I keep thinking I “need” well more of want a 460sw or 500. I was thinking the 460 so I can load 454 and 45lc in it. What’s everyone’s opinion? I do go into grizz bear country, but not regularly. This is more of a desire than a need.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I shoot 44 Mag full house loads regularly in my various revolvers. Doesn’t bother me a bit, I’m not recoil sensitive.
Personally, having shot the 460 on several occasions, it is just too much for a pistol. It literally makes my teeth hurt after shooting and is THE ONLY unpleasant experience I’ve had shooting.
My buddy, who owned it, thought the same and sold it at a loss.
I’m a firm believer that 44 Mag is as much as you need or really want to shoot.
I haven’t shot a 500 before, so I can’t speak to that model.
I had a .460V (5” bbl) for awhile purchased with bear protection in mind. I could not get it to shoot accurately with heavy bullets at the full velocity potential of the case. At heavy .45 Colt velocities it was quite accurate but I wasn’t interested in an overweight .45 Colt so I sold it. The .460 was designed around 200 gr bullets at extremely high velocities as a long-range handgun hunting round and that’s where I think it belongs.
The .500 S&W is much better suited as a backup, IMHO. I’ve had a 6 1/2” bbl model and still have the 5” version. I’ve also shot the 4” and 8 3/8” models. The 4” and 5” (and the 2 3/4”, I suppose) are definitely a lot of gun, probably too much for regular carry. I’ve been carrying my 5” for the last few years when backpacking but I’m about to start on a Redhawk .500 Linebaugh build to save a few ounces.
If you end up grabbing either, I’d recommend Jordan Trooper stocks to better handle recoil.
Well. IMHO, a full house .44 Mag with hard cast lead will take care of just about any critter in North America. A full house 10mm with hard cast lead would be my second choice.
I have a small frame. F-That chit. If someone GAVE ME a 454 or 500 Mag… I’d sell it the next day and buy a .44 Mag mountain gun.
I’m with Det-Sog. I have a 686 that I normally load midrange target loads for. Occasionally I’ll load a full house .357 mag load (158 at 1400 fps).
More recently I got a 629. I’ve never loaded a full house load for it, just midrange target loads.
If someone gave me a 454 or a 500, I’d be tempted to get a set of dies and load – you guessed it – midrange target loads, but what would that do that the .44 mag wouldn’t, for me? I’d trade it off.
To me, the ultra magnums have four purposes:
My most recent purchase was a Smith M&P in 9mm. Much more useful in the big city. Although, if you’re getting jacked at a gas station, and you reach under your suit-coat and pull out a Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum with a 8 3/8" barrel, it’s be worth it to see the faces of the jackboys.
*Much the same as the Power-Stroke diesel F250 trucks you see on the freeway, travelling on their huge knobby tires from suburbia to downtown parking garages and back again, with nary a speck of mud or dirt on them, the bed immaculate.
I’ve shot the 8" 500 before, but it was factory load, not full house hand loads. No matter what I buy, it would be hand loaded for. I have all but zero use for a big bore revolver, but have always wanted one.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
There’s also the consideration of size/weight with a .460/.500 S&W.
I have optic equipped bolt guns that don’t weigh a lot more than the .460/.500’s.
I’m in complete agreement on the .4X “Mountain Gun” as a winner for packing/hunting. I have a few of them and the .45 Colt, shooting +P is a standout.
Recoil seems gentler than .44 mag. with ammo that does the same thing.
Hard to beat a Keith type SWC/Wide Flat Nose Gas Check, long/heavy for caliber .41/.44/.45 cast bullet for penetration and “slap” on target.
I keep forgetting about the tried and true .45 Colt. That’s a winner too. I just can’t justify another caliber to support.
While I love my custom 629 V-comp, I sure want to add a .44 Mag “mountain gun” to the collection some day.
My next grail is a 4” early 80s 686 .357, but the .44 MG may now trump that. I can always shoot weak .44 Mag or 44 special at the range. Decisions…
Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!
I also prefer .45 Colt as I reload, and in a suitable revolver, like a Ruger Super Blackhawk or similar can push it to magnum velocities. It is a real thumper. Even is a regular Single Action Army frame the standard load is pretty impressive. 250 grain slug at 900 - 950 FPS. You can do much better with a Blackhawk, or Redhawk.
Ive shot 500’s on several occassions and its pretty obnoxious but everybody is different. I got on a Barrel 50 pretty hard this last week, my back still hurts. Gotta get straight behind it. Might want to shoot one first.
PB
I’m a big fan of the Ruger Alaskan in .454. You can go .45 Colt light/cowboy, .45 Colt heavy, of even .454 Casull.
Think about it some more before you potentially waste money better spent on something else. A buddy has a .500 mag and I fired it exactly twice and handed it back and told him “No thanks”. Coincidentally, Nicholas Irving appears on a Demolition Ranch vid and does the same thing and offers Matt the same opinion. If I were camping bear country and about to become converted into bear shit, I would enthusiastically and thankfully empty it into said bear’s melon, otherwise, I see no use for it other than to have the biggest pistol round. With, or without a comp, it’s gonna feel like someone smacked you in the palm with a 9 lb mallet.
At the same gun show where I saw a 8 3/8 inch 500, I saw a snubbie Alaskan like the one above in .454.
Recoil city!
Not a recoil fan, but fired a couple of rounds of .500 on a cloudy day and whether a person minds recoil or not I wouldn’t think many people’s eyes would recover from the flash fast enough in low light for a follow up shot.
Another vote that the weight is close to a rifle.
Currently my only revolver is a .454 Casull made by Freedom Arms. For big bores the single action style grip frame is more comfortable than a DA gun is going to be, and part of the reason I wanted the FA to begin with. Mine is a premier grade with a 6” barrel, so it fits in any holster made for a Ruger Super Blackhawk that I’ve found, and is sized right to actually carry around.
Handloading makes all the difference in the world for enjoying big bore handguns. Shooting a steady diet of full house .454 Casull is not fun, nor particularly productive from a proficiency standpoint. Should you shoot full power ammo for practice? Yes, so you maintain skill at dealing with the recoil. Should you practice the majority of the time with full power ammo? Absolutely not, you’re going to wreck your elbows, wrists, and fingers doing that on a regular basis.
Fortunately I reload, so tailoring ammo to my own gun and purpose is easy, big bore revolvers are also really easy to load for once you figure out how to apply a sufficient crimp on full power ammo. My FA is not particularly sensitive to loads or bullet weights, and shoots everything pretty well to spectacularly well. 300gr-330gr hard cast lead bullets at around 900-1000fps are fun to shoot, accurate, and don’t cost a fortune to load. Stepping down to a 250gr lead bullet at similar velocities is even cheaper and finding bulk cast bullets is a cinch. I will note that bullets above 360gr are not as consistent in my revolver, I suspect the barrel twist rate is not quite fast enough for the 395gr pills I last tried. If you want 400gr bullets I suggest a .475 or one of the .500’s.
One advantage the single action also has over the DA in a big bore .45 caliber is the ability to easily convert to .45 ACP with an auxiliary cylinder. I sent my FA back to the factory and had a .45 ACP cylinder made, and acquired some appropriate height front sights at the same time. I have heard that Ruger makes the Redhawk capable of taking moon clips now for .45 ACP, but reviews I have seen the .45 ACP was not accurate at all from the .45 Colt cylinder. My FA cylinder in .45 ACP is a line bored, hand fitted, work of art that locks up like a bank vault just like the primary cylinder. With an RMR mounted on top I’ve had .45 ACP reloads easily cut one ragged hole groups at 50 yards from the bench. Recoil feels like shooting a .38 with wadcutters. Plus if you have ammo that doesn’t like to work right in your .45 auto, the .45 ACP auxiliary cylinder is one hell of a garbage disposal.
^^
“Handloading makes all the difference in the world for enjoying big bore handguns.”
Truth.
Joleski, the loads you shot out of the 500, were they full house hand loads? It also appears that 500 doesn’t have a break.
The 6" look like they would be easier to control, because they have the brake and more weight under the barrel all the way out to the muzzle. Any truth to that?
I’ve handled the 460s in ruger and sw, not shot them, the sw fit my hand better just handling them in the store.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
That’s a pretty nice looking setup. Is it punishing to shoot with that short barrel?
Everything I shoot I load for. So that’ll help mitigate cost and I can lighten just using loads up
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I too reload for everything I shoot and agree that hand loading for big bores is a must.
Smith has different brake designs.
One is a simple muzzle cap with slot(s) in the top (believe that is shown in Joelskis photo above).
Another is a more elaborately machined insert that fits into a recess in the end of the barrel.
They also have a more traditionally constructed brake:
