As I have gotten older and smarter, my recoil tolerance has gotten lower, whether pain induced or mind induced. The maximum for me is now 308 Winchester and I don’t have need to shoot it much anymore. 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor do all that I need to do with a Big Game rifle, but if I feel like I need more, I’ll use the 308. I deer hunted for many years with 30-06’s and 270’s, but learned that they weren’t necessary to cleanly take whitetail deer or mule deer or even elk for that matter.
