In the almost 60 years that I've been shooting, hunting, or reading about it, I've come to a few conclusions. One is that there is always someone who believes that a certain cartridge has "magical qualities". One so called "selling point" is that a certain cartridge kicks like a baby, yet kills like a bear. I cannot tell you how many times I've read, or heard, that a 7-08, or a 7X57, or a 6.5X55, or a 260 Rem, just to name a few, seem to "kill better" than a cartridge of similar size. I've used all those cartridges to kill whitetails with, with the exception of the 260, and they kill no better than my favorite one, the 270 Win. As far as recoil goes, if you load any of those with a max load and shoot it in a lightweight rifle, you will get some felt recoil. Now, of those that I've listed, the felt recoil was noticeably less in the 6.5X55, but I attributed that to the fact that the rifle was a little on the heavy side, and the loads weren't max. My 7-08 in a Model 700 Mountain Rifle has more felt recoil to me than does my 270, that's in a Model 700 Classic. That's with a 140 grain at 2800 fps in the 7-08, and 130 grain at 3000 in the 270. I attribute that to the 7-08 weighing a little less. I have 2 7X57's, a Winchester Model 70 Lightweight, and a custom Mauser. Again, shooting 140 grain bullets, and max loads, the recoil is similar to that of the 7-08 and the 270. So, my conclusion is that the choice of a certain cartridge is personal, and not because it has any kind of magic associated with it. All I hunt is whitetail deer, and hope to draw a Kentucky elk tag, and I'd be perfectly content to use a 270, or a 7-08, or a 7X57 as my only cartridge for the rest of my life.