My 130lb g/f has a 700 BDL in .270 with the original hard plastic butt plate. She shoots it very well from the bench and has shot quite a few deer with it. She has never said a word about the recoil. I offered to have a thin recoil pad installed, and at the same time have the LOP shortened, since it is a bit long for her. She said "absolutely not, there's no way you are going to cut that beautiful stock." The rifle does have a very nicely figured walnut stock. So, I suspect that recoil is not an issue for her. She shoots 130gr bullets which I load ahead of max amounts of IMR4350 or H4831.

It looks like you need to add a .358 Win to your Model 99 collection. I owned a 99R in that caliber back in the 70's. One summer I was shooting it from the bench wearing a T-shirt. LOL I suppose I didn't have a good enough grip on it, and when it fired, the sharp steel buttplate tore through my t-shirt and sliced my shoulder. I still have the scar. I really liked that rifle, but then, as now, I was not inclined to load lightly, and the cases stretched very badly, with head separations after about 3 loadings.