ORIGINAL: homers brother

So, here's the deal. For all that most of us fire ourbig gamehunting rifle over the course of a year, you're not going to feel the effects of that dreaded "recoil" any more than you'll experience aches and pains associated with a day of hiking around in the woods. I trust that not many of us will take a .378 Weatherby Magnum (et al) to the prairie dog town or to the rifle rangewith a couple boxes of ammo? One, the stuff's spendy, and Two, you're in for some punishment, shooting from either a bench or prone.

I remember one season cracking off two quick shots (first one missed) at an elkwith a .375 H&H. My shoulder hurt much less (funny, I really don't even remember it) than did my back, shoulders, arms, and legs after hauling that quarteredbrute across a mile-and-a-half of deadfall timber and through two swamps over the next two days.

Unless you have significant shoulder problems, recoil doesn't merit the worrylots of folkshere make it out to be. And if you DO have shoulder problems, the quandry over .30-05, 7mmRM, or .270WSM is relatively pointless, as what you probably ought to be considering is a caliber based on a lower-volume case (i.e. .308, 7mm-08, .260, .243).

If you need to worry about something, worry about the rifle'sweight, the optics,worry about getting in shape before hunting season, and worry about bullet selection (though any of the calibers you mention are more than capable of taking a deer, provided you do your part getting a bullet downrange)