Well now. Welcome to the world where you stay on the porch if you aint one of the big dogs! I have one and been shooting it for years. It outperforms the 445 supermag by 150FPS. Choose the right powder. Factory Remington 265's will crease yer forehead if you don't parry the recoil, and for some reason they really hurt. I love it! I shot a white-tail doe with mine--length-wise. She jumped up form the bed at about 15yds, straight away, scope was on the hole in her bung-I missed the hole by an inch to the right. the 285gr hard cast slug entered and traversed the whole length of spine and exited about 2" posterior to her right ear. Needless to say she was dead on the bound down! Beings I do pathology and necropsy for a living, I decided to excise the wound channel-it was devastating. no lead fragments and a very huge hole near her ear. The would channel was awesome to say the least. I shot another small buck a year later, high broadside shoulder. Broke both shoulders and the spinal column going through. Instant death--but, they were both spinal shots. However, I do feel confident I would've killed this deer if it was standing behind a tree! Yes the recoil is something to behold and do not take it lightly, but magnify the results of your 44 maggie by a whole lot. I shot 2 scopes off the gun before I went T'SOB--neither scope broke by the way, only the bases. One was a Leupold, and the other was a lowly Tasco. I was impressed cuz I didn't think the Tasco could last 10 rds on it. I put the Leupold back on. Why chance it. I am actually going to hunt Elk with my 14" 444 this year. I have 4 already. 1 with a 45LC, 1 with 35rem and 2 with 375JDJ. I'm gonna use the same load, but I'm actually thinking of a 300 JHP or maybe the XTP. The 285 and 320 hardcast are hard to beat for all-out penetration. If you want to get everyone's attention at the range, get one! You'll love it.