I never got to use the .50 Alaskan on game, I built it for black powder silhouette. The 28" heavy barrel brought the wieght to 11 1/2 pounds, thus recoil was of no concesquence - with any load.

It would be a good one for a double for North America, and most game on the 'dark' continent. How it would do with a hardened WW bullet on elephant, I don't know.

The article I didn't mention in the 'RIFLE' and perhaps the best one, was by Ganayana - a topic which comes up here more often than any other and with so much emotion, too.
The sentence which says it all is on page 77 where he says a client does not need a stopping rifle - he needs a hunting rifle and one he and the rifle are capable of putting a bullet into the vitals from any angle. Thus we have the great 9.3x62 and the .375. Oh, there are others, but these two have become favourites of mine as well, if not exactly, at least in performance. He also adresses the normal poor shooting of the clients - I am not pointing fingers, but those who only shoot factory ammo are suspect. Such are my findings in short 30 years I've been guiding.

Articles and books addressing this particular aspect of hunting, I hope, will instill a desire and purpose in ALL hunters, to get out and practice from hunting postions. Do not merely 'practise' by checking the sights on a paper target from a bench with the use of a shooting assist device designed to remove them from discomfort. If that is the case, surely they will miss badly when the time comes to shoot from the shoulder - such seems to be the case more often than not.

I didn't guide last fall due to back trouble, but I was in the same camp for 'guard' duty. My brother guided two and ended up killing their moose for them. Such is normal. It shouldn't be.