WOW I thought the '06 was not a hard kicking caliber. I sat down and shot 40 rounds through my '06 with bullets ranging from 150-180 off of a bench and my shoulder is fine. I think compared to the hard kicking rifles the 30-06 is a soft kicker, when compared to the 300 ultra mag and everything magnum we have out there now. Also I have a 7mm08 it is in a very trim light weight rifle so with 140 gr. bullets it kicks every bit as hard as an '06 with 150's JMO.