I'm 6'1" 130lbs soak and wet, I shoot a .270 with no flinching problem at all. I think the flinching problem is the anticipation of the recoil and/or the noise. I shot my friends 30.06 and flinched everytime. The recoil was uncomfortable to me. Hearing protection is a must!! I got a AR15 (.223) that has no recoil but is loud as hell. I'll flinch with it too if I happen to fire off a round with no hearing protection. Just practice with the .243 WITH hearing protection and when it gets time to pull the trigger on a big buck, you won't even notice the noise. Just don't get "buck fever", I've done that too.