RE: 243 vs 30-30
Dean a lot of what has been put up here is good, sound advice. Its good that you know your limitations. A bullet from a .243 in the right spot is going to be MUCH MUCH better than a bullet from a "larger" caliber improperly or errantly placed.
My deer cartridge of choice, as many have recommened, is a 7mm-08. I'm not recoil shy at all, but there is no point putting up with a ton of recoil, when a spoonfull is all you need. Its a great medium game round for deer and hogs. The report is fairly mild, and having shot the 7mm-08 along with a .243, I personally could tell very little, if any difference in recoil. For hogs, I think the 7-08 will give you a bit of an advantage, although with a well constructed bullet, I think you'd be just fine with the .243. There are lots of options for you.
I'd suggest taking a look at Remington. Most of their 700s currently being made come with a very good R3 recoil pad and a fairly straight stock design, both of which are going to make felt recoil as minimal as possible without putting a muzzle brake on the gun.
Pavo made a good point in an earlier post about the benchrest being one of the harshest positions to shoot from when it comes to recoil. On the bench, nothing is exactly friendly.
Another option for you is to look at some of the semi-auto rifles being made by Browning, Remington or Benelli. They take a lot of the bite off some of the larger sporting cartridges.
Good luck.