There are two primary reasons a 7mm recoils less than a comparably effective .30 cal. cartridge: (1) to match the 7mm's BC requires a significantly heavier .30 cal bullet; and (2) to drive that heavier .30 cal bullet at similar velocities (for kinetic energy and wind resistance ("time-to-target"), requires more powder. This combination of heavier bullets with heavier powder charges significantly increases the recoil of the .30 caliber. The flip side of this is that "when you compare heavy bullets, grain for grain, the 7mm-08 offers better ballistics. In other words a 168-grainer fired from a 7mm-08 will exhibit less drop and less windage than a 168-grain bullet fired from a .308 Win."