At the risk of boring those readers who have read this before, I killed most of my thick skinned African game, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo, with a rifle shooting a cartridge of my own design, which propels a 570 grain .505" bullet at 2159 fps., duplicating the performance of the .500 NE. My rifle weighs 8.75 pounds, making it no problem to carry all day. Despite the fact that the rifle generates around 100 foot pounds of free recoil, I never noticed it shooting at game. Sighting it in from the bench I use a device called a Caldwell Lead Sled, which has the effect of reducing the recoil to a manageable level for the few shots required to confirm my zero. For practice, I shoot cast bullets with greatly reduced powder charges and find the rifle pleasant to shoot standing unsupported, the way I have shot all my dangerous thick skinned game. I am 5'8" tall and weigh around 160 pounds and have shot an even heavier rifle, which weighs 12 pounds and fires a 750 grain ,577 bullet at 2050fps. The only problem I had with that rifle was that each shot forced me to step backwards two paces to avoid losing my balance. I considered this characteristic as making the rifle impractical for the hunting field, and I have never used it on game.
In the course of collecting the various thick skinned animals I encountered in Africa, I was never aware of punishing recoil. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that in such situations the shooter is concentrating on the shot and making it count and is not bracing himself against the anticipated recoil. One two occasions I shot my rifle from positions where I was rather precariously balanced on an elevated site. Despite the fact that I fired repeatedly, I did not lose my balance. Once, years ago, before my first African experience, I was shooting my newly acquired .458 WM double rifle and it "doubled" on me. Since the two holes in the target were less than an inch apart, it was clear that both barrels had fired simultaneously and I had not accidentally "strummed" the rear trigger with my trigger finger in response to the recoil from the first barrel. In such a case, the recoil is not doubled, it is quadrupled, since doubling the bullet weight doubles the recoil velocity and recoil energy varies with the square of recoil velocity. In that case I was pushed backwards two steps, causing my feet to tangle with each other and ending up with me on the ground, unharmed. There was no damage to my shoulder.
At age 82 and disabled with neuropathy in both feet, perhaps the result of exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, my African hunting days are over, but I still do a good deal of shooting heavy recoiling rifles off the bench and in the hunting field. I don't hesitate to recommend my method of developing a load for a heavy recoiling rifle and then practicing with it.
