I've got a 10" BFR in 45-70. I bought it to shoot metallic silhouettes just for amusement while waiting for my rifle barrel to cool off. I didn't find the recoil that bad; I think the Desert Eagle 50AE has a sharper recoil than the BFR--the BFR has a rounded butt that rolls the gun up in your hand (even with rubber grips). I used to shoot out to 600yd with it at the big buffalo target they had in Sacramento. You wouldn't believe the holdover needed. I was prolly 10 feet over the target, but it was a lot of fun. Can't remember my loads; I'm too lazy to go to the garage and look them up. As I recall, they were comparable to factory loads. My hands were the perfect size (I can span 9 3/4" from thumb to pinkie). My friend used to get lightly gouged up across the bird finger because his hands were so meaty the recoil somehow bit him with the rear of the trigger guard (where it's squared off). Gloves cured it for him though--my hands were small enough that I didn't need them.
With a scope, that gun must weigh in at 8 lb; there's plenty of iron to absorb recoil. But I will caution that it is the third-heaviest recoiling handgun I've ever shot. An S&W 29 I used to have, with the stock wood grips, used to tear me up--it was the worst recoiling gun I've ever handled for chewing up my hands. Rubber grips woulda prolly solved that. No other gun has ever bit me (except a stock RemRand 1911), but that was the usual hammer bite.
