I have one with an 18" full bull barrel that I shoot as a pistol. I gotta agree with Southern Utah, If your freind isn't really interested in shooting full house loads he will probably be better off going with a 454. 450 brass isn't real cheap and factory loads are expensive. I don't load for the 454 so I can't really say how much cost difference there is though. A 45-70 would be another option, plenty of light load data for it and you can load it just as hot as the 450. Plus the brass is cheaper. KN