Anyone who has fired a Casull .454 full factory load will tell you that it WILL hurt! BTDT, got the T-shirt...
As far as the guy with the TC, I saw something similar several years ago here at Quail Creek. Just two of us on the line, me working up some loads for my 7-08 and another guy with some hand-cannon TC. Since I'm a TC fan I was thinking about going down to see what he was shooting. Next time he shot, I looked over to see him walking back about five feet to pick up his TC. I decided against engaging him in any conversation.