Point well taken on the recoil...I'm 6'4" 300 pounds and grew up shooting everything from .22lr to .338. Have put 20 rounds down range with this rifle with 180 grain bullets....in two 10 round sittings. Recoil is hard, but manageable not too much different than my Uncle's 300win which I have shot quite a bit.. At present I've got a Zeiss Conquest on it and it has pretty solid eye relief....trying to avoid the Weatherby eye brow....thanks to all for their input...these forums are a tremendous asset!

Along with what the others have written, let accuracy be your guide. Shoot those rounds at hunting distances, at critter sized targets.

Agave
Eagle Scout for 20+ years

Believe it or not, a gentleman of your build will acctually get punished by recoil more than someone more my size (6 feet 175 lbs). Reason is simple physics. If we both shot your 300 Weatherby, everything being equal save our respective builds, we would be experiencing the same ft pounds of recoil. However, because I weigh less than you, my body would move back more, experiencing more recoil but less "kick", because the extra energy is expended moving ME rearward. Therefore I would acctually get less punishment. Think of it as rolling with the punches. I define recoil and kick differently. Recoil is the amount you are moved, be it from muzzle rise etc. This takes you off target and certainly effects you both mentally and physically. I define kick as what hurts. Kick is what you feel on your face mostly and in your shoulders.

Shooting off the bench, in my opinion, is where recoil is the worst. If you take a knee, or shoot offhand with safari sticks, you will be suprised how manageable rifles that are god awful on the bench can be. Weatherby's rounds kick as hard as any in my opinion, and I think that 300 Weatherby is worse than my .375 H&H.

With respect to bullet choices, a 180 or 165 would be a good choice for you. 300 wea. on the surface is often considered too much for pronghorn or whitetails, but when you consider that you have large midwestern deer, and most pronghorn shots are 200+ yards, I think you made a pretty good choice. Select a good tough bonded bullet for your elk applications (Accubond, SST, Interbond, etc) or my personal choice for just about everything, Barnes Triple Shocks!