Jorgy,

Make sure you put a 1x4 over your shoulder first! This should NOT involve any framing hammer beatings at all -- you may feel like you' ve been driving a stiff sprung jeep down a rough 4 wheel drive offroad trail for half a day, but if you end up cut, bruised or hurt, then either we didn' t do our job or you didn' t listen.

Seriously, I am not into getting people hurt just because they are curious or interested and want to give a magnum or a Rigby a go. A shoulder pad is a good idea (to simulate winter clothing -- they rent them for a buck). Fitting the rifle to you by adding something extra between the shoulder and the butt of the rifle to effectively lengthen the stock will keep your eye, nose, upper lip, and face away from your thumb and/or the scope. Wearing both ear plugs and muffs while making " on the range" communication a little difficult lets you focus on " just shooting the gun" -- you' ll be in your own " little world" .

We won' t have enough time or ammo to let everyone bench rest groups plus the bench rest is NO place for introductions to a foreign rifle bigger than what you are used to shooting. So the " introduction process" will most likely involve standing and shooting off hand. In the process of working your way up in caliber, " orientation" comes before bench " sharpshooting" -- comfort level first, groups second. I know I' m on a soapbox here; however, so many people get " hurt" by magnums because they didn' t realize that their basic fundamentals were sloppy (even though they could " get away with it" on the small bores) and/or they had no " gauge" or expectation of just how challenging the " push" was going to be and then when they move up to " NFL" level of play they have problems and surprises -- we want to avoid all that.

I' ll talk with the folks at the range about the details and get back to you all. Since we are bringing some significant artillary and perhaps a small crowd and we' ll probably use one of the 25 yard pistol bays so we can stand upright instead of " bench sit" , the range master/owner may have some say in how we set things up! He is a PH who hunts Tanzania 90 days per year and if he' ll take the time to work with us a bit, then I doubt if there is any of us who couldn' t learn a thing or two!

We are still looking for someone with a 458 Lott (preferably), a 460 Weatherby (cringe), or a 470 Nitro or Capstick (yikes). [Wow! Only one (the 460) of those last four is a designated " magnum" ]

Never Go Undergunned,
EKM