Hey Taurus, just I little info on the S&W 500 magnium. If you're going to go for it make sure to wear a glove, I could not hold the gun steady in recoil and literaly had it shift in my grip. In 3 shots my palms were red and sore, kinda like a rug burn......
I have shot a BFR single astion model with a six and a half inch barrel and the Smith with the stubby 4" and the extensive porting. The smith, when gloves were worn, was enjoyable to shoot and not overly abusive. Abusive, but not too bad. The BFR was a beast no matter what. No perting at all. If you are going to target shoot I'd suggest the shorty smith, and I'm quite sure you'd still be able to kill anything within 100 meters w/o problems if you went hunting with it. Shooting at a 1/4 solid steel target that was manhole sized at 50 feet or so......it was possible to "flip" it almost horizontal shooting the lower edge

-Bill Liptak