Just recently bought an H&R for the single shot, exposed hammer, primitive weapon caliber stipulations in some states and am looking for some info on the caliber---I know it's based on a necked up 30-06 case and the gun shop owner and a few others have mentioned that the recoil is noticeable--the recoil pad on it is about standars size for a typical big bore and even has a little give to it, but it's nowhere close to the bigger and much softer pad on my 700 in 06---so I'm asking, would it be wise to go ahead and have my gunsmith replace this pad with a good Packmeyer or Limbsaver or just man-up and shoot it as is---I have no problem with the recoil on my 06's but this is a much smaller, shorter and lighter gun and as I mentioned, I've been told the .35 Whelen is pretty snappy--- John