Thanks for the feedback, guys! I'm actually a chiropractic neurologist, but do a lot of other things for fun. Daryl-I guess the muzzle pix are really not good enough; sorry for that. If you read my post on crowning tools, you'll read about what I used. I'll add a pic of the tool to smugmug. There's about a 1.5" deep cone in both of those barrels, with the last maybe 1/2" having practically no rifling at all. I did this following one of your previous posts on crowning (just wanted a tool more accurate than my thumb ;-) and it is waaay easier to load a tightly patched load. That makes me feel better about shooting big loads. I've shot this gun with 165g Goex 2f and a patched ball, and the left barrel load doesn't budge at all after shooting the right. No signs of pressure problems at all, and the recoil wasn't too bad, to me. I had a bolt action 50bmg for a while, and I think it raised the bar on what I consider recoil and muzzle blast. The muzzle brake did tame most of the recoil, but....both 32db earplugs AND good muffs were not nearly enough-bad headache after a dozen shots or so. Like having a concussion just from the overpressure. That's why I sold the BMG, but now every other gun I shoot seems kinda tame! I really am enjoying the Pedersoli. This winter's project (well, one of them) will be to try out some shorter nipples to maybe compensate for the low fences on the breech.
thanks!
Richard

ps-can any of you more experienced fellows let me in on the secret to posting pix here? I thought I followed the directions, but obviously still goofed!