The thread about worst recoil made me think about my most pleasantly surprising experience with recoil. I have one of Melvin's rifles chambered in .340 Bee that I fully expected to kick like a mule, but it just doesn't. Sure, there is some recoil, but it's not particularly abusive and that rifle is much easier to shoot than I anticipated. I credit Melvin's stock design for a lot of that.
