First off I'd like to welcome you and say congrats on your Smith (I have the 8 3/8 model 500) so I might be able to help you a bit considering theyre so similar.

So first off you asked about practice and making it an extension of yourself. I going to say this to help answer your question about scoping it the base and rings at smithwesson.com the Warne brand one are good form what I hear, and theyre made form solid steel so they should be able to handle the recoil *But I would get another set of rings so you could use 3 or 4 rings on whatever optics you choose. And you probable want some sweet glass like the Leupold 2.5-8x to help reach out and touch em' with the 460 mag's. If you dont want to scope it you maximum shots should be under 50 yards for ethical purposes. With a scope Ive heard of deer taken @ 200yards with the same cartridge.

For practice (If youre not a recoil junkie) I would practice with the 45 Colt to get a feel for the gun and get used to the bang and what not. Youd probably be better practicing with .454 Casull out of it because as far as shooting inside 100 yards that would be more comparable ot the .460 magnum

45 Colt, 454 Casull and 460 S&W Magnum can all be shot out of your 1 gun if you didnt know.