the recoil between the both is about the same , granted my 7mm-08 is in the mountain rifle and my .260 is in the earlier model seven with the 18 1/2 " barrel ( which is the only thing i don' t like about this rifle ), so there' s a small difference if any on recoil there.

call me the oddball , but i preferr the .260, and as broey said you can use it on smaller game with lighter loads , in my opinion the 7mm-08 is to close to the .308 but , i also don' t like the rifle that i' ve got it in , as it' s the mountain rifle dm , with the noisy tinny sounding clip, which might have a little bearing on my decision there

another strange thing that i' ve seen firsthand is that the .260 that i' ve got shoots more accurately than the 7mm-08 i' ve got even though the 7mm ' s barrel is 3 1/2 " longer , i don' t know , maybe the rifle i' ve got just isn' t a shooter , i' ve heard others are very accurate. just my input from what i' ve experienced with my rifles