Exactly what are you hunting brown bear or elk...if you answered no then...if you are look at recoil charts you shouldn't be shooting either nor would I let my son "grow" in to a .338
Go get yourself a 7mm-08 and be happy your son will thank you
I think that the "Mighty Little" 7mm-08 helped to make my son the highly competent hunter that he is today.
He has no flinching or trigger jerking habits brought on by hard recoiling magnum rifles and has dumped beautiful trophy animals out to 500 yards with it.
