You have a fine rifle in the Merkel.

I bought one in .500 NE almost a year ago. I have shot it somewhere on the order of 500 times. It is tight and accurate.

I had trouble with the weight in the butt coming loose, but that has been fixed. Also, the recoil was so severe that the safety would pop back on after firing the right barrel about half the time. GSI fixed this, no problem.

Mine is the basic model with etched scroll engraving. I didn't want to pay another $1,000 for the unattractive game scene engraving. Just my sense of value.

I like my Merkel, and I think it will stand up to hard use for many years - although I am going to use it mostly in my imagination!

A .470 would be a fine caliber. I just had to have the .500, though. Something about that caliber. . .

It goes well with my .500 BPE also.

So be proud of your new Merkel. Shoot it often and get to know it.

And welcome to the forum.

Best regards,
Curl