Exactly Oldtimr! Anyone who makes a statement about them being similar needs to start looking at ballistic charts because the felt recoil of a .308 with the much heavier bullets it uses is not even close to the lower ft/lbs produced by a .243. I can shoot my .243 all day like shooting a BB gun. My 25-06 that's a necked down 30-06 also has very minimal felt recoil. Move up to and shoot the .308 and 30-06 that have pretty similar ballistics and there is quite a difference in ft/lbs of felt recoil, as well as what's put out the barrel.