First and most important, shoot a caliber and rifle that you are comfortable with. Remember recoil is a personal thing, throw away your computers and your charts, and shoot your rifle. Also different rifles in the same caliber canhave different felt recoil. Make sure your rifle fits properly!!! Now to caliber, sorry guys but bigger is always better(as long as you the shooter can manage the recoil). A 308 caliber will outperform a 284 which will outperform a 277, which will outperform.........I am not attacking anyone who has responded to this thread, it is obvious most of you guys know what you are talking about. What I have noticed at our club is that most shooters who claim to know what their rifles can do at 500 yards, have never shot at 500 yards, and probably could not hit a bull in the butt at that distance, but they sure can quote that drop. I have shot over 100 deer, and been around the shooting of probably over 500. Believe me 30 caliber is king. Tom.