Felt recoil is an odd issue! I have two .338 W Mags. One with a custom 25 inch barrel with a Mark X action and a laminated stock. Fully decked out it goes almost 10 pounds but recoil is very tolerable. The second is a TCR Aristocrat with a 25 inch barrel that just smacks the heck out of me at the range. Go figure!

I shoot a box or two of ammo (off the bench !) with my Browning X-bolt in .338WM and never fill that I got knocked around.

In fact, it was fun................