Do a 260, 6.5 Creedmoor, or 6.5x47 Lapua and shoot lighter weight bullets in it if you want to keep the recoil down. If I were building off a long action I'd pick the 260 or 6.5 creedmoor with a preference for the creedmoor, short action the 6.5x47L. Too heavy depends upon how much you want to carry, more weight in the rifle means less recoil so there's really no such thing as too heavy from a recoil perspective. Light bullets kick less but have a lower BC also so it's a trade off. It depends upon how far you want to shoot with it. Energy isn't really a problem for whitetails, hit them right and they're done. The nosler 120 ballistic tip has a good reputation on deer and a reasonable BC for it's weight. It would make for a flat shooting, light kicking deer round. If I really wanted to keep the recoil to a minimum I'd use a 100 gr barnes ttsx, but the BC of it isn't the greatest if you're wanting to shoot long.
