My wildcat .577 VSRE weighs in at 12 pounds and I use it with .577 NE equivalent loads: 750 grain bullet at 2050 fps. I don't think you will want to go much lighter than this. The recoil is not painful, it is just irresistible, for me, anyway. Every shot fired moves me back two paces. I have never used on dangerous game because I could not feel confident that so much room would always be available.