# 500 mag too much?



## brandonsc (May 22, 2011)

do yall think the S&W 500 mag is too much for deer/bear/hog hunting? i know i would be worried about meat loss due to the shot, but if i was being charged by a bear i'd rather have too much than not enough


----------



## GAR (May 22, 2011)

IMHO it would make a good weapon for what you describe. I would not shoot full power loads but switch to a cast bullet at around 900-1000fps.

Save the real heavy stuff for real big game.


----------



## brandonsc (May 22, 2011)

but i would not want to worry about having to switch sheels while i have a bear in range


----------



## LanceColeman (May 22, 2011)

yes!! But only because I don't own one. If I did and could afford the feed the critter?? I would prolly think it's perfect.


----------



## stev (May 22, 2011)

500 good ,i shoot a 460 roland and it does a fine job too.


----------



## Dub (May 22, 2011)

I love shooting my. 500s&w.  It's a lot of fun on the range...just pricey to keep fed.
The charging bear scenario you describe would have me dropping the 500s&w and drawing a. 44remmag or. 41remmag.
Why?
I can shoot and recover and shoot again  much faster with these.

Also, I'll hope to never shoot my ported 500s&w without hearing protection.

May scare off the but will suffer permanent hearing damage. 

Anyone shooting these without serious protection is an out an out fool.


----------



## brandonsc (May 22, 2011)

i'm not too worried about the hearing loss when i've been on several live fire machine gun shoots with 50 cals and mrk-19's


----------



## Marlin_444 (May 23, 2011)

Those are LOUD weapons, run full house all the time - Bear or Bandit, it'll deliver a KA BOOM PLOP... 

I will be carrying a G20 6" Lone Wolf with 9000 grains of Cast Lead - three clips 15 rounds each of Double Tap 200 Grain Cast rounds...  If I don't kill it, it'll be dancing...  

My favorite 500 S&W - BFR cut down from 10" to 6" and magna ported







*v*


----------



## Michael F. Gray (May 23, 2011)

Good weapon for you youngsters who don't have problems with Uncle Arthur yet.


----------



## Dub (May 23, 2011)

Oh yeah....know all about uncle Arthur.   It's pretty advanced in the knees.

Hands still good.....for now.


----------



## brandonsc (May 23, 2011)

trust me uncle arthur is in my shoulder and my knee and i'm looking at shoulder surgery on my weak shoulder here in the next few months


----------



## ben300win (May 23, 2011)

Had a 500 S&W with the 8.375" barrel. Not too bad to shoot, but carrying it and swinging it toward and animal is another story. We were going to alaska on a DIY hunt so I wanted as much gun as possible. I will tell you that a 44 mag or something like that will do just as well and you have one more round in the cylinder and alot lighter and easier gun to manuver. I ended up with a 329pd which is the lightest of its type. Kicks about like the 500 though. I was told by a friend that you carry a pistol 99% of the time and only shoot it 1% of the time so you should get a gun easy to carry. Noticed that they now make a 329 XL with the 6" barrel. Mine has the 4".


----------



## LanceColeman (May 23, 2011)

Dub said:


> I love shooting my. 500s&w.  It's a lot of fun on the range...just pricey to keep fed.
> The charging bear scenario you describe would have me dropping the 500s&w and drawing a. 44remmag or. 41remmag.
> Why?
> I can shoot and recover and shoot again  much faster with these.
> ...



You make a very very valid point. One of the the 44 rem mags I shoot is a 7.5" bbl ruger super black. It's factory magna ported (meaning it was like that when I got it) I made the mistake of shootin it  a couple too many times without hearing protection... now I carry this permanent lil itty bitty ring in my right ear..... which of course when it's real quiet gets a lil louder.


----------



## brandonsc (May 24, 2011)

i'm lookin at the 8 3/8" 500 mag i'm and planning on putting a scope on it


----------



## Dub (May 24, 2011)

brandonsc said:


> i'm lookin at the 8 3/8" 500 mag i'm and planning on putting a scope on it



I think you'll really like it.  Those X-Frames are impressive handguns.  I waited a few years before I bought one...honestly didn't think I ever would as I've so thouroughly enjoyed shooting/hunting with .44RemMag guns over the years.

I can't afford to shoot this one every time I go to the range....but I wish I could.  At some point I'm going to get back into the reloading game and this will be the first round I set up for.

BTW, I've shot factory loadings in everything from 275-440grain hunting loads.  I've yet to feel harsh recoil.  These things handle it nicely.  I guess the 23lbs of steel has something to do with that.

One good thing about the 8 3/8" barrel you are considering is that gun leather is more available.  I haven't checked for mine.  Still contemplating scoping or not.











brandonsc said:


> trust me uncle arthur is in my shoulder and my knee and i'm looking at shoulder surgery on my weak shoulder here in the next few months



This is what my doc wants to try next....weekly injections in the joints for 3 consecutive weeks....relief is expected for 6-12 months afterwards.

It's worth trying, I suppose, if it'll ward off the scapel for a while yet.










Good luck.


----------



## brandonsc (May 25, 2011)

well i will not be back stateside till about christmas on leave so it might just be my christmas present to myself i shot the 460 S&W and loved it it had little recoil to me and i liked the way the gun fit my hand because its one of few who auctally fill my hand up while shooting it


----------



## Dub (May 25, 2011)

brandonsc said:


> well i will not be back stateside till about christmas on leave so it might just be my christmas present to myself i shot the 460 S&W and loved it it had little recoil to me and i liked the way the gun fit my hand because its one of few who auctally fill my hand up while shooting it



Be safe in your travels.

Come home to an X-frame for Christmas.


Those 460's are wicked, too.  The 200gr Hornady factory load is one nasty round.....and about 1/2 the price of their similarly red-tipped 300gr 500 factory load.  

Both are rated at well over 2,000 fps.

Both would kill anything you wanted to kill around here.  


The 460 adds versatility, too.  Shooting 45LC or 454 Casul may be appealing to you.


----------



## brandonsc (May 25, 2011)

thats is true abotu the 45 lc and 454 casul most people do not realise that the 460 will shoot those other rounds at a cheaper price but if i'm going to spend that amount of money i'm goign to get what i want it takes abotu 24 hours from me to fly home from here in japan but its worth every min of it


----------



## DeucesWild (May 26, 2011)

I bought a 460XVR 8 3/8" barrel about a month ago and put a Burris 2x7 on top. That is one sweet rig and I can't wait till deer season


----------



## Dub (May 28, 2011)

DeucesWild said:


> I bought a 460XVR 8 3/8" barrel about a month ago and put a Burris 2x7 on top. That is one sweet rig and I can't wait till deer season



Sounds great for you, bad for the deer!


What mounts did you use?

Picks if you got them of your set-up.

I can't decide about glass and mounting for mine.


----------



## brandonsc (May 29, 2011)

well if i do get one i i'll only have about 3 weeks of hunting when i go home on leave in december and i'm going to be meat hunting and not worry but if a big one walks out i aint letting him pass


----------



## Dub (May 30, 2011)

Go ahead and get one for each hand.











Had an absolute blast the last range session with mine and a buddy's.


Permanent grin on our faces after going through dozens of rounds in each.


He also has a .500s&w chambered single shot Handi-Rifle.  This gun was really fun to shoot, too.


----------



## brandonsc (May 30, 2011)

haha i had not taught about that yet haha but i'm going to go with the 8 3/8 gun because i want to stick with a traditional revolver style but the bone collector series is pretty sweet


----------



## DeucesWild (Jun 1, 2011)

Dub said:


> Sounds great for you, bad for the deer!
> 
> 
> What mounts did you use?
> ...





 Give me a few days and I'll try and get a pic for you


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 1, 2011)

i'd like to see that set up as well i have taught about going with a red dot scope for it but not sure bc i might want to try to reach out to 100 or 150 yards with the hand cannon hahaha


----------



## DeucesWild (Jun 1, 2011)

Which ever optics you decide to go with needs to be of good quality. The recoil will damage most cheap scopes. I put a Burris posi-lock handgun scope on my 460 to begin with. It was suppose to handle the recoil but after 8 rounds of 454 casull 300 grn hornadys, the scope went black and it sounded like a baby rattle when you shook it It never lasted long enough to see the good stuff. I replaced it with a 2x7 Burris handgun scope hoping I just got a bad one on the first go around and so far its held up.


----------



## Dub (Jun 1, 2011)

DeucesWild said:


> Which ever optics you decide to go with needs to be of good quality. The recoil will damage most cheap scopes. I put a Burris posi-lock handgun scope on my 460 to begin with. It was suppose to handle the recoil but after 8 rounds of 454 casull 300 grn hornadys, the scope went black and it sounded like a baby rattle when you shook it It never lasted long enough to see the good stuff. I replaced it with a 2x7 Burris handgun scope hoping I just got a bad one on the first go around and so far its held up.



Did they cover it under a warranty?


----------



## sdions (Jun 1, 2011)

brandonsc said:


> i'm not too worried about the hearing loss when i've been on several live fire machine gun shoots with 50 cals and mrk-19's



I tell ya, I been on those ranges as well and I've shot the M2 as well as the MK19 with HE more than most, I've even shot 155mm out of a M777 and a M109 but none of those experiences were as bad as getting an earful of .44mag out in my backyard without hearing protection.  It'd alot different when the cylinder is so close to you vs. a muzzle going downrange.


----------



## DeucesWild (Jun 6, 2011)

Dub said:


> Did they cover it under a warranty?





 I bought it at Franklin's here in athens and they replaced it on the spot.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jun 6, 2011)

brandonsc said:


> do yall think the S&W 500 mag is too much for deer/bear/hog hunting? i know i would be worried about meat loss due to the shot, but if i was being charged by a bear i'd rather have too much than not enough



As far as meat loss and such, remember that even though the .500 is about the biggest _handgun_ caliber out there, it still doesn't have near as much muzzle energy as most common deer rifles that nobody worries about being "too much gun." So from that standpoint, no, it's not too much if you can handle and shoot it comfortably.


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 11, 2011)

i have shot the 460 S&W and both guns are built off the same frame and it was one of the few hand guns that i taught fit my hand right because most are about too small for my huge hands


----------



## Dub (Jun 11, 2011)

Those X-Frame grips fit nicely on N-frame guns, too.  Think I may put a set on my 629 as well.


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 11, 2011)

my dad has a S&W 357 ss mag i think its a 629 but not too sure and the oak grips that r on it are just a little small for me but its a sweet shooting little gun thats as loud as a cannon


----------



## DeucesWild (Jun 13, 2011)

brandonsc said:


> my dad has a S&W 357 ss mag i think its a 629 but not too sure and the oak grips that r on it are just a little small for me but its a sweet shooting little gun thats as loud as a cannon





 If its a 629 its more then likely a 44mag


----------



## Dub (Jun 13, 2011)

Yup, 629=.44


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 13, 2011)

well then i guess its not a 44 mag but i know that its a 6" 357 mag


----------



## Dub (Jun 13, 2011)

Perhaps a 6" 686...a nice handling wheelgun.


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 13, 2011)

it might be i'll find out next time i get the chance to call him


----------



## markland (Jun 14, 2011)

In a handgun it is a lot of energy, but the heaviest 325gr round compared to a rifle round about equal to a 30-06 150gr round, so take it for what it's worth.


----------



## brandonsc (Jun 16, 2011)

dad said he taught it was a modle 19-5 S&W 357 mag and he's had it abotu 30 years and still looks brand new


----------

