Well, I have both guns, even though my 300 RUM is a remington 700 police (sucker weights like 9 lbs without scope), it still kicks like a son of a gun.
however, a 8.5-9 lbs rifle (including the scope) on my 338 win mag also kicks like a mule esspecially after 15-20 rounds at the range with 250 grain factory ammo. Yes, they both hurt, and I'll explain it a bit better ~
Imagine being punched in the shoulder by 2 different people,
--one is a person who, say, can bench press 600 lbs (big slow moving arm, but hits with authority)
--other one is a person who is a professional boxer (not as strong as the 600lbs bench presser, HOWEVER, hits very very fast and hard)
thats the closest explanation I can come up with, the 300 RUM recoils sharp and fast as heck, and the 338 win mag shooting 250 grains also recoils hard but not as "fast" as the 300 RUM. However they probebly both recoil between 35-40 lbs......In other words, its not a begginer rifle.