S&W 500 Mag

[Iceberg]

I've been looking at a reasonably priced used stainless 4" S&W 500 Magnum with "needful things" eyes recently. Do I really need it for anything? No, but it looks pretty cool w/ the factory compensator, and I have always wanted a Model 29 & this is its big brother. Is the recoil manageable? How about ammo availability? Opinions?

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[orygun]

I had exactly what you are looking for. 4" plus the 1" interchangeable comp. Owned it for a couple of years and used it for nothing but plinking. Granted, it's not what "normal" people call plinking. I'd use a 8" round x 16" piece of alder (firewood) and tumble it around like shooting a soup can with something smaller.
Really enjoyed it, but got bit by the Colt 1911 bug and I traded it to a guy from Eugene. Can't remember the guy's name (Jerry Wiesman??), but he has a gun store and shows up at the Portland and Canby gun shows. Last I saw, he still had it. Wanted about $900, in the box with all of the goodies. If he still has it, then he's had it for over a year and may be more willing to dicker.

Ammo? Can usually find it. Ultramax is softer, and softer on the wallet than the Hornady. The Hornady is about $56 per 20 and is down right nasty. The 350 gr clocked 2000 fps out of my gun. Think about it this way, twice the bullet weight and the same speed as a 30-30 in one hand. Or almost the same weight as a .45-70 at a much faster speed. In fact, my handloads of 350 gr in my .45-70 were the same speed but out of a 24" barreled 10 pound rifle.

If you find one and want to shoot it a bunch, you'll either need a LOT of money for ammo, or will need to start reloading. I figured it up once and I think it was 94 cents per round for the ones I reloaded with Sierra 400gr soft points and they were the cheapest jacketed bullet I could find. That doesn't count the brass.

If you haven't shot magnum handguns a fair amount and know you can deal with the recoil, you might try to find one to shoot before you dump the cash. A friend of mine who shoots a fair amount rolled thru one cylinder full of 400 gr handloads (1200 fps), handed the gun back and said, "I don't see how anyone can call that fun".

In short, it's brutal. Be forewarned.

But I loved that gun.

 

[Riot]

Ever looked at the S&W 460?
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It shoots .460, .454, and .45LC

 

[magnum]

I've owned both- a 460 and a 500. The 460 was much worse on the recoil. It was a loud hard snap and the the gun torqued over when firing it. The 500 was also loud but not as harsh on the recoil. Granted, I was shooting 8 3/8" barrels in both calibers but the 500 was much easier to shoot. Ammo was quite a bit cheaper for the 460 but the 500 mag had by far, the heaviest bullet weight/load- hornady 500gr jsp. They weren't too bad to shoot recoilwise but hard on your wallet- 60.00 per 20 round box.
Power wise, the 500 is the most powerfull production pistol on the planet. It's meant for hunting the largest, most dangerous critters on the planet. If you want to do some informal plinking with the 500, you'd better have a deep wallet. But it's a blast-literally.

 

[coosbaycreep]

I've never shot one of the .500 revolvers, but I have a single shot rifle in .500, and even that can be downright nasty with full power loads.

If you shoot it much, you'll either need to reload....or be incredibly rich. I have never seen factory ammo that was much less than $2 a round. Even if you reload, it can still cost close to $1 a round (or more if you use Barnes).

There's a dude in Alaska (Ranger Rick's Big Bullets?) that sells 700gr hard cast bullets for .500. That means you can get bullets ranging from 275gr all the way up to 700gr. There's not many other calibers with that much diversity, although there's not much need for anything heavier than about 440gr anyway.

I'd try and shoot one before you put down the money for one, just to find out it's too much gun. You might also look at the handi-rifles, as they are only about $250.

Also, the 4" models supposedly won't stabilize the really big bullets.

 

[Iceberg]

I bought it; it came w/ a quality hard case, 2 boxes of ammo & a nice shoulder holster. Now all I need is to go out and plink!

View attachment 210421

 

[orygun]

I bought it; it came w/ a quality hard case, 2 boxes of ammo & a nice shoulder holster for $300 - $400 less than new.

View attachment 210419

Exactly what I had. Hope you enjoy that Bad Boy. There's nothing else like it!

Sounds like you got a great deal, too.

I might suggest that you take 5 empty brass, put them in the cylinder and check the timing. (if you don't put empty brass in it the extractor will rotate some and give a false reading) I had a problem with a few of the holes after a few hundred rounds or so. Certainly worth checking.

 

[Neil]

So how did your plinking go? That looks like a nice revolver!!! How long is the barrel on that one?

 

[Iceberg]

It is listed a a 4" bbl, however it has a removable compensator. It came w/ a couple of boxes of ammo, so I plan on getting her out this next weekend. I belong to Clark Rifles & the club will not let us shot these big boys on the pistol range.

 

[Will]

That is a great price!
I have a blued 8" and took it for repayment of a debt of $700. It is expensive to shoot and I reload but had to buy new ammo to get the brass to reload. With the long barrel it isn't bad to shoot, how is the short barrel?