Posted by
Catmman on Saturday, June 28, 2008 11:43:04 PM
I finally took the hand-cannon out for some preliminary shooting.
The S&W .500 Magnum is billed as the world's largest, most powerful production handgun.
It lives up to the hype. And I've got one! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Sorry.
This range test was simply a foray out for me to shoot a few rounds through the gun. I've had it for several months, but had yet to take it out for a "drive". Over Father's Day, my family gave me some money and I bought a few things for the gun and decided to take it out and put a few rounds down range. This wasn't going to be a long range trip, just to test out a few different loads I bought and to see just how much recoil there actually is.
Before we get any further into this, let's introduce my latest friend - The Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum!
This wasn't a test for accuracy. Just to gauge the fit, finish, recoil and general performance of the weapon well as the ammo. Accuracy and other stuff will be tested in more detail at some point in the future after I can find a cheaper source for ammo! Let's be honest, the price of a box of factory ammo for this behemoth is a wallet buster, $45-$60+ for a box of twenty cartridges. It is NOT cheap, but then again this weapon was never intended to be a plinker.
It is built with the express purpose of bringing down pretty much anything walking on four legs on the planet today (depending on ammo used of course). Hell, it might have done a pretty good job of taking down a T-Rex under the right circumstances! So yes, if there is an evolutionary jump and Dinosaurs once again make their appearnce on Earth - I'm covered.
The one thing I wasn't prepared for was the blast of the weapon. WOW! This is why I ultimately had to stop shooting after only firing 8 rounds. I had just come off a migraine storm two days prior. The muzzle blast from the gigantic compensator/barrel nut was massive and after firing two rounds of Hornady Custom 500 grain ammo, I had to stop shooting. The blast rang my bell just a bit and made me feel a bit swimmy headed. Now had I been 100% healthy, this would have been a non-issue. But this just goes to show that the muzzle blast is felt and how!
I fired a combination of 275, 325, 400 and 500 grain ammunition (two rounds each). The 500 grain Hornady Custom is the largest commercial load I have found locally. I have found a few places on the internet selling 600 and 700 grain hard cast bullets, but those are custom jobs. One day I will take some of this stuff on, but for now I'll wring the ole hog leg out using what's available locally. I'll check out some of the local gun shows this weekend and see what other types of ammo I can find. I have found that there is now a .500 S&W Special (just like the .44 Magnum can fire .44 Special ammo) but I've only seen that stuff on the net as well. Maybe I'll find some cheaper and of more selection at a gun show (don't worry, I only purchase ammo from reputable dealers I have dealt with before).
I fired from a modified Weaver stance in an unsupported position. I did purchse a set of PAST padded shooting gloves - I just wanted to be more safe than sorry.
I fired one round each initially starting with the 275 grain load, working my up from there. Each round was fired standing/unsupported in single action. I then loaded the cylinder with one round of each weight I had, four total, and fired all four sequentially from double action.
As would be expected from a S&W Performance Center firearm, performance of the weapon was excellent. The single action trigger broke crsip and clean at about 3lbs(? SWAG). The single action pull was extremely nice. Double action was easy and smooth with the trigger breaking around 8-12lbs(?/another SWAG). I didn't do any firing from a rest, and didn't measure pull with an actual trigger pull gauge - sue me.
Accuracy was pretty good, just eyeballing hits on a paper silhouette hanging at 25 meters. I did push one round (the big 500 grain) off target during double action fire, but that was all me. this was the first firearms shooting I have done since I busted up my shoulder back in October 2006! My fundamentals were a bit rusty and I was anticipating the recoil a bit. Like I said though, I wasn't firing for a real accuracy test at real distance, so.
Recoil. This beast has plenty! I have fired and trained with pretty much every military small arm in the US inventory over my career. Not to mention firing some of the bigger bore's I own personally. I love big bore firearms and this one is that - in spades!
But recoil was manageable, as far as the shooting I did went. The lower grain loads (the 275 and 325) were pussycats, relatively speaking. When I lit off the 400 grain Winchester Platinum Tip Hollowpoint though, I could tell I was firing a big bore handcannon! It bit pretty good. Nothing which made me want to lose positive control of the weapon during firing, but it was pretty stout. The 500 grain load though was a REAL TUB THUMPER!
Just prior to firing a 500 grain FP XTP Hornady Custom.
Muzzle Velocity 1,425fps. Muzzle Energy 2,254 ft. lbs.
One thing to keep in mind is that THIS particular model of the .500 S&W Magnum weighs 82 ounces - unloaded. That's just over five lbs. The barrel is 10.5 inches long. THIS IS A BIG FIREARM! It has to be. And even with the weight of the weapon, the recoil is still massive! It didn't feel like it pushed me backwards too bad. Like I said, it was manageable. The shooting gloves did help in grip and recoil absobtion for my shooting hand as well.
And yeah. I should have had on duel hearing protection, but I couldn't find my headset (thought it was in the trunk of my car). I'll be wearing it next time though.
I know, I shoulda put a 9mm or something in there for some scale, but trust me - these are HUGE cartridges!
Like I said, I love big-bore firearms - handguns in particular. I will be doing much more with this little, er, big beauty in the future.
Stay tuned!
(Thanks to my wife Francine for taking the photos.)