I have/had (son has it now) a Ruger 77 in 7mm RM and never felt that rifle recoiled unpleasantly. Thinking about it, I guess I don't have any of what I would consider really hard-recoiling rifles except my Marlin Guide Gun. It is unpleasant to shoot with hot-rod 400 grain 45-70 loads. I have a Kimber 8400 Classic in .300 WSM that is not much fun to shoot much off the bench. IME, shooting off the bench is another whole deal with regard to recoil and how it affects you. I've also heard it said that big, heavy people whose mass is more resistant to moving with the recoil suffer more than lesser-framed people whose bodies tend to "roll with the punch".
