Kicks like a 12 gauge slug gun, but my 11 year old loves to shoot it. The semi auto slows down the recoil pulse a bit. I had a flashhider on it at first, and really noticed a difference when I put the muzzlebreak on it. Makes a "boom" instead of the hitch pitched "crack" of a .223. I just keep it under my desk ar work, 'cause we only give the tellers pistols at our bank.
You take the Zombies, I'll watch for sasquatch.
I already have two .223 uppers and I wanted a rifle that was more powerful than a 6.5 Grendel or a 6.8SPC that was suitable for elk, deer, and bear under 100 yards. That left two choices, the .50 Beowulf and the .458 Socom. Since I reload, I wanted a good selection of bullets. There are very few choices in suitable .50 cal bullets, and lots of choices in .458 from 250g to 500g+. I even got 100 custom turned Barnes 348 grain bullets, monoliths, in case I need to punch through a bison from one end to the other.
It is on par with a .45-70, and prints good groups at 50 yards with the optic I have on it, no magnification using a 2 minute dot it it will do 1" and under. The barrel was made by PacNor, and folks with the same barrel are shooting sub minute groups at 100.
The Rock River uppers are good for the money in the $600 range for just the upper, and the range report on them is pretty good. They were behind in production for the last 8 months and now the wait time on one is less than a month.
When I got mine in October, there was some limited availability of factory made ammo, but now there is lots available. Corbon, Reeds, and about 5 other manufacturers have added this to their catalogs. I think with better ammo availability and the uppers coming out of Rock River, you will see more of these out there, and it will leave the .50 Beowulf in the dust.
I added a LaRue billet upper receiver to match the POF billet lower, and a few other goodies like an adjustable match trigger and the wood that brought mine up a bit in price, but it is truly one of a kind.