I have an awr in 338rum. Not the lightest rifle but by no means heavy. I carried it about 5 days bear hunting last year and did not notice it to be heavy. It has a 3-15x44 vx5hd on it so pretty middle of the road weight optic. Recoil is not for the faint of heart but I actually thought it would be worse. I am running the Barnes vortex 250 lrx that do 2910 fps. There is no brake on this rifle or will there ever be. I shot about 15 rounds off the bench the second time out to get used to it and test how it would hold zero and I will not lie, towards the end I was starting to feel it. To shoot a few rounds at an animal, never going to bother me. Just make sure you have the eye relief set right and the stock is firmly in your shoulder.