Re: help with recoil
OK, here we go...
#1 - Don't wear anything nylon on your shoulder. Nothing that could cause the butt to slip.
#2 - Take that pistol grip and put a death grip on the thing/
#3 - Pull the butt of the rifle firmly into your shoulder. Compress every ounce of fat and muscle, to the point where the rifle's butt is solidly into your shoulder.
#4 - Wear plugs AND muffs. Noise is a large contributor to flinching. Less noise, less flinching.
#5 - Like Greg said above, you've got to "ride" it. Once solidly anchored to your shoulder, let the gun do what it's going to do. Yes, it will recoil. BUT, if you've got that thing firmly into your shoulder, it won't "slap" you, it will merely "push" you.
#6 - Finally, until you're well accustomed to the "push", don't even think of shooting that gun off the bench. Instead, stand up on your hind legs and shoot it like a man. You'll feel less recoil that way. Trust me on this one. Don't shoot it off the bench.
#7 - While you're practicing cramming that butt into your shoulder, force your head all the way forward. Make sure you ain't gonna walk away with a "Pettie Eye". Make sure there's clearance between your eyebrow and that nasty, sharp scope objective ring.
#8 - My wife is 125 lbs, dripping wet. She'll shoot full up turkey loads from my 870 turkey gun. She does what's above, and she'll shoot that gun again and again.
Let me know how it turns out. If you do it right, you'll even be able to shoot a .300 Weatherby (one nasty sumbitch recoiler).