You are all nuts if this thread is anything to go by. Not a bad thing considering the way the world is just now
To continue our discussion on African Big Game rifles, this 4 bore rifle is 19.5 pounds. The bore is just about 1 inch (100 caliber), shooting a quarter pound slug (1,750 grains) over 325 grains of powder. To put that in perspective, the American .45/70 is a 500 grain slug at most (usually 300 grains), which is less than a third the weight, over 70 grains of black powder, and most people consider that a painful rifle to shoot. Still, your British gentleman would carry a double 4 bore (instead of this pedestrian single barrel) when he wanted to pot an elephant for his dinner. This would explain why his monocle was attached to his lapel by a lanyard. If the first barrel didn't pitch pole him ass-over-teakettle like a Looney Tunes cartoon, he had a second barrel to dissuade the elephant from stomping him into a puddle of goo. If he got stomped anyway, he could die with the comforting thought that the boys back at the club in Nairobi would all stand for a toast before getting back to complaining about the government. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dtC6ZOR3w
Oh no, not at all. Recoil wasn't considered serious until you got into 2 bore rifles firing a half pound lead slug. Yet, that didn't concern your British gentleman much because he made his Irish or African manservant shoot that one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RIT5KloknI