Vermont,
I have a good friend who has a Weatherby Vanguard in .25-06 and as I stated above, I have the XL7 in .25-06. Let me first say that both guns are great quality for the price. My friend has asked me several times, however, to trade me for my XL7. The reason is that he cannot get the Weatherby to shoot as accurately as I can get my XL7 and he stated that his trigger is adjustable but only by a gunsmith- I can adjust mine. The weatherby's by nature are very good guns and are very accurate, but my XL7 is very accurate- more like my Savage with accutrigger. I bought the XL7 because I got it for $120 less than the Weatherby and I felt like I wasn't sacrificing anything. I am a Weatherby fan, but for the money I feel the XL7 is the better deal.
ALSO: Check out Chuck Hawks rifle recoil table to see the difference in recoil between the 7x57 and the .30-06. With the same weight rifle, (8 pounds) the 7x57 with a 139 gr. bullet will have roughly 14 pounds of recoil energy and the .30-06 with a 150 gr. bullet will have roughly 17.6.
Like I said, I have shot my buddies XL7 in .30-06 and found the recoil to be pretty harsh because the XL7 only weighs in at 6.5 to 6.75 pounds- the recoil pad does help though...
Do you have a Walmart near you? They sell a Savage Model 10 package with scope in .30-06 here for $378. This gun has the accutrigger and I have owned 2 of them in .243. It was the MOST ACCURATE gun I have ever owned out of the box. These are a great value and I would vouch that it will probably be more accurate than both the Marlin and the Weatherby. I hope this helps!