Who owns a .500 magnum?

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Loading down is a better solution than shooting the shorter cased rounds in a .460. Your accuracy will be much better.

I am going to pretend to sound like I know what I am talking about.

Are the shorter cartridges less accurate because the length of the cylinder they have to travel? I am assuming that would affect the pressure and velocity compared to a cylinder that is machined for that cartridge?
 
From what I have read the jump the bullet has to make causes the accuracy to diminish when shooting the other rounds in the 460. From what I have read over the years, being able to shoot 45 and 454 out the 460 is not really worth it because of the accuracy issues so its kind of a moot point. I would still opt for the 500 because the recoil between the two calibers can't be much different and you will always have that question of if you really made the right choice.

A 300gr bullet out the 8 inch 500 would be pretty tame IMO and since you reload it would be easy enough to do. If you do opt for the 460 than do it for other reasons than that you can shoot the other rounds out of it. My course of logic though is if your going to spend that much on a gun it might as well be the biggest. Plus you wont wonder what the 500 kicks like because you will have one.
 
The 500 with 6 1/2" barrel (3.8 lbs) and 350gr bullet moving 1900 = 49 foot-pounds of recoil energy.
The .44 with 6 1/2" barrel (3 lbs) and 300gr bullet moving 1300 = 25 foot-pounds of recoil energy.

Felt recoil is subjective but the energy transferred to the shooter is not. May have to change grips or technique to manage nearly doubling a .44 mag.
 
From what I have read the jump the bullet has to make causes the accuracy to diminish when shooting the other rounds in the 460. From what I have read over the years, being able to shoot 45 and 454 out the 460 is not really worth it because of the accuracy issues so its kind of a moot point. I would still opt for the 500 because the recoil between the two calibers can't be much different and you will always have that question of if you really made the right choice.

A 300gr bullet out the 8 inch 500 would be pretty tame IMO and since you reload it would be easy enough to do. If you do opt for the 460 than do it for other reasons than that you can shoot the other rounds out of it. My course of logic though is if your going to spend that much on a gun it might as well be the biggest. Plus you wont wonder what the 500 kicks like because you will have one.

I suppose the price point between the two is negligible, so why not buy the biggest and the baddest instead of wondering what if
 
While the 500 is the larger diameter I believe the velocity of the 460 combined with higher grain bullets makes the top tier 460 loads more "powerful" than the 500 loads, at least if we consider muzzle energy as the metric. In my opinion they're tied, depending on whether you adhere to velocity or projectile size as the better edge to chase.

I might get the 460 just so you can have 45, 454, and 460 cases next to eachother.
 
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ATCDoktor

I called S&W today to see if I can have my 8in barrel swampped for a 6inch and they said they can go larger but never go smaller. I explained I was not looking for a smaller caliber just a barrel chage they said no not smaller but if I wanted a longer they would be more than happy to do it. The person I spoke with said they had been there for 13 years and never have been allowed to do "smaller barrel" I know this is not true so I will be calling back tomorrow to hopefully get a different tech.
 
ATCDoktor

I called S&W today to see if I can have my 8in barrel swampped for a 6inch and they said they can go larger but never go smaller. I explained I was not looking for a smaller caliber just a barrel chage they said no not smaller but if I wanted a longer they would be more than happy to do it. The person I spoke with said they had been there for 13 years and never have been allowed to do "smaller barrel" I know this is not true so I will be calling back tomorrow to hopefully get a different tech.

Call them back and talk to someone else.

If you have to, talk to a supervisor or the custom shop or whoever you have to because they did it for me.

They even sent back my old parts:
356-F286-F-1-CFC-49-EB-AD0-B-32-D80-CE03-AF9.jpg

Have the cat that told you he’s never seen them put a shorter barrel on an X Frame explain that.

They even sent the cylinder back and marked it not for use in in my gun as the Barrel to Cylinder gap would exceed specs.
4-AD5-DD0-B-430-C-4520-99-AB-FFA0-A76-A11-C1.jpg

I dug through all my old gun boxes and couldn’t find the one that came back with this one.

I probably used it to send another gun off for repair.

Looked high and low for the invoice that showed the work that had been done and couldn’t find it.

All that said, I assure you Smith & Wesson swapped my 8” barrel for the 6.5” barrel you see on it today.
 
So have you made a decission yet as to what you are going to get?

I think I'm going to stick with the .500. I am thinking I may see if my local range has one I can rent before I buy. But I am thinking the Smith and Wesson X-frame with the 8" barrel would be my first choice. I'm not looking for something compact, and I prefer longer barrels when I can
 
Oh by no means did I doubt you brother was just reporting back -- Plan to call them today.

I didn’t think you were doubting what I was saying, it just bothered me that the guy you spoke with at S&W did so indirectly through you.

What is sad is that it appears that 13 years of tenure/experience at Smith & Wesson isn’t a very high measure of their employees bonafides/competence reference operations and customer service by not even bothering to investigate whether they (S&W) could help you out.

The individual you spoke with standing on his “time in service” there at S&W instead of helping you out irks me to no end.

Anyone who pulls that nonsense irrespective of where they work needs to be re trained.

All that said, keep on them reference the work.

They can/will do it and it truly makes all the difference in the world reference the way the X frame handles.

You may short yourself a few FPS on velocity but IMHO it will definitely balance out reference portability and handling.
 
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My buddies 8" 460 is LOUD! I much preferred shooting my 3" comped 500mag.

Recoil wasn't too bad either in my opinion. It was much more tame than shooting my 4" 29-2 with magna grips comparing full power loads to full power loads.

If you handload, you can stop exactly where you want on the recoil scale and still have more than enough horsepower on tap for anything that walks.
 
Finding one to rent would be a good idea. If anything it was just make ya want one more. The 8inch model is pretty nice to shoot. You cant go wrong with any of them really. The x frame S&W is pretty sweet because it is both double and single action. You can change it up a bit and do some rapid firing when you get comfortable. Keep us updated
 
Loading down is a better solution than shooting the shorter cased rounds in a .460. Your accuracy will be much better.

I have often wondered if this would be the case.
I always figured the bullet jump from the shorter cartridge couldn't possibly do anything but hurt accuracy.
With stuff like shooting .44 special in a .44 magnum it isn't that much jump.
But shooting .45 Colt in a .460 is a lot of jump.
 
They show up on Armslist pretty often usually along with a half box of ammo.;)
I have to agree with you on this one- I have built and shot a ton of big stuff....magnums all the way up to the 50 BMG- and the 500 in a short barrel and light weight gun (relative speaking) is a pounding punishing thing to shoot- --- still love the horsepower though-
 
From what I have read the jump the bullet has to make causes the accuracy to diminish when shooting the other rounds in the 460. From what I have read over the years, being able to shoot 45 and 454 out the 460 is not really worth it because of the accuracy issues so its kind of a moot point.

I'm strongly considering a 10" BFR in .460 and this same thing occurred to me. I'd probably never shoot any 45 Colt or 454 through it. I plan to reload for the firearm and if I wanted tamer loads, I'll just make them up in 460 brass.
 
I'm strongly considering a 10" BFR in .460 and this same thing occurred to me. I'd probably never shoot any 45 Colt or 454 through it. I plan to reload for the firearm and if I wanted tamer loads, I'll just make them up in 460 brass.

I would recommend the 7.5-inch model instead of the 10-incher as it can be shot offhand more easily. You won’t lose any real performance either. Oh and yes, the .460 is loud - period.
 
The noise these guns make always catches people by surprise if they have never been around one before. I was standing next to my cousin when he shot my 500 and I didn't have my ear plugs in. Probably the worse I have ever had my ears ring in my life. I learned a lesson that day for sure.
 
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