Yep, what he said. My M70 Classic FWT in .30-06 is the most I like to shoot in the recoil department and I'm a larger guy. If I ever purchased anything bigger than that it would probably have a brake on it. I did load development for a friend that HAD to have a .338/.378 Wby for shooting whitetails and "dropping them in their tracks." It has an excellent brake on it and brought the recoil down to about my .308 with stout 150 gr. loads. The only shot he can get them do drop with instantly is either the CNS shot or a gut shot with 180 gr. Ballistic Tips (he's loading his own now, I wouldn't load BT's in that monster for him.) He tried shooting it without the brake once at deer, notice I said once. After that he went back to the brake. He was pretty ticked off when he watched a 100 gr. Partition out of my .243 cause a 2x3 muley to rear up and fall over dead at 250 yds., I took the top out of the heart and that was the result. He says, "Why won't my .338/.378 do that?" I say, "It will, just practice and don't be scared of the recoil." (or actually in this case, the muzzle blast!) He still insists on using it for deer and has obviously killed them, but no deader than my .243 or .30-06 with a bullet in the right place.
Selmer
BTW, I also gave him first shot on a buck at 427 yds. (paced after the kill). He missed, the deer was confused about the source of the shot, and a 165gr. BT from my .30-06 dropped him within 30 yds. of where he stood on impact, it's ALL in shot placement.