RE: recoil
I just spent some time on the range Sunday sighting in my .300 RUM for this fall's elk season.
A friend who will be joining me for the first time brought along a .270 and a Weatherby .300. We shot all three rifles. My .300 RUM has a muzzle break on it, but my friend's Weatherby did not.
The difference between the two (.300 RUM is slightly faster and more powerful) was startling! My RUM actually felt tame with the break on it.
Someone up above hit the nail on the head when they mentioned dry firing. I'm an old retired Army fud, and dry firing is always part of my "warm up" regimen on the range before launching bullets especially with my RUM. It took me a little while to get used to its recoil, never having owned a magnum rifle before a few years ago.
I sight in the RUM, clean it and put it away in prep for the season. I do the tune up shooting prior to hunting with a mild loaded 06 to get the rhythm and muscle memory down of quickly getting the rifle up and on target. I do this both dry fire and live fire.
I can't say that I actually remember felt recoil in the field.
Regards.