[jmr40]

Most of it is between your ears.

I trust the math, 20 ft lbs of recoil hurts more than 10 ft lbs of recoil regardless of the stock. But most people can handle 20 ft lbs which is about where most standard weight 30-06 rifles are. Overall weight of the rifle is significant to REAL recoil so an 8 lb rifle will recoil less than a 6 lb rifle.

Everything else being the same you can't feel the difference between 2-3 ft lbs of recoil. Somewhere around 5 ft lbs the difference becomes noticeable.

Stock shape can have a minor effect on how and where that recoil hits you. Generally speaking, something that recoils straight back is more comfortable than something with a lot of muzzle flip.

A lever action 30-30 only has about 12 ft lbs recoil. But the stocks are designed for iron sight use with a lot of drop. Which causes a lot of muzzle flip. A 308 with a modern stock design is more comfortable with 15-16 ft lbs recoil.

Wide butt plates spread that recoil out over more surface area of your shoulder and are more comfortable than skinny butt plates. The old boat paddle Ruger stocks were quite heavy, but with tiny butt pads which put all the recoil into a small part of your shoulder.

Noise tricks your brain. A louder gun tricks you into thinking you're getting kicked harder.

The effects of recoil are cumulative. You may claim that you can handle 300 WM recoil. And up to a point you can. But after so many rounds of getting pounded your brain starts to mess with your ability to shoot well. All of us can shoot more lighter recoiling rounds before we reach that point.