Recoil is so subjective. My 125 pound wife has shot a 460 and said it was a bit much but very workable. Have a 300 pound large framed buddy(IE not 300 pounds of fat) that almost cried when his 338 came in. had to put a brake on it right away.

There are so many things involved. Same amount of recoil but at differing speeds of recoil makes a huge difference. Shape of stock and how it fits. What position you shoot from. How hard you hold the gun. How tense your body is. How scared you are.

I will not get another rifle without having a quality recoil pad on it regardless(well maybe not on a 243.....) I even have a pad on a lightweight 308. You can do it without, but with pad makes it nicer. All stocks will fit or be cut to fit. After that I can put on a brake if needed. And the heck with those that constantly bitch about brakes. One shot I can live with in the field.

End thoughts are to buy what you want to and you can most likely figure out how to make it work and live with it. As to all the mag shells-- I do think that the 7 mags mentioned are a bit less in recoil than the 30s with larger bullets. But to me there isn't a ton of difference.

Jeff