Hard facts for soft shooting: Remington Managed Recoil Ammo

Guns Magazine, July, 2004 by Charles E. Petty

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That statement is so important that it is a law of nature. Sometimes it's called Newton's Law, although he has several. When a bullet goes one way the gun simply has to go the other. The good news is that, since guns are heavier than bullets, we experience the three in a different way.

I would go so far as to say that recoil is responsible for 99 percent of all shooting errors. The reason is nothing more than normal human defensive physiology known as a reflex. We try to move away from something that is hurting us and exhibit the startle reflex to loud noises. It takes considerable training to be able to shoot a gun without showing those effects and the difficulty increases in direct proportion to the recoil.

The major factors that govern recoil are the weight of the gun and bullet and the velocity to which the bullet is driven. If you increase bullet weight or velocity or decrease the weight of the gun you will feel more recoil. That's why flyweight guns and super-magnum cartridges don't get a lot of trigger time from Charlie.

I consider myself to be a fairly skilled shooter but my tolerance for severe recoil is definitely limited to a relatively small number of shots before I begin to flinch, jerk the trigger or both.

How Much Is Enough?

As a serious student of all the shooting sports one of the things 1 do frequently is watch other people shoot. It really blows my mind to watch somebody shoot a .500 S&W or even some hot .44 Magnums and put the gun down with a pained look on their face and then tell me how much fun it is. I realize I'm old and crotchety but I never have called hurting myself fun. And dammit we don't need to do that to be well armed or be the baddest so-and-so in the valley.

I'd also really like to know where it is written that we must forever search for newer more powerful cartridges and loads. I guess it is the fault of generations of gun writers and industry marketing guys who have to sell something. And it is surely also the fault of shooters who accept the subliminal message of the whole thing: that you can buy equipment that will turn you into a better shooter or hunter instead of devoting the hours and hours it takes to become a good shot.

And while we're at it consider power from some other negative views. Who really believes you must have a 7mm Magnum for whitetails or a .338 for elk? Nor would I argue with someone who bravely mentioned that it's likely every species of game animal on the planet has been killed with the lowly .22 Long Rifle. Not that I advocate this, because it takes an incredible level of surgical shooting skill to do something like that but marksmanship will trump power anytime.

So when I learned of Remington's Managed Recoil ammo concept it was one of those eureka moments for me. For some time they have offered a reduced recoil buckshot load that has eight 00 pellets instead of the customary nine. Velocity is slightly reduced too and the end result is a very effective buckshot load that doesn't beat you up. That concept has now been applied to a couple of popular rifle cartridges with rather remarkable results.

Initially there are three calibers available but it's certainly reasonable to expect more in the future. See chart "A" for examples of the current Managed Recoil loads compared to more traditional loadings.

All Important Pill

Let's consider the bullets first, When we talk about hunting ammo--and that's what this is--the bullet must be capable of good performance over the range of velocities possible so the first thing they had to do was come up with some new designs. Both the .270 and .30-'06 are new, specifically designed for these Managed Recoil loads. Both take advantage of Remington's Core-Lokt Ultra technology.

In the case of the 7mm Magnum this was not required because Remington's inventory already included a 140-grain bullet designed for the 7mm-08.

One very reasonable area for concern is the change in zero due to the lower velocity and lighter bullet. Remington reports the Managed Recoil ammo shoots no more than two inches low at 100 yards. With that in mind it is certainly possible for someone to hunt within the 200 yard limit advised for Managed Recoil ammo without having to change the zero on the scope.

It would also be possible to determine what the shift is in your rifle and make an appropriate sight change. All of us want our hunting rifles to be accurate and many insist on minute of angle precision. That's surely nice but since the vital zone of most white tail deer is 6 inches or so it is equally reasonable to not worry about it.

It wasn't possible to try all of these new loads, but we did one test with the 30-'06 Managed Recoil in my Sako 75 rifle. The plan was simple--fire two three-shot groups at the same target. One load was a 150-grain American Eagle and the other the 125-grain Managed Recoil. It had been awhile since the Sako had been fired and the zero had drifted to the left a little but as you can see in the picture elevation was the same for both loads.