When I built my first .458 Winchester Magnum, back in 1959, I was scared to death of it. It was months before I could get up enough courage to shoot it with anything but .45-70 performance level lead bullet hand loads. Eventually, I got over it, but when I built my first .505 in the late 60's, it was with the intention to put the .458 in perspective.

At about that point I realized that I didn't have to shoot full poweer loads in either of the rifles to get proficient with them, and, on the contrary, shooting with full power loads would probably be counter productive, so after I had satisfied myself of what the .505 would do over the chronograph and off the bench, I quit firing it with full powered loads and practiced with reduced power lead bullet loads, which were pleasant to shoot and pleasantly cheap as well.

About that time I built a .500 with a muzzle brake, not because I really wanted it, but because that's the way the barrel came from John Buhmiller. After shooting it a few times, I sold it and have never owned another rifle with a muzzle brake.

When I got to Africa with my .505, I stuffed a towel under my jacket as a pad, and rested the rifle on the hood of the hunting car to sight it in. After that, shooting my first elephant and stopping a charging rhino, I might as well have been shooting a .222 for all the recoil I noticed.
On the other hand, shooting steel shot out of my 12 gauge 3 1/2" Magnum gives me a headache after
less than a box of shells.

My point, if there is one, is that I could have made the rifle heavier and reduced the recoil velocity and the felt recoil, but why should I want to do that, when I didn't notice the recoil anyway?

When I first joined the Marine Corps in 1959, the saying was that the M1 rifle, which we were still armed with, weighed 8.34 pounds, but after you had carried it for ten miles, the point dropped out. That saying has stuck with me.

I realise that there are some people who think it weak or cowardly to shoot the powerful rifles with anything less than maximum loads, and to them I say, "More power to you," but I am not one of their number. I see no advantage in subjecting my eyes to the risk of a detached retina and my shoulder to unneeded punishment, just to prove how tough I am (or was).

Just one man's opinion.