Fired a cannon today.

A

AL45

New member
My Wife and I were out shooting today when a friend pulled up with a S&W 500 magnum hunter with 10 1/2" barrel. He had never shot it and was anxious to try it out and so was I. I was watching him as he squeezed off the first round and I was shocked. Recoil and noise was very minimal. He fired another round and handed me the gun. He is a very stout guy so I thought he had just manhandled the gun so I was prepared for the worst. I squeezed the trigger and I felt a push back into my hand with little muzzle lift. It had less recoil than the 7 1/2 inch Ruger Redhawk .45 Colt I was shooting. And the noise from the ported barrel was no worse either. My Wife fired it as well with no problem. Keep in mind he was firing 300 grain bullets which is the lower end for this gun, but nonetheless, it was a pleasure to shoot. I'm sure the 700 grain bullets that it is capable of handling would have a lot more bark, but I would give it a try.
 
Try 400 and 500 grain bullets then let us know what you think. I wouldn't jump from 300 to 700 grains. Even 500 grains is very, very stout.


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500 had a 300 grain bullet at about 2,100 fps, in a ten inch long bank vault solid heavyweight hog leg.

A typical six inch .44 magnum, comparatively speaking, shoots a base charge of 240 at maybe 1,200 fps.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that your .500 probably gave you much less felt recoil than a six inch .44 magnum would have, especially since the compensator was involved. The .500 probably weighed about two pounds more than a 629.

Being the .500 had a much higher velocity and a compensator, was the muzzle blast more extreme? Maybe, it would probably have been noticeably louder.

All things considered, that actually sounds pretty nice. the 300 grain load would take down any game around here, it has almost four times the KE of the baseline .44. That's almost twice the KE of a baseline 12 gauge slug.
 
This gun is the Performance center version with sling swivels and a lanyard. I believe it weighs 82 ounces empty. Texgunner, I have never fired a .460. I have fired mild .44 magnum and very hot .45 Colt "Ruger only" loads of 350 grains through a Ruger 4 5/8 Blackhawk. The recoil from the Blackhawk was much worse than the .500 S & W. The .500 felt about like a .38 Special.
 
I fired an 8 inch 500 one time. Not bad at all, very pleasant. The blast was very high, could feel it on the face, but the actual recoil was mild with that big ported gun.
 
I remember shooting a .50 cal. Desert Eagle once. The sensation I remember was that the concussion made my pants legs sort of flutter from the blast.

But how many times have you fired something, even a .44 Magnum, into the wind and felt the wash of warm air float over your face?

Bob Wright
 
Personally, I'm one of the people who in general get more of a jolt out of the noise, blast, and concussion than I usually get from the recoil itself.

I carry ptsd around, and sudden loud noises are like a punch in the face. Setting off a big bore, letting that thing shake me clear to the bone, that's hard.
 
I own the 460 Magnum.

I favor 300 and 400 gain hard cast at full power. They are eye opening. ;)

The recoil isn't really that bad, it's the muzzle blast that's the issue. The 400 grain bullets are my favorite for this reason. More bullet, but less blast due to lower velocities. (1800fps vs 2000+)
 
I used to have a .454 Casull for fun. Now too old to handle that kind of recoil and stick with just .44 magnum now. I was in the mobile artillery in Vietnam and shooting those big guns, 175 mm, will lift the sand off of the floor about a foot with each shot. You could feel in throughout your body. That is a big gun. :)
 
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