Recoil bothers me a lot. I got some guns through my grandfather when I was about 13. Among them were a low number Winchester 70 in .375 and a Win 95 in .405. Both were old enough the recoil pads (not bad for their time) had fossilized. Another was a fairly light drilling, 12x12 with a .35 Win barrel under which had a steel butt plate. Between the three I did a lot of nerve damage to my shoulder.
I've spent almost 40 years with a flinch. It doesn't matter, boomer to .22 rimfire, when a stock hits my shoulder, even with the gun empty, stuff starts to flutter.
It doesn't seem a hindrance, I guess because I don't remember NOT having it, it's just another factor to manage when I shoot.
It was made worse somewhat recently (5 years?) when I had a Ruger #1H stainless in .375 H&H. At the range one day I let the lower point of the stock get too low and it crunched a tendon at the point of my collar bone.
When you talk about recoil problems, though, probably the two that come to mind were a Remington 700 XCR in .338 RUM and a Winchester 70 .458. The recoil on the shoulder was substantial but not specifically differently problematic than other things, the particular problem with them was being clocked in the head with the scope about 20-25% of the time. I've learned to manage impact on the shoulder over the years. I still have not gotten used to being smacked HARD in the head.
Tom
