They are beautiful and interesting pieces of history. They stories of the old elephant hunters are amazing.
The recoil thing is just hard for me to even imagine. I spent the spring building and loading for a 6# Rem 600 in 350 Rem Mag. Range sessions were not fun, I ended up resorting to a Pact shoulder pad to get through the range time. I have a 35 Whelen and 358 Norma Mag but in heavier that are far easier to spend range time with. I still can't imagine pulling the trigger on a full-power 8 bore load.
My hat is off to you.
Once I was at the range and old timer asked me to shoot his brand new 300 WinMag that he
needed to hunt Whitetail in Connecticut.
He was all over the place because he was flinching so badly. I shot one round, it went where I was aiming, and that was it.
My .35Whelen is in a +8 pound Remington model 30. It's the most recoil I own I believe. I can't imagine what you guys are doing for fun..

I did spend an afternoon once testing 12 gauge turkey loads. That left a mark.