Well,I survived the recoil. I boughta 270 a couple of years agoinstead of a magnumriflebecause I don't want to get beat up by recoil. Ihad nevershot a mag, but I knew I could handle the 270. My brother-in-law is looking at two Number 1's, one in 300 and the other in 338. He wanted me to shoot them too. So, I put on my shoulder pad, put in ear plugs and slipped on my ear muffs to protect my already bad ears. I shot the 300 first and couldn't believe the recoil wasn't really that bad. I even had a little fun! Then I shot the 338 (it does have a ported barrel) and I didn't think itkickedany worse. It was a fun day shooting 20 or so rounds. No brusies, no real pain, but Idid know when to quit. I nowwonder if I should have bought a 7mm mag or a 300. Oh, well.......Jim