Blimey Xausa, you're a better man than me, a .500 in an 8.5lb rifle !!! not for me. Roland at the Holland gun school has obviously shot damn nigh everything. He had a mate who turned up with a .458 Lott for a range test, he had had it custom built for him with a synthetic stock, it weighed 8 1/4lbs from memory. Roland was there and turned down an offer of a "go". The chap fired 2 shots, huge headache and a bleeding nose, as far as Roland knows his friend took it home and hasn't touched it since. best, Mike