I let my buddies son shoot my remington 700ml off the bench before. He is not a very big kid, maybe 100lbs soaking wet, if that. I let him shoot it with one 50 grn pellet (clean shot) and a 300 grn XTP. Didn't look like it had much recoil at all and was pretty accurate at 25 and 50 yards. He thought it was pretty cool.

We let him blast a 1 gallon milk jug filled with water at 50 yards for his last shot and he hit it dead center and blew it apart. He has no desier to hunt though. I told him he could go to school though and tell his buddies he shot a .50 cal rifle though.

As far as minimum load data, I don't have a clue. I have heard that a 209 primer will push a saboted bullet out of barrel. I have never tired it though, nor do I want to. If I had to guess, I would say 30-50 grns of black powder with a lighter bullet would make a nice low recoil range gun.

I wouldn't take my word for it though, I would wait for more info. You could even call your gun maker and ask them, they might know.

Paul