To echo bigbulls sentiments I hunted for several years with a 30-06 using 180 and 165's. I now flip back and forth between a 7-08, 270 win, and 300 Sav. The 7-08 has significantly LESS recoil than the 06 and noticeably less than the 270 and just a touch lessthan the 300 Sav. You'd never hear any complaints on the 7-08 from me. Its an outstanding deer round...at least for me.