Beware of The S&W XVR Double tap

[mancat]

I trust myself to shoot just about any rifle or shotgun that comes my way, but I've only ever shot small-cal pistols otherwise. never even shot a revolver before. I wouldn't touch one of those guns unless it had only one round to start, like others have said.. I don't have the experience doing it, and have no idea how my wrist is going to behave the first time.

so, just think about an absolute beginner to guns doing it.

 

[chase]

I shot a 500sw once out of a 4" barrel. I pulled the trigger once and then put it down. Its too much gun.

 

[40calruler]

Completely agree that one round should be the only one in there for a new person to such a large gun. Pull the trigger again all you get is a safe dry fire. Handing a newbe a fully loaded anything is just poor teaching. I put one in the mag on the SR22 when I thought my nephew to shoot until he was able to make me comfortable with allowing more ammo in the gun.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Standard revolver technique is to allow the wrist to "break" and roll with recoil. Not sure that works well with these monster cartridges..

 

[Flopsweat]

Standard revolver technique is to allow the wrist to "break" and roll with recoil. Not sure that works well with these monster cartridges..

Elbows and wrists can both "break". If you fight the recoil at all with the big caliber handguns you will feel it right away. For me what works is to take a good Weaver or Modified Chapman stance (Stance | Cornered Cat), get my hands wrapped tightly around the gun (especially the weak hand) and then relax and focus on sight alignment and a nice slow, steady trigger pull just like with any other handgun. Do not use your wrists or arms to force down against the recoil and for gosh sakes don't lock your elbows - just let it happen. It may point up at the sky in recoil, but it will drop right back down to your point of aim. Much like many other athletic moves, it's more about form and confidence than strength.

 

[Flopsweat]

It's a heck of a lot of fun too if you have proper hearing protection on. And maybe some water jugs or soda cans handy.

 

[orygun]

That's pretty tragic on so many levels.
I had a 500 5" for a while. I never had a problem with doubling. Although only 4 people (including myself) shot it, one of them was my wife, who didn't shoot handguns all that much.

But...

Only one of those people shot it with anywhere near full power loads. My wife shot one round of a soft-ish 350 or 400 gr lead bullet, as did one of my buddies.
The other guy is a big boy with a bunch of firearms experience. He shot a full cylinder of handloads that were much hotter, but still not quite as powerful as the Hornady 350gr.
None of these folks wanted to shoot it again.

I've seen videos of what's usually a petite woman shooting some hand cannon. It's supposed to be funny when she can't handle the recoil.
That's not funny.
Who in their right mind would set someone up to have this happen?

I remember shooting the Hornady 350 gr factory loads. They were brutal and that's a light bullet. The gun literally hammers your hand and the recoil and concussive blast rock your whole body.
I don't think the person that handed the loaded gun to that woman did what a responsible firearm handler should have done.

 

[orygun]

It's a heck of a lot of fun too if you have proper hearing protection on. And maybe some water jugs or soda cans handy.

I used a lot of alder firewood. A piece 6-8" in dia stood on end like a pop can. I swear I giggled every time I pulled the trigger.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Yes it's tragic and worthy of note. However, to put things in perspective, there's four lethal heroin overdoses in Portland every single day.

 

[4Freedom]

I shoot a 460 and can handle the big loads.. No, I am not a good shot with it.. But, I can shoot it and not feel tortured by it.. That's a start at least.. I can tell you the only thing that allows me to comfortably shoot that round (and when I say comfortable, it ain't that comfortable) is me working my hand and forearm muscles.. If you are a frequent big bore shooting, you gotta work your hands and arms too. I do weightlifting and strength training and it helps considerably for big bore shooting.. An exercise like farmer walks, heavy shrugs, sledgehammer training, deadlifts, wrist curls, etc will help you if you are a big bore shooter. People with weak hands who are not experienced shooters , should stay away from big bore shooting , IMO. Also, shooting big bore can damage your hands with recoil if your hands are not strong enough to handle the thump.

For a moment there, this article scared me, as I thought you were referring to brand of Double Tap producing faulty 460 S&W ammo, but now I can see you actually meant a "Double tap", meaning blasting off two rounds.. I was always liking the Double Tap 45LC and 454 ammo, but still don't believe they have a 460.

 

[hoody]

Scary videos. I had no idea double taps could happen that fast. B-bam. Thanks for the PSA.

 

[Frito]

Yes it's tragic and worthy of note. However, to put things in perspective, there's four lethal heroin overdoses in Portland every single day.

According to KGW, Portland Police estimate one person dies from OD on heroin every three days in the city. That is still a high number but not as high as you make it out to be. It is still over a hundred deaths a year which is pretty surprising.

Ultimately, whether it is playing with guns, drugs, motorcycles, nunchucks or any other "dangerous things" we need to be careful and take responsibility for our own actions. You can blame the drug dealer or the gun owner, but someone else pulled the trigger/pushed the plunger.

That said, I had no idea that this "double tap" was something that happened with any degree of frequency with these hand cannons. I would like to think if I had been given the chance to shoot one, I would have approached the procedure cautiously as has been described above but who knows. I would also like to think that anyone who owns one is aware of this potential hazard even if I wasn't. I am very grateful to the OP for posting this information.

 

[Swedish K]

A friend has a 500 S&W - I've shot it several times and would say that the recoil is unpleasant and would not suggest inexperienced shooters give it a try until they have worked up to it. On a related note - about the most giggley gun fun I can recall was one handing a pair of FA UZIs - one in each hand - pull the triggers and they start to climb - the only way I could keep them on target was to slowly step back until they ran dry. For some reason your brain kinda short circuits and tells you to grip tighter so you don't drop them or let them climb uncontrollably and overrides trying to tell your finger(s) to come off the trigger(s). Still had a huge grin for the rest of the day. This is something that should probably never be done with anyone unaware or not paying attention in the area and with a TALL backstop down range.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Back in 2005 while visiting with family down in Florida after burying my Mother, I decided that my Dad, Son and older brother needed some R&R. We went to a local VFW that had a gun range to cap off a few guns out of my brothers arsenal. My Dad, who was 75 yo at the time had rheumatoid arthritis, had every knuckle replaced in both hands and 1/2 blind but he wanted to be involved (he hadn't shot many times since his ETS from the Army in 1971) so with careful handling, we were able to oblige him safely and he was so elated to be with his Kids enjoying a little bit of life again.
Another old time veteran was there during our session and was talking about Korea and Vietnam and showed off his original Army service weapon, a 1911 .45 and asked if he wanted to shoot it. The look on his face showed that, indeed, he did. Dad said as soon as he made contact with the grip that he felt like he was back in the service of long ago and touched off, and off and off again. The old vet laughed out so loud as he forgot to tell Dad it was modified to FULL-AUTO!!!! There was a look on all our faces that was of freaking out but Dad said WOW and never complained about it!!! Sadly that was the last quality time we got to spend with Dad at the range, 1 1/2 years later he went home to be with his love of 58 years.