I have a Ruger M77 Mark II in a .270 and have shot it numerous times over the past couple of years. This year I broke it out and went to the range to do some shooting and DAMN, that little ol' .270 put a hurting on me. I went to the range on 3 seperate occasions and all with the same results, a hurt shoulder and poor groups. I came to realize that I was not holding the gun tight into the pocket of my shoulder, I was letting the recoil come back and put the pressure on the top (point of butt) of the butt pad. It was like someone was "frogging" me with their knuckle. What I did to solve the problem was first, concentrate on proper placement of the butt and two fold a t-shirt up and place it between my shoulder and butt. I am not shy of the recoil but the way I was holding it was making me not want to hold that gun. This greatly increased my goups and also made the gun fun to shoot again.