Big Guns

T

TheRaskalKing

New member
Hey All,

I spent a good bit of time at my local rang/gun shop this weekend and got talked into shooting a Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum. Holy Crap! Big gun! So it got me thinking- What's the biggest/funnest gun you've ever shot?

Also I finally made up my mind and ordered the Springfield XDm .40 with the 4.5 inch barrel and stainless steel slide... I'm stoked about it!

Anyway, big guns... GO!
 
In a handgun I was given the opportunity to shoot a Freedom Arms .454 Casull and a custom-built single-shot of some sort in .338 Winchester Magnum at the range once (the same guy owned both guns). I actually thought that the .454 had a bit more recoil (though still not bad due to the combined weight of the revolver and scope he had mounted on it), but the .338 was incredibly loud. The largest handgun I've ever personally owned was a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum with a 5 1/2" barrel that has since been sold to my younger brother and replaced with a S&W 629 with a 4" barrel.

The largest caliber rifle I've ever personally shot is my own Marlin M1895G .45-70 loaded with 420gr hardcast bullets running approximately 1700fps. Some day, I hope to own a rifle in a real African dangerous game cartridge like .470 or .500 Nitro Express, but that's several years and several thousand dollars down the road yet.

The biggest shotgun I've ever fired is my own NEF 10ga single shot although it is not the heaviest recoiling. The heaviest recoiling shotgun I've ever fired was a Mossberg 835 that my dad used to own loaded with 3 1/2" #4 Buck. I'm not particularly recoil sensitive (I actually don't think a 10ga is all that bad), but that Mossberg was absolutely brutal and I had no desire to fire more than 5 shells through it.
 
i've fired the 454 casull, 460 ruger an 500S&W and wired as it may seem the 454 seemed to be the one that beat my hand to death...but i will say my buddy only bought 454 +p ammo which was ridiculous.....he had a freedom arms and a raging bull...both beautiful guns

my other friends that had me try out their 460's and 500's were impressive to say the least...and wow on the muzzle flash..i'd hate to see that at night lol :)
 
Biggest handgun I shoot is a Desert Eagle XIX in .44 magnum. With factory ammunition I have never had a misfire, jam, or failure to extract. There is something about firing 9 .44 magnum rounds as though I were shooting 9mm that captivates me.
 
It's a toss up. Both Contenders. My 444 Marlin was a hoot. With a 4 inch brake the recoil wasn't bad but the muzzle blast would skin a rabbit at 10 yrds. My 358 Super Bower (356win) wasn't braked. Recoil was, shall we say, envigorating!
 
Once while on leave back home, my brother, his boys and my son were at the range. A fellow had a 50 cal Desert Eagle and the new (at the time) 50 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver. We had some E Type Silhouettes out at 100yards and I was able to hit those with the two 50 cal pistols. The muzzle brake on the S&W was pretty effective in reducing the muzzle flip on firing.

I met and talked with Dick Casull back in the 80s, but I've never shot one of his pistols.

As far as rifles go, I've shot the 50 cal M-107 quite a bit over the last 10 years as well as the bolt action predecessors of it that we used for a while.

The biggest weapons that I've fired were the M-67 90mm RR, the M40A1 106mm RR and the 4.2" mortar. I guess those are about as obsolete as I seem to be getting!
 
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The range where I shoot has a rental package where you get a .50 Desert Eagle and six rounds of ammo for $12 (normally, you have to buy a minimum of one box of range ammo to use with their rentals, so that's why it's a good deal). I haven't tried it yet, but I think I will on my next trip just for the experience.
 
The most powerful (handgun) I ever shot is my .44 magnum Redhawk.

The most fun (all types) I ever shot was a full auto Thompson SMG.
 
I shot a rental 500 S&W at my local range. When it came time to make up my mind which X-frame I was going to buy, the .460 got the nod. Mainly because of its versatility wherein it can shoot .454 Casull, and .45 LC as well. I love that gun, and someday I will get its big brother.
 
10" Contender in .45-70...

350 grain round nose Hornady full power loads...

"Fasten your seat-belts – it's going to be a bumpy night!"

;)
 
".45-70"

Okay, Salmoneye wins :D.

For me, not quite so much. Biggest (sheer size): Ruger Alaskan .44 mag (what a hunk of steel!). Biggest (chambering, load) .454 Casull.

Most fun, however; High Standard Citation .22 semi-auto (not so big, but a whole lot of fun).

Best,

will
 
I bought a .454 Ruger Alaskan along with about 300 rounds of some Freedom Arms .454 Casull ammo.

I took it for a test run and after shooting six rounds, promptly sold the rest of the ammo, never to shoot .454 ever again.

Man, it was like having a grenade explode in my hand.

I still have the gun, but use .45 Colt; less recoil but still a potent combination.
 
i SOOO love to shoot the big guns! I am dying to shoot a smith and wesson 500/460. the largest handgun calibers i have shot to date are .44 mag and 454 casull.
 
Magnum research "BFR" (Big Friggin' Revolver)in 45-70.:eek:

Fun to run 5 rounds through but not something I'd want to buy.
 
I shoot and hunt with a 454 & 7-08 encore.Have shot 460.500,45-70,308,30-06.I LIKE MOST OF THE BIG HAND CANNONS.:D
 
Have shot the .500S&W, 460 and 454 Casull.

Own and often shoot a Magnum Research BFR in 475 /480 and much prefer the 480 rd.. The full house linebaugh loads can be a handful.
 
The most powerful handgun I shot was my Ruger Super Blackhawk with full-power .44 mag loads. It has a 4-5/8" barrel and it is very loud. The gun rolls violently back in your hand (plow handle shaped grip). The felt recoil, however, isn't so bad because the roll helps absorb some of the energy.

I don't think I'd ever want to shoot anything more powerful than that. I saw a guy sighting his Taurus 454 Casull at a range once. It was so loud and powerful that he kept on having to take breaks to get his concentration back and let his hand/wrist recover so he could try to shoot accurately. It actually was kind of funny (he was laughing and so was his son).
 
IrvJr,

Shooting heavy recoiling handguns well requires more than just loading it up to full tilt and goin for a a ride:eek:

I'm a bit of a big bore single action nut and love the big boomers, but it is rare that I shoot full house loads in the really heavy artillery. One of the advantages of going to a larger bore diameter is that it can frequently be loaded to exceed the performance of a smaller bore with less or more comfortable recoil impulse. I find it much more pleasant to shoot my .475 with a 420 grain bullet loaded to 1000fps than it is to shoot my .44s loaded with a 240 at 1400+fps. The recoil impulse is slower and the blast is not near as harsh. Make no mistake, it still booms and pushes on ya quite a bit, but overall, easier on the shooter.

Larger bores allow for equal and even increased performance with a reduction in pressure. My preference is to step up in caliber and down in load intensity if more performance is needed for a given task. If I need more than a .44 mag, I will load a .45 Colt with a somewhat heavier bullet and a healthy dose of H110. Need more yet? Load up the 454 with a 335 and drive it to moderate velocity (1450 or so). The next step is to the .475 with a 420 at 1050. Yes, the bigger guns do recoil more, but it is a different kind of recoil when you are downloading to just above the next smaller caliber, rather than loading the smaller caliber to higher pressures. I almost never shoot full tilt loads in the big boomers, simply because I don't have much need to. By keeping the pressure down, and letting bullet weight and diameter do the work, rather than velocity, the big bores will do pretty much anything you could ask of a handgun, and do it with manageable recoil.

The big bores require practice and conditioning to become proficient. Walk before you run, build your tolerance to recoil slowly and take frequent breaks while shooting long strings. Keep in mind that calibers like the .44 magnum and larger are not generally intended for long range sessions, but for hunting and defense against large, dangerous animals.

JW
 
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