Are you trying to start a 40 page thread????

I was at the same place as youonly 1year ago. I had picked out the kind of rifle I wanted, & was trying to pick a caliber. I was trying to balance what I was hunting (an elk this Fall), with what calibers I already owned (.243 Win), with energy/range (somewhat of a wash between .308 & '06), with the kind of rifle/rifle action I was looking at (little difference between them in a bolt), with bullet choices (too many for either!) and with recoil (again, a virtual wash, but I'm a real p*ssy when it comes to kick!).

I borrowed a buddy's 700 BDL in '06 & shot a box ofWinchester Silver Tips through it. I determined that it wasn't too bad, so I went ahead & bought the 700 CDL that I had my eye on. I had wanted to try a .308 at the same time (as well as a .300 Mag & 7MM Mag...), but the opportunity didn't present itself. So, I determined that the '06 was "good enough" for me, & I went my merry way.

My point? You can't make a bad choice between these 2 calibers. But, you can agonize way too long over the choice! If there's any way to shoot (or at least handle) your chosen rifle in each of these 2 calibers side-by-side, pick the one that "speaks to you". If you can't do this, then just pick one! Neither caliber is going away any time soon, and ammo will be reasonably priced and ubiquitous.

Then, GET THEE TO THE RANGE, and start practicing! A well-placed shot from either cartridge is bad news for most any critter at a judicious distance.

(FWIW,the R3 (Limbsaver's private label for Remington) recoil pad on my CDL made that gun much more tolerable to shoot than the plastic one on my buddy's BDL. I shot them side-by-side last month, & there was an unbelieveable difference: my buddy's on his way to the 'smith to have his BDL upgraded. When I heard you mention a distate for recoil, & an affinity for a T3 Lite, I felt compelled to go into the recoil pad rant.)