrel, 20 gauge or a 30-06 barrel on my primary TC ProHunter....I bought this one for my daughter (for muzzle loading NOT the 300 Win Mag).

I decided to shoot it today.... is it just me or do the rest of you also think that the 300 Win Mag kicks like a mule. Not a fun shooting caliber.

I must be getting older and wimpy..... or maybe I've gotten smarter and now know better than to punish my body.

probably the latter comment.

Shoulder injuries forced me to part ways with my 300 WM. Good shooter, just too abusive for my shoulder. Getting old Sucks, but getting dead keeps you from hunting and enjoying your family.

It's probably a combination of a heavy recoiling cartridge and a lightweight rifle. I've always figured if I'm going to take the recoil I might as well have a bigger bullet.

Heavy recoil in that load. Lightweight rifle makes it worse.

Shoot it prone and it is not remotely as bad as a bench. I put 20 down a Tikka T-3 Lite last week, shooting prone, and was wishing I had more ammo.

My .300 WM does not bother me at all. It is a pre-64 Winchester 70 and weighs about 8 1/2 pounds. Most importantly, the stock fits me.

A lot more to recoil than caliber alone unless all else is equal. If the rifle is light and/or the stock doesn't fit correctly, these can add significantly to felt recoil. Conversely, if the rifle is of sufficient weight and the stock fits properly, these can significantly diminish felt recoil. Plus position as JG mentioned. Several moving parts in the recoil equation.

Like others have said the gun can make all the difference in the world.

The best 300 Win Mag I ever shot was a old Browning BBR. The action is very similar to the Weatherby Mark V so its heavy and built like a tank! Very comfortable to shoot for being a 300.

I have also shot 338 Win Mags that felt more like a 375 H&H. Shot 375 H&H's that felt like a 338.

300 Win Mag is no weakling by any means but I say its tolerable for most experienced hunters in most hunting rifles.

The TC ProHunter fits me well and has that flex tech stock which soaks up the recoil, but being a single shot platform it is pretty light ...but since I had been shooting the 30-06 very comfortably I was surprised at the difference in the recoil.

It was more or less a freebie barrel so no big deal, but I think I'll try and sell that barrel and get a 270 barrel for the daughter.

They definitely kick but I think the gun, TC Pro, has a lot to do with the recoil you are experiencing. I don't shoot mine much anymore because the recoil is more than I care to take and I've got other rifles that will get the job done with a lot less recoil.

I have shoulder issues as well, 30-'06 and 8mm Mauser are the hardest kickers I have anymore.
I really gotta put a muzzle brake on my '06. Hurts, but I love the caliber.

With an 8.5 pound rifle and a good recoil pad, no, the .300 WM doesn't hurt me at all.

A lightweight 300 is a little much for a range toy. I had one and don't miss it a bit

My 300 mag kicks but not enough that I even notice it when hunting. That being said its not my choice of caliber for a plinking/range rifle.

I have a Winchester Model 70 .300 win mag. It used to rattle my teeth loose every time I shot it. I took off the regular butt pad and put a Sims Limbsaver butt pad on it, and now my pre '64 model 70 Featherweight .243 kicks a lot harder!!

KAAAAAAAABOOOOOMMMM KAAAAAAABOOOOMM KAAAABOOOM KAABOOM KABOOM Enjoy that ridiculous caliber.

This black dude shot a 300 mag about 200 yards from me one time. He shot a coyote that he had baited up with an old apple. I walked over there to make sure he didn't kill the buck I was hunting. When he shot my A s came off the seat of my fold out chair about 10 inches on its own. Those guns are more suited for elk. He said he was a rack hunter.

This. The Encore will beat the Hell out of you. I had the standard stock and a thumbhole stock, and both were TERRIBLE. I had .308, 30-06, and 45-70 barrels at one point or another, and all were very unpleasant to shoot. I think the point at which I decided to sell it was after I shot a friend's model 70 300 mag, and it kicked less than my encore .308.

Are you sure you weren't just tired and sleeping from running those deer down and the shot just woke you up?

I'm trying to make sense of this rambling.

The coyote baited up by an apple is interesting but I'm not sure where to go with it.

I had been there for some time. Ever hunted over big tree rubs in hopes of a big buck. Gets monotonous. This was back before the very available trail cam. I had that trail cam that had a real camera inside of a remote controlled push button holder, with a 5 movement trail timer. Those were enough to wart me off trail cams forever. Sooo I didn't know how big the buck making the big rubs was, and still prefer to hunt this way, because I don't want to spoil it with pictures of the buck, before I actually see him. You know, ever watch a hunting show and all they do is talk about what the buck looks like and what his name is. Ill pass on that. Here comes AT and T that's the AT and T buck. It sounds Fn stupid and is real cheesy way to do things. Hay if the buck comes out an overgrown spike, so be it. Back to the apple hunter, he was from out of town and his family owned the property. He was from Dallas. Oh ya, I killed that buck a few weeks later. He was a high racked 8 point. scored 132 killed him with a model 788 .308

stock shape has a lot to do with it too... weight makes a big difference.

IMHO 30-06 and .270 are the hardest consistently kicking guns I have shot. But I think a lot of that is because of the type of guns(light weight) and the stock shape

I put a limb saver cut to fit recoil pad on a rem 721 30 .06 because all it had was a hard butt plate and it went from ouch to .243 real quick.

I forgot about this one. I have a friend that killed his biggest buck with a .300 mag and the bullet never entered the deers body. He said he walked up on it making a scrape and was shaking all over the place. He let one rip and the buck stood up straight in the air and fell over backwards. He walked up to the 160 in 11 point and he said that the deer was dead and didn't have a hole in him. The taxidermist couldn't even find a bullet wound. I told him he gave that deer a heart attack with that .300 mags explosive boom.

I just don't know what to say about this one.