The number of hunters who go on high dollar hunts doing not much more than whacking a few rounds from the bench at various distances(if that), is pretty astonishing...I have seen it too many times.
Apparently so have many guides and outfitters. On some hunts,most "rifle checking" sessions are really "client checking" sessions to see who can handle a rifle, and who can't. It isn't hard to spot the guys who aren't really ready for anything....they act as if the rifle is some strange implement with which they are completely unfamiliar. If I were a guide or outfitter I would find this pretty unnerving.
Add on top of this that the rifle is some bucking, bellowing howitzer(compounding the problem),and it's no wonder outfitters seek the lowest denominator in cartridges,hoping the client at least hits well even if the rifle is on the light side.
These people don't practice much,and maybe best served with smaller cartridges
I agree with Marine Hawk that folks can learn to shoot bigger rifles than they think, but this takes time, discipline,high round count,and exposure with short range sessions, spread out over a long period of time to maintain familiarity while minimizing exposure to too much recoil.....short, but frequent range sessions are key for me.But I stop when it isn't fun anymore.
After a layoff from 375 level recoil my reaction to the first shot at the range is always "WTF was that!"....Wow! But after 3-4 shots things settle in, My mind figures I'm not going to get killed,and shooting gets easier....the perception of recoil is worse than the real thing.
I recall the sensation of recoil on both my bears with the 375...there was no recoil sensation at all;it was so trifling I might as well have been shooting a woodchuck with a Swift. I was pretty focused on more important stuff at that point.
