A long time ago I opted for the .270 over the 300 win mag...I can't even recall what my reasoning was but now that I'm not as young as I used to be, I'm glad I made that decision. I've never even shot a 300 win mag but my best friend did and he said the recoil was...monumental. haha

So, I'm OK with my decision on the .270. I did have the opportunity to shoot the Barrett 50 cal. I suppose that should cover about all there is in the recoil biz except I think a bolt gun or double rifle like you mention in 416 or especially the 600 would out do the 50 in terms of recoil...they tamed the 50 down pretty good with the weight of the gun.

I think I've mentioned before that i gave my model 700 in 7mm rem mag to my nephew who wanted to get into long range shooting. That's a sweet rifle and round. Really liked it.

I cleaned out a population of ground hogs here recently...5 or 6 of them that were living under my shed...what monster piece of death dealing instrument did I choose to do the deed with? .22 lr and I was trying to find my box of .22 shorts to reduce the noise beings how I'm living in civilization with the neighborhoods going in and partially occupied.

I can relate to the shoulder vs recoil thing as well...felt that coming on years ago.