Well gents..just to inform of my own personal experience, & respectfully:
I've been hunting for yrs & yrs & yrs, owned both 30.06 & .375H+H amongst others, currently owning .338wm & 7x64...& really, my view is tht recoil/perceived recoil cannot simply be measured/estimated by comparison of calibres.. there are just to many different/other factors playing a roll/influence regarding recoil, ie, stock-design, recoil-pad, length of barrel, packing of barrel in stock, manner of holding the fire-arm, weight of fire-arm, etc, etc, etc...
EG: initially my 375 kicked like an upset mule !!!..untill it's stock was replaced, & then it was as tame as lamb all of a sudden..
Also, for example, currently this one factor, nl proper stock-design, is used by many/various rifle-manufacturer's to advertise & sell their product as LOW recoiling, aro this factor.. ?
..my current .338wm is a Ruger with a laminated stock, proper recoil-pad, etc, & what a pleasure it is to shoot, it's recoil is not more thn any 30.06/300wm out there, & on top of that I am downloading it to medium velocities of +- 2400fps > 2780fps with different bullet-weights, ie 160gn > 250/270gn, and it still retains it's higher 'killin-factor' as such...
Practically, I would really prefer this .338wm over any 30.06 or 300wm, any day(&respectfully), because, now I have a lower recoil/increased killing factor fire-arm/rifle which will outshine these 2 other calibres any day, & by far..IMHV..
IOW, one can make the 338wm into a 30.06/300wm easily, but one cannot turn the latter calibres into a 338wm at all, or easily..
My current go-to reloads are 160gnttsx/165gnImpala, & it shoots as flat as any of the mentioned calibres, but, with much more killing power/ability.. & still I can even up these factors quickly by simply utilising the 250/270gn pills at +- 2450/2600fps..what a pleasure..?
But of course, imhv, this probably can only be achieved through careful reloading/downloading, mainly, & together with all the other factors..IMHO..because then reloading/downloading just becomes one of the factors which may be utilized towards enhancing the versatility of the 338wm..much similar thn any other (versatile)calibre, respectfully..
So, gents, it seems then tht proper reloading/downloading, in this regard, can/may also play a huge roll towards lower recoil, than just to minimize ammo-costs, tailor loads, etc, etc..
Regards
app