My wife hunts with a Remington 700 chambered in 30-06, I had the stock shortened to fit her and a nice limbsaver put on it .I hand load 165gr. Nosler partitions, and can control the "kick" by loading them down a bit. She hunts deer and elk with it, and it has done very well with putting elk down. sticking with her 30-06 is an option in case she wants to hunt larger game in the future.The cost of having some small modifications done to her riffle would be worth it in the long run.
Good luck and have fun with it whatever you do!