I am like you, I do like to see how different rifles recoil not just shoot them off of a lead-sled and then go hunt...
I have shot a few different 338WM's including a lightweight KS custom and have never found the recoil to be that bad. If you a looking for a lighter recoil load the 180 accubond is the bullet. You can get the MV to over 3100 and still have light recoil.