I read what you said about recoil but I assure you that after awhile,you'll grow out of enjoying recoil. I strongly suggest the 7mm08-it'll cleanly kill ANY deer or black bear ever to walk the earth with proper bullets, and the recoil is about 1/2 that of the 30-06,in addition to it being (usually) extremely accurate. IMO ONLY-it's the perfected version of the .308.