S&W 500 4in or 6in?

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IMHO, 4" for packing and 6" for shooting/hunting.

Much is made of the "versatility" of the .460 because it can also shoot the .45Colt but considering the accuracy reported using the much shorter cartridge in the long .460 chamber, I don't consider that a feather in its cap.


I guess you could always trim down some .500 S&W cases and call them something else, like .5 Balboa or 1/2 Glow Monkey (or whatever you like)
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A .500S&W cut to 1.4" is the .500JRH. Which existed before the S&W (on a different case with a smaller rim for the FA 83). It has also been cut to .44Spl length and squeezed into a mid-frame Ruger but I have no idea what they called it.


I think the biggest advantage of a 460 for me would be if I ever acquired a 45/70 I could use the same bullets I cast in two different guns.
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That'd be a great idea but the .460 uses .451-.452" bullets and the .45/70 uses .458's.
 
Post some pics, I have the 8 3/8" version and it's a great shooter. I can hit the 12" gongs at 200 yards with my handloads. It really likes 325gr bullets and it sends them down range fast, what it doesn't like is 700gr bullets.

If you plan on shooting the 700's just buy a box of 50 and shoot them to get it out of your system. The stock twist rate isn't fast enough to get the 700's stabilized at any range. There's a John Ross version or something like that, it's built or rebarreled to handle the heavy weights.

Going to the range tomorrow, picked up some 390's to load up. I'll shoot some from 50-200 yards to see how they do. I'll try to remember to take some pics of the ammo and the targets to post for you.
 
Bought online so its not here yet.

Ya ive read the same thing about the 700gr bullets. I plan on reloading 440gr powder coated lead bullet mostly but I might need to get a spire point or hollow point bullet mold to.
 
A bit late to this party - I think you made the right call. What a lot of folks don't consider is that the interchangeable compensator on the 4" and 8 3/8" cost you about an inch of barrel (rifling).
So the 4" is much like a 3", the 8 3/8" much like 7 3/8"....the 6.5" is 6.5" (I am assuming the rifling goes all the way to the muzzle on the 6.5). So you should have more than double the rifled barrel for a "cost" of about 2.5".

And - reloading for the big dogs (44Mag thru 500) makes all the sense in the world. They are versatile cartridges and you can load them up and load them down (powder type permitting). I have the 460XVR in 8 3/8 - as a rule I do not shoot 45 Colt or 454 Casull as I can load the 460 cases to where I want them to be - and don't want to deal with any chamber build up that could stick the longer cases.
 
I have 500s in 4", a 5" John Ross Special and a 6 1/2" PC Hunter. The 4" now wears a solid comp to eliminate the comp effect. The 6 1/2" has a tubular sleeve over the tubular comp to eliminate the comp effect. The 5" JRS doesn't have a comp. I prefer the roll to the pushback of the comped guns. I prefer the 5" JRS the most. It has the best double action trigger. The 4" and 5" both weigh about 56 oz. which works well at the range. The PC Hunter weighs about 70 oz without a scope and about 85 oz. with my little 2x scope. It really requires a rest to shoot well, but from a rest it is super accurate.

They are all a lot of fun to play with, but I like the 5" JRS best.
 
I'd take the 6" one as well.

More range, better sighting radius, more hitting power. Not much bigger wither when talking about X-frames!!!!!!
 
I also think you'll love the 6.5". I had one up until a couple years ago and the extra barrel length for the sight radius and limiting blast was a godsend. It also stabilized the extra large bullets better. And because the extra barrel length was just barrel without the lug underneath, it didn't actually add that much weight. And it made it look a whole lot better too ;)

Though, if I did get another X frame, I would go for the 460 and also use it for hunting.
 
Here's some pics of the 390's and 700's, the target with the fewer rounds was going good... Those 390's recoil harder then the 700's ever did! Had to shake my hand out and that's probably what caused to last two to fall off.

The other pic of the target was later when I tried shooting some more at it, I was using minimum loads but man they kicked. Plus aiming at the 200 yard target would put them about 4-5 feet high. Had to aim at the base of the target stand to get even close. Think I'll need to back off on the powder charge a few grs. to make them nicer!

http://www.daplane.com/50shooter/500s&w/
 
Any big bore for me better be 6". Longer barrel, longer sight radius, more weight.
 
Gun came in today. Fells great nice and well balanced and a nice trigger for a stock gun.

No complaints at all I'm glad I went with the 6in
 
Ya the only thing I would change is it would look much better in a high gloss blued finish with some wood grips.
 
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