Dakota,
Please do me a favor. At your little get together don' t ambush your friends with recoil! You' ll already be the center of attention given your " big stick" magnum so I' d encourage you to enjoy your moment, but play fair.

If you follow these threads for very long you will see a large contingent that hate magnums. Many just don' t want to change anything for any reason; however, some I' m sure have had a negative personal experience with more recoil than they were prepared for or coached for. I' m hoping you won' t add any new members to the " hate magnums" club. Your friends will be more " in awe" if they come " away from it all" with an appreciation for its power rather than " hurt" and carrying a hatred for anything bigger than a 30-06 and labelling you as crazy.

If you' d be so kind, pick up a box of 200 grainers. You shoot first with the 200' s so they get some idea what they are up against. Then for each one check for stock fit and let them have a shot. Take a pair of heavy leather gloves so if any of them are tall and lanky (like myself) then you can " lengthen the stock" by wadding the gloves against their shoulder so their thumb won' t be resting on their upper lip/nose. Even with 200' s if their thumb is touching their nose/lip they won' t be happy and it' s not fair.

After every one has had a turn, then you can mention, that those bullets were the " fly-weights" and if they are interested in the " bear-bullets" they can have a turn but that things get a bit nastier. Some may have had enough with the 200' s and that' s fine. For those who continue, well they had a trial run and a " fair warning." Practical jokes with recoil are no joking matter.

When I was 16 and my brother was 25, one of his friends visited our ranch and we went shooting. Pistols, my 270, a 243, etc. and then his friend pulled out a 458 Win Mag. I was in awe and watched them carefully. It didn' t appear that the " kick" was killing them so I asked for a turn. My brother' s friend with a wry smile said, " sure." But before he could hand me the rifle, my brother took him aside and they conferred for a while and then the friend dug in the trunk of his car and pulled out some " special" ammunition. I paid little attention and they handed me the rifle ready to go. I remember how heavy the rifle was, and how hard it was to hold level compared to my 270. I knew this was some serious hardware. I mustered all the toughness I could and pulled the trigger.......

Big boom, big kick -- at least as much as a 3" 12 ga. mag -- it was a lot -- but it wasn' t bad -- I was still standing! I was on top of the world! At 16 I had handled an elephant gun! It wasn' t until decades later when I came to appreciate the true power of that cartridge with " full house" loads that I realized my brother had covered my back and insisted on lighter loads from his friend for me. It could have went the other way and it would have knocked me into the next county and to this day I would probably be preaching the evils of magnums and never have ventured beyond my 270.

Instead the opposite was true. Thru the years, I never met a gun or a cartridge that I was afraid of -- how bad could it be? -- I can handle that -- it can' t be worse than a 458! It is indeed mind over matter. Still glad my brother prevented a cruel joke. I am always glad to let others try the bigger magnums, but never with the intent of letting them get hurt.

Your call -- have fun! [>:]

Never Go Undergunned,

EKM