Well to a brand new shooter recoil unfortunately can be a main factor in deciding cartridge. You aren't going to start an eight year old kid on a 7mm Rem Mag are you? I think what you are trying to say is there needs to be a balance between performance and felt recoil, but the point is if you can't shoot it off a bench you can't shoot it in the field either. Just a fact of life. I used to laugh at people who worried about recoil. I am 6'7" tall and weigh 260 pounds, so I used to shoot anything with a trigger and not worry about it. That is until my rotator cuff gave out and now I have a shoulder problem similar to James B. I can't even shoot a 308 Win off the bench all day like I used to. Thank goodness for the PAST recoil pad. It spreads the load out and keeps stuff from grinding as bad.