I'll be 60 in 6 months. When I was younger I wasn't much bothered by recoil and owned all sorts of rifles up through the 375 H&H. Now I find rifles in the 308/270 recoil level is the upper limit of fun. That doesn't mean I can't still shoot heavy recoiling cartridges well, just that I find no fun in doing so, and absolutely do better, more consistent shooting with lighter recoil. And if I have learned anything over the last 30+ years, it's that on game, "cartridges are more alike than different."
I turned 60 last July ....... Everything you said, I could have wrote myself.
My "big" gun now is a Remington 721 in 300H&H and it pretty heavy. If I tire of that, I will fall back to something in 7mm, either a 275Rigby or 280Remington or both. I considered selling the 280 and having a 7x57 done in a synthetic stock to go with the wood & walnut 275Rigby.
