Being a Greenhorn I would stay away from the 300 Wby. The recoil is too much for most people and even some seasoned shooters develop a flinch with the amount of recoil it can produce. The price of $500 is a good price. As everyone has stated the Remington, Hornady, & Federal factory loads are anemic compared to the Weatherby brand ammo loaded by Norma. There is a reason for this. The Weatherby ammo is designed around Weatherby rifles. Any Weatherby rifle in a Weatherby caliber has a free bored rifle throat and develops less pressure than a rifle with a standard throat such as the Winchester. American ammo is loaded to be safe in a Weatherby or any other brand of rifle chambered for the 300 Wby. My uncle owned a Model 70 XTR (the old post 64 action) that showed signs of excessive pressure using Weatherby brand ammo loaded with 180 gr. partitions. He switched to the Federal Premium loading and there were no signs of excessive pressure. He also had the same rifle in 270 Wby & using Weatherby ammo with 130 gr. Spire Points this rifle showed no signs of pressure. American factory ammo is loaded about 100 fps slower than the Weatherby ammo. There isn't a critter alive that will know or feel the difference if you put a bullet in the kill zone. You should ask your friend to go out with you and let you fire the rifle. If you can handle the recoil buy it and if not look to the 270 WSM or some other caliber with less recoil.