There is an interesting expiation about firing a 4 bore here:
https://revivaler.com/four-bore-rifle-two/The last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mukarram Jah, grandson of Mir Osman Ali Khan left Hyderabad and migrated to Western Australia in 1972 where he purchased a sizable pastoral property. He brought with him his grandfather’s Holland and Holland .600 Nitro Express double rifle and seeing there are no elephants or tigers in that part of the world contented himself with doing some much needed vermin control on the feral goats on the property.
His method of firing the big .600 NE was to squat down on his haunches and take aim, then press the trigger. The .600 would of course cause him to roll onto his back which he said absorbed the recoil nicely. He had expected the .600 NE to “explode a goat” but in fact even though he was using soft pointed bullets no explosion occurred, but the goats died very humanely
