I finally got my wife to try shooting my AR-15. She tensed up, I told her to relax. “Why, that hardly kicks at all”, she said. I just smiled.
I built my own 30-06 when I was in high school. Took an old military 30-06 and tore it apart. Put a Monte Carlo stock and a Weaver 3x9 scope and still have it today. Did all of my own reloading, so ammo was never a problem. Was able to get all of the military brass I wanted. Just had to ream out the primer hole and sometimes trim the brass, but it all worked.