S&W .500 Magnum, its massive!

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PythonGuy

Moderator
I went to my local FFL to pick up a Colt AR-15 lower on Friday, and I spied a box from the S&W performance center sitting on the counter. I'm friendly with the store owners, so when he saw me looking he told me to pick up the gun inside and tell him what I thought. It was a S&W .500 Magnum and I needed two hands to lift it! First thought is it was for shooting King Kong, second thought, you have to have hands like Shaq to actually use it. This is a massive gun and I can't even imagine the recoil from the round, who the hell would want to shoot it? We were joking it will be in the "used gun" case in about 6 months, its almost comical how big this thing is.:eek:
 
Well, if you look at how massive the bullets are, you can probably appreciate how massive the gun is. Those bullets look scary next to quite a few rifle rounds, much less other handgun rounds. The more mass in the gun the better I say.
 
The recoil is similar to holding out your hand and having a moderately strong person punch it. Doesn't really hurt, but it pushes back at the same time it flips the barrel up. Takes a second to get back on target/wait for the flash afterimage to go away.

Fun gun to shoot ... but about 2 cylinders are sufficient for me for a day.
 
Now that you've experienced those wimpy 325 grain jacketed bullets or 440 grain lead bullets, try something worthwhile! Here's a cast WFN GC that weighs in at about 710 grains with lube & gas check pictured between a .50AE and a .44 mag. I shoot this out of my 8 3/8"er at over 1100 fps, but haven't tried it in my 4"er yet.
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My first reaction to the gun was, who would want one of those monsters? After shooting one, I almost wanted one. Recoil was not that bad. Much less than I was expecting. Haven't bought one, since I have a 480 Ruger which handles my handgun hunting requirements at this time. Who knows about tomorrow though?

I guess since Ruger has the Alaskan in 454 Casull, S&W will be introducing a snub nosed version of the 500 S&W. That would be an interesting flame thrower to shoot! But I'd take a 4" version for the backup role in Alaska.

Pythonguy, you'll just have to try one of them out before you judge it too harshly.
 
I'm sure there are some handgun hunters who would find it a perfect gun and round for taking some game. I'm just a target shooter so its not something I'd shoot. I might shoot it as a rental for the hell of in at an outdoor range, I'm sure the sound and concussion must be awesome. But its the size of the gun that amazed me, its HUGE!

Last hot loading I shot were a friends .357 handloads that produced a huge flame from the cylinders and muzzle, the RO wanted to throw us out.
 
I own a S&W 500. Don't knock the gun before you try it. It is a real hand cannon for sure, but there is no reason to run from anything. When I asked the salesman about it he said "it would kill anything on this continent"
 
Gun weighs 72.5 oz. Bullet weighs 350 grains traveling at 1900 FPS. What's not to love? I tried one while I was waiting for my CCW renewal class to start. The gun didn't have half the recoil I was expecting.

Don't knock it til you try it!

460 mag is another fine round. If you want to know more about that experience, try the search function.
 
..I would label it a curio kind of thing.....not really good for any substantial purpose except to get yourself pushed back harder with a handgun...way too expensive to shoot in any quantity..tiring to shoot in quantity...far too heavy to wear as a belt handgun....maybe concealable with an oversized trenchcoat...better not try to beat another man on the draw(you ain't got a chance)...an ego-booster...(I show you that mine is bigger than yours)
 
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