RE: recoil
Years ago My first deer rifle was a Ruger M77, very light ... I think a
"mountain rifle" in .308. I had never shot anything centerfire much at all before. The recoil bothered me some with just Wal-Mart loads. Had a chance to up-grade and wound up with a Rem. 700, in .308 again. I would guess the Rem. weighs about a pound more than the Ruger, but the difference in weight allowed me to overcome the flinch problem. Never shot any magnum stuff, but a little bit of weight seemed to help me. I now shoot stuff like Fed. Premium High-Energy, to boot. For my area and type of hunting .308 seems like enough but we're not talking very big or dangerous game, either.
Nothing against the Ruger... It's just that the recoil thing got inside my
head and changing rifles helped me get it straightened out, mentally and physically. I guess what I'm saying is that flinch has a mental component as well as physical.