I traded a guy for a Tikka in .338 Win Mag. He constantly told me how large the rounds were and how much the gun kicked. I was a little scared of it when I finally sat down to shoot it but that thing is a baby. I was also a little scared of my .45-70 because of all of the stories I had heard. It's also a piece of cake. The hardest kicking thing I have shot is my Encore with a 24" 12ga slug barrel shooting 3" Partion Golds. I will NEVER shoot those slugs again.
I also think that the media has sold everyone on having to shoot magnum calibers. My go to caliber was a .270 Win for years. It worked great. I have to admit that I now use a .270WSM but that is mainly because I won that rifle in a raffle.
