does any one out there own a ruger frontier rifle?wanting to buy one (7mm-08) and was wondering about the recoil and noise from a rifle with that light and barrel that short.all opinions welcome.

I don't have one, but a rifle that will weigh around 7.5lbs when scoped shouldn't cause any recoil problems when chambered for 7mm-08. Will be a bit louder than a 22" barrel, but hoe many shots do you fire without hearing protection? Certainly won't be anything like a rifle with a muzzle break. It's too bad Ruger couldn't bring this rifle in at around 6-6.25lbs with a 18-20" barrel...I'd probably have one.

Remington dropped the 18 1/2" barrels in the Model 7 and went to 20" barrels. I figured the 20 incher on the 7-08 I shot was short enough.

Bye
Jack

Ruger's Frontier rifle is similar to their Ultralight model, I believe. The Ultralight has a 16.5 inch barrel and weighs about 5 pounds and change.
A few years back a friend of mine (who had shoulder troubles) asked me to zero his Ruger Ultralight in 243. That rifle was one barking, biting 243 !
Shot just fine. But, the muzzleblast was severe, and the recoil was similar to my 7 pound 308 that has a checkered steel buttplate.

I know what you mean about the Ruger Ultralights. A friend of mine needed his scope zeroed. It is a .308. It had one nasty bark and bite. Jumped all over the flippin' place and it took all 20 rounds to make sure it was shooting where it was supposed to. I'll take the 20 inch barrel!