When my wife went from .243 to 7-08 she was not pleased. Until I put a limbsaver on it. Now she says it has less recoil than her .243 did. She has had one bench session with the 7-08 where she shot 80 rounds. I'd say that's quiet the testament to limbsaver. She 5'2" and 120ish. Lol. ish.

There is a difference... Just not to us. Kid yes. With that said most would adapt pretty quick BMD's daughter is a prime example.

+1 on Chad's post. I've been using that website he cited for years and feel like it will give you real world feel for recoil.

I also feel like the felt recoil between 2 different rifles in the same caliber and bullet can greatly be influenced by how the rifle fits the shooter....probably more than the difference between these 2 calibers in felt recoil.

...and another Vote for the 6.5's in either 6.5x55 Swede, 6.5 Creedmore or the 260 Remington. Bullet performance in 6.5 IMO trumps the 6mm's any day all day 8 days a week and offers a much wider range of bullets and weights than the 243.

Run the #'s in the website Chad mentioned and use the same weight bullets 1st in 243 x 6.5 and then 6.5 x 7-08, then look at the MV's, SD & BC's. 6.5 & 284's are almost a wash but the head and shoulders better performance of the 6.5's over a 243 is why I got into a soft kicking Swede and out of my 40+ year love affair with a 270 using a 6lb 4oz Tikka T3 Lite + 13oz scope & 3oz of alloy rings for a total weight of 7lb 4oz's and a hard rubber butt pad that a Limbsaver cured marginally with my ever cranky shoulder. This was following a major shoulder reconstruction in Sept '06 & 18 months of rehab thru Fall '08...and the Swede kills like the 270 did out past 3-350 yards in 120's & 130 NAB's and I could wear just a TShirt to shoot off the bench with and not put up with a "sissy pad " aka a Past Pad.
Ron

This.

I have both and have done a fair amount of shooting with both of them. There is noticeably less recoil in the .243 with 95 gr bullets than the 7mm-08 with 140 gr bullets.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm Here ya go.

Thats's what I needed, thanks everyone

6.5x55SE

I had the same idea, but she refused to wear it.