bulldog563,

Have used all three of the cartridges you mentioned, I would recommend either of the 500s (500 Jeffer or 505 Gibbs) over the 416. If you keep ranges to under 200 yards you will not need to worry about trajectory differences between the three, and the 500s kill far far better (with proper placement of course). I use mine for almost all my hunting and have no issue with shooting out to ~ 300 yards.

The recoil argument, in my opinion anyway, is grossly over-rated. As proof of that last statement I offer this. A friend of mine recently fired my 500 for the first time (fired two rounds, flinched badly on number one as he feared for his life, and hit the target with shot #2 once he realized he was still alive) and commented that it was more pleasent to shoot than his 338 Win mag. Now he was shooting a 450gr Barnes Original at 2300 fps (mild mild load), but that 500 still knocked his shoulder back about 4 inches more than is 338 (he also took a step backward something which just doesn't happen with the 338) and he still said it felt better to shoot. Heck he wanted to shoot it more, but alas I was out of ammo.

Sorry for being so long winded.

Scott