Same here, the vast majority of my practice rounds are .22 LR or .223, for me it’s all about muscle memory. I do shoot a few rounds with my Safari rifles to stay honest each week.
That sounds about right to me. A little bit of practice on a big bore goes a long way.
With me there are two additional considerations.
1. I am on not a rich guy, so I don't enjoy sending CEB or North Fork bullets down range to put holes in paper. Who does? I used to do it with cheaper bullets for practice but it just does not appeal to me.
2. I saw this blog as change for me to get my licks in of one of my favourite topics, recoil.
I believe that recoil can be partly dealt with through mental discipline. That what works for me.
Although in my old age (80) I have installed muzzle brakes in two of my big bores, don't tell anyone.
When I meet people on the range or on a hunting blog, who do not like recoil, I try to offer my opinions on the mental aspect of recoil. It often just pisses people off. So, I try some of my weird humour and that seldom helps either. However I still preach about the mental side of handling recoil.
I believe it is like any contact sports, you can learn to love the knocks and lumps.
I feel the same way about recoil as Yogi Berra felt about baseball,
"90 percent of baseball is mental, the other half is physical."
Happy hunting, Amigos.
I've used my 404 locally on a few hunts per year, and have so far downed a few roes and fallows, and also a fox. One of the deer got the shoulders quite smashed up, but the others, no real difference than compared to the more 'normal-sized' calibres in relation to the quarry (i.e. 6.5x55 or 30-06). The deer that took the most meat damage was shot a 10 meters with a medium loaded A-Frame - but even though close, I don't thing the velocity was anywhere near pushing the envelope for what the bullet could handle. I guessing a bone hit with lots of bone splinters acting as secondary projectiles, doing a lot of the damage.
