the only time you will notice the recoil of a 30.06 is if you go to the range and shoot 3 or more boxes of ammo. I just got one after shooting a 12 gauge for deer hunting for years. It's manageable. I like to shoot mine at the range so i got a recoil pad installed on my M70. It works quite well. In fact its more pleasurable to shoot now then my 7mm-08 without the pad.