My recoil tolerance level seems to end at the .458 Lott and the .470 N.E. I neither care for or have ever needed anything more than those two at the upper end for my ultimate end-all African hunting needs. I comfortably shoot them, along with the .450-400 and .375, and they have all helped me take a heap of African trophies. Good luck and God bless all of you who shoot the man-whompers!

I am not sure what all goes into defining my recoil limit or where it is in varying shooting circumstances.

I CAN tell you one rifle which was more than I ever care to shoot again, though: a 475 A&M on an otherwise box-stock Weatherby Mk. V weighing about 8-1/2 pounds and shooting 600 grain bullets ahead of "hot" powder charges.

Been there. Ain't goin' back! Shooting a .577 DR is a piece of cake for me in comparison. Shooting a 4-bore was not pleasant, but bearable. But NOT that A&M!!!

Mine is about 70grains of smokeless gunpowder!

The definition of tolerance is dependent upon many variables like shooting position, what is thought of as satisfactory accuracy, ammount of worn clothing etc.

I am shooting 500/416 in a 10.5 pound double accurately from kneeling, sitting and standing position at 100 yards (2 inch groups) wearing only a t-shirt. I don't think that will be possible for me regulary (no flinch, controlled trigger pulls) with heavier calibers (unbraked).

Of course blasting off rounds from 600 nitro or similar standing wearing a shoulder pad (or a heavy jacket) close range at a big target should not be a problem for anyone.

When I worked up loads for my 470 I did it sitting off sticks. That was about as much entertainment as I was looking to have. I certainly didn't spend a lot of time shooting long strings for accuracy. Luckily I had a good place to shoot about 10 minutes from teh house. Unfortunately it took me longer to get all my stuff in the truck and then get set up then I spent shooting.

I have to jump in here and offer my opinion. The worse kicking rifle I ever owned was a 465 H&H Dominion grade. It kicked like an indignant camel. My 470 Rigby and 476 Westley were a pleasure to shoot. The Rigby and Westley were far more accurate as well. I 460 Weatherby built on a mag Mauser action that was not bad at all. It weighed in at 11 pounds and did not kick as bad as the 465.

If I am shooting my .470 from a standing position either off hand or on sticks or am out shooting "stuff" with it. I can go all day I've shot over 100 rounds in a day out playing with hogs and rocks and jack rabbits and having fun.I can also shoot it from a seated position off the knees all day long.

Put me on a bench with it however and she turns into a violent little face slapping BITCH!I try to never do that anymore.

I've built four .458 Lott's over the years and have found that the more forward the weight distribution the nicer they are to shoot. The first one a I built was a major mistake it had a light profile barrel and an aft weighted stock and was to light overall.

The next one had a heavy 21" barrel and weighed in at just about 10 lbs and was a pleasure to shoot.

I've never found any properly fitted .500 NE double rifles to be a problem.

The most violent unpleasant rifle I've ever shot was a maxed out .450 Rigby built on a Model 70 that weighed about 8.5 lbs. That thing was frighteningly violent to shoot, it was to short for me and it was whippy, slappy and painful as all get out. Another rifle I didn't like was a Vector actioned .500 Jeffery with maxed out loads. However that same rifle with a 2200 FPS loads was a gentleman.

My real tolerance ends at the 40-45 calibers like the 416 Remington or my 458 AR. But every now and then I shoot my 550 Magnum to remind myself of the truth in that.