No, it doesn't kick nearly as hard as a .30-06. What's good about the 7mm? Well, the bullets that are offered from the factory have excellent ballistic coefficients. They seem to be very efficient. The 7mm-08 has very mild recoil compared to other cartridges designed for similar use (i.e. .270, .280, .308, .30-06), which, for me, makes it more fun to shoot and easier to shoot well.

It's what was on sale at the time I headed out to the range to sight in the rifle. They grouped well, and performed well on the deer I've shot with them, so that's what I stuck with. If it was a strict apples to apples comparison, i.e. using the Remington PSP CL's for all three cartridges, the 7mm is still flatter shooting, although the difference isn't quite as great.

To respond to your "how far can it kill" question...

I believe it's a generally accepted rule of thumb that you want a minimum of 1000 ft lbs of energy at the range you're shooting the deer (some folks set their minimum at 800). The bullets will certainly kill while retaining less energy, but, I think we can use that as a starting point. "Rules of thumb" exist for a reason...

Using the 1000 ft lbs minimum, the .243 is a 300 yard cartridge, the .30-06 is a 400 yard cartridge. And, the 7mm-08 still has 1005 ft lbs at 500 yards.