In guns of the same weight, the 300 WSM has a bit less recoil but not much less. Several friends of mine have them and they don't enjoy shooting them much. Recoil however is more bothersome to some than to others but most 300 WSM rifles are pretty light so don't expect much of a break in that area. They kick far to much for me to enjoy, I can take a shot or two to check Zero and a few shots in the field don't bother me. However, no way in He#* I would take a 300 out to the range for a day of enjoyable shooting. There are a lot of young tough guys out there who enjoy being kicked around like I used to. But no more.