The new .500 S&W Magnum dwarfs other big-bore cartridges which are currently available for production-manufactured revolvers.
The Model 500 from Smith & Wessonis the biggest, heaviest, most powerful factory-production double-action revolver all over the world. It’s built on an entirely new {and} substantial S&W physique size. It fires the new .500 S&W Magnum cartridge, that is the most powerful manufacturer stream ever before designed particularly for handgun use. The gun and the cartridge are both remarkable product accomplishments, out of the market norm, {and} each transferred with each other {from} notion to reality in much less than a yr.
Doing so report appears in The Very best Of Shooting Times unique interest publication, that is on newsstands now!
At the Feb 2002 Picture Display to S&W Handgun {Product} Supervisor All natural herb Belin journeyed prior to the assembled S&W top line power to ask them if they thought a new, massive Smith & Wesson magnum revolver and new, S&W-label magnum cartridge, greater and far more effective compared to everything else any other creator had ever considered, would be of interest to their customers. He had to out do them back again into their seats. A few days later, at the S&W headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts, the undertaking was accepted by Smith & Wesson Chief executive Bob Scott. The S&W engineering staff shifted into elevated gear. Merely 11 months later, at a push seminar at the S&W manufacturer held January 9, 2003, the entirely formulated new Model 500 was unveiled.
Belin’s original idea for the new gun was simple. Smith & Wesson had turned the revolver marketplace upside straight down throughout the earlier 4 many years with the advancement {and} introduction of the littlest {and} lighter pounds full-feature magnum revolvers all over the world: the small and medium-frame AirLite Ti and AirLite Sc sequence with titanium cylinders and high-tech aluminium scandium alloy frames. Getting shepherded those projects to prosperous completions, Belin now wished to go to pick the reverse extreme–to trump the expanding business attractiveness of various factory-produced big-bore revolvers chambered for tubes similar to the .454 Casull, .480 Ruger, {and} .475 Linebaugh by building the main, a lot effective (perhaps, even, unsurpassable) double-action revolver {and} cartridge ever conceived.
“We started it all,” Herb states, referring to the original S&W .357 Magnum back again in 1935 {and} the .44 Magnum {and} .41 Magnum in 1956 {and} 1961. “It’s {time} to get back in first place.”
The first step was to create performance limitations for a new revolver-form cartridge that would vastly exceed every little thing else in circulation (“substantially not marginally,” Belin emphasizes) {and} then style the gun that would take care of it. For a companion in the ammunition progress, S&W switched to Cor-Bon, a manufacturer well-known for the progress of cutting-edge handgun masses (like the .400 Cor-Bon {and} .440 Cor-Bon Magnum autoloader capsules {and} .45 Colt Magnum P hunting ammo) {and} also a company with the immediate decision-making system {and} adequately quick progress cycle to connect Belin’s objective of a Picture Display to 2003 intro for the closed products. Peter Pi, Cor-Bon’s hands-on president, immediately recognized the historic {significance} of participating in this kind of a venture {and} enlisted with no hesitation.
The 275-grain Barnes solid copper HEX-Bullet hollowpoint (L) {and} the 400-grain Hawk jacketed softpoint confirmed philosophical enlargement in ballistic gelatin.
For another 10 months Cor-Bon marched in lockstep using the S&W “X-Gun” engineering workforce–Large Mikuta, Tom Oakley, {and} project director Brett Curry–who got the style immediately {from} mental concept to CAD solid-modeling using advanced SolidWorks {computer} software {and} after that to seamless programming into the S&W’s computerized CNC-manufacturing machinery without touching pen to report or constructing any {model} prototypes. The very first actual parts created {and} assembled into an entire gun have been fundamentally the final settled style. The direct creation of an fully new-concept, high-performance {product} using this kind of speed is achievable solely via superior computerized engineering/producing amalgamation which may have been physically unattainable in any scene just overwhelming of years ago.
The well-rounded particulars of the joint developmental narrative of the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge {and} the {Model} 500 revolver could doubtless be the subject of a lot of {articles} {and} thorough shooting reviews {and} overall performance analyses yet to appear in quite a few publications, such as doing so one. Listed below in this first look, we can purely skim the cream of the vital specifications {and} comes equipped with which separate these exceptional new items {from} everything different that arrived prior to them.
The X-Frame {Model} 500 Magnum Masterpiece (T) makes a large-frame {Model} 629 .44 Magnum glance petite in comparison.
A Completely NEW CARTRIDGE The cartridge came first, {and} the programmers going with a totally empty screen. The caliber was the initially consideration.
“It may have been a .seventy five,” Belin says, “{and} may have been other than for the government half-inch boundary.” (He’s referring to a federal government regulation that involves an elaborate set of justification hurdles for any creator to get acceptance to develop new commercial ammunition bigger than .50 caliber.) “But the .50 is big enough to achieve our goals, {and} if we’d gone bigger we may have simply succeeded in generating an odd curiosity instead of a helpful cartridge.”
Cartridge length was the next consideration. That concerned 3 {concerns}: to present sufficient claim capability for the supremacy/energy level head-and-shoulders increased compared to every little thing different current, to make it lengthy enough which no silly experimenter may take any current revolver of weaker construction {and} rechamber it to hearth the new cartridge, {and} to make certain which if any other double-action revolver maker did decide it wished to market a gun chambered for the new .500 S&W Magnum cartridge, it may {also have} to develop {and} produce its own fully new physique volume as effectively. (Company is business, once all.)
The resultant .500 S&W Magnum cartridge provides .50-caliber bullets using a 1.625-inch optimum case duration (a .44 Magnum lawsuit is 1.285 in.) {and} 0.065-inch rim thickness. It should be originally readily available {from} Cor-Bon in three factory loadings: a 275-grain Barnes solid-copper HEX-Bullet hollowpoint using 1662 fps muzzle velocity {and} 1685 ft-lbs muzzle power at a maximum normal {pressure} (MAP) of 26,800 psi, a 400-grain Hawk Accuracy Jacketed Not itemized Point using 1676 fps velocity {and} 2492 ft-lbs power at 46,500 psi MAP, {and} a 440-grain Cast Overall performance flatnose prospect using 1625 fps velocity {and} 2578 ft-lbs power at 49,500 psi MAP. These are Cor-Bon’s original nominal manufacturer ratings using industry-standard 8 3/8-inch {pressure} barrels.
The {Model} 500&leading;s cylinder includes five rounds {and} {is not} counterbored, which shows the creative designers’ boldness in the strength of the case layout {and} the cylinder.
{It is} especially substantial that also though the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge tops out at more than a ton {and} a quarter of muzzle energy, all the hundreds drive below 50,000 psi, which, by the way, is considerably less compared to the 60,000 psi SAAMI-limit MAP for the more compact caliber .454 Casull. Most various power comparisons are also valuable: The hottest up to date business 240-grain .44 Magnum factory weight offers correct at 1600 ft-lbs (Winchester’s specifications {from} a 20-inch barrel); Hornady’s .480 Ruger manufacturer weight yields 1315 ft-lbs; the .475 Linebaugh launches at on 1500 ft-lbs; the most effective business .454 Casull insert reaches 1925 ft-lbs. For all intents {and} purposes, which offers the new .500 S&W Magnum a top power 34 % increased compared to the next a lot powerful handgun cartridge in existence. In sensible conditions, {there is} no living target strolling the earth that doing so weight {does not} possess the potential to deliver straight down.
AN ALL-NEW GUN In overall basic appearance, the {Model} 500 revolver is distinctly {and} diagnostically a Smith & Wesson. It has a similar normal overall configuration, identical side-swing cylinder style, {and} identical typical double-action operation. It’s all stainless metal using a natural satin finish, adjustable historic sites, {and} Hogue-made rubber grips merely prefer practically all various current premium-grade S&W revolver models. What it mostly is, nonetheless, is big. It dwarfs an S&W N-Frame {Model} 629 .44 Magnum. The introductory 8 3/8-inch-barreled {Model} 500 weighs in at a nominal 72.5 ounces–well over a pound heavier in contrast to a same-length {Model} 629. {And} out of these externals the {Model} 500 also brings an assortment of new style factors–the cylinder, yoke-frame {interface}, physique {and} grips, {and} barrel design–which set it distinctly apart from any previous S&W revolver {and} herald a number of new directions for long term S&W solutions.
The {Model} 500 cylinder was the first component of the gun in fact created {and} proofed. The cylinder is a revolver’s firing chamber, {and} unless it can manage the weight, you don’t possess a gun. The {Model} 500′s five-shot cylinder is 1.875 in. in diameter {and} 2.250 in. lengthy–more than twice the crowd of any S&W N-Frame cylinder. Its duration is specced to accommodate refills as long as a full-length .223 Remington (let your imagination run). The five-shot layout permits the bolt notch cuts {to be} offset {and} helps retain the general volume of the gun to a sensible dimension. The chambers {are not} counterbored so the case clubs {are not} enclosed–which is testimony to the designers’ courage in the power of the claim design {and} the cylinder alone given the power of the .500 cartridge. The cylinder is in fact proofed to 71,000 psi. While testing cylinder metallurgy in development, the S&W engineers in fact tried deliberately to blow one up (pondering whether or not the combination would shatter or would cut up) using special 90,000-psi hundreds. The chambers bulged somewhat but {did not} give.
Contrary to any other S&W revolver, the cylinder yoke-to-frame lockup {does not} utilize a center-pin running through a hollow ejector rod, nor is {there} any barrel-lug latch. The stable, small-diameter ejector rod is unsupported at the front, but the body latches the yoke precisely with a spring-loaded golf ball detent. Ball-detent yoke latch designs are often criticized on the grounds that any spring-loaded system will be subject to disengagement below recoil. Nonetheless, the fore/aft frame alignment of the {Model} 500 set up in fact works using recoil, pressing the latch a lot more securely into its notch, rather than introduction it. Extra the {Model} 500&primary;s help of rifling twist brings about the physique to torque much more solidly against the yoke, instead of aside {from} it, so the overall make of the 500&primary;s style is to truly strengthen the yoke-frame {interface} once firing, instead of emphasize it.
The stable, modest diameter ejector rod is unsupported at the entrance, but the body latches the yoke directly with a spring-loaded ball detent.
The {Model} 500′s body–now formally delimited as the X-Frame in the S&W lexicon–is significantly bigger, thicker, {and} heavier in contrast to any other S&W physique in all dimensions save one. The grip frame percentage is the same specification as a K/L-Frame round-butt physique. It looks strange {and} mismatched using the grips off–{and} a set of old-style K-Frame wooden round-butt support grip heating elements could actually fit it very well–but {there}’s a persuasive main reason for the design. The grip developed by Hogue for the {Model} 500 is a full-wraparound class with recoil-cushioning interior Absorbathane inserts within the upper web piece. All various Hogue Monogrips for S&W medium- {and} large-frame revolvers have an open backstrap so the use of the little round-butt grip-frame dimension right here on the X-Frame allows a thicker, closed-back cushioning design without any increasing the entire diameter or reach of the grip beyond what thinks easy in the {grasp} of an average-size give.
At the body’s opposite end, the {Model} 500 additionally employs a new proceedure of barrel relationship. On all other steel-frame/steel-barrel S&W revolvers, the barrel is threaded directly into the body using a “crush-fit” {interface} which is forcefully tightened into appropriate list {and} demands significant minimum barrel diameter {and} frame enclosure material. By distinction, the X-Frame design uses a two-part barrel assembly consisting of in internal rifled barrel tube, {and} a separate enclosing barrel shroud. In assembly, the shroud is first placed over the catalog tabs on the entrance of the physique, {and} after that the barrel tube is inserted {and} threaded into the frame with an enlarged hoop approximately its muzzle bringing the shroud tightly against the physique as it torques straight down.
The pc is superficially comparable to the well-known interchangeable-barrel Dan Wesson computer, but in contrast to a Dan Wesson barrel {it is} a everlasting installation using a hard-fitted, nonadjustable barrel-cylinder gap. Like the Dan Wesson hard drive, nevertheless, the consequence is that the precise barrel with the rifled bore is {supported} at both ends, not just at the rear, that {enhances} accuracy. {And}, prime of all, the barrel part that is threaded through the body at the essential lo cation of the forcing cone, which need to take in all the punishing impact of the bullet as it leaps {from} the accept of the cylinder, is a nonstressed {interface}. Doing so is a real benefit to the gun’s longevity, taking into consideration the intensely elevated influence energy of the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridge.
The grip developed by Hogue for the {Model} 500 (B) is a full wraparound sort with recoil-cushioning Absorbathane internal cushions to reasonable recoil affect.
The barrel shroud is configured with a full-length underlug {and} is adorned with a detachable three-vent Muzzle Brake which suits at the time of the protruding rim of the internal barrel tube {and} organised in place by an extensive hex-head Nylock bolt that threads into the front of the underlug. The shroud also properties an interchangeable entrance eyesight blade, that employs the spring-loaded plunger attachment mechanism initially designed for the premium-package {Model} 629 DX .44 Magnum series. The rearmost eyesight is the S&W regular totally adjustable Micrometer-click {model}. Various {Model} 500 showcases are S&W-standard, which includes the not long ago developed, key-operated revolver hammer safety lock.
Two closing noteworthy items on the {Model} 500 independent it {from} up to date S&W revolvers in various frame sizes. One is the reincorporation for extra balance of a fourth (top place) sideplate fastener which was dropped {from} earlier S&W guns at the end of 1950s. The various is which the {Model} 500&leading;s target-configuration hammer {and} trigger are metallic injection molded elements, which, thinking of the high energy {and} recoil velocity of the new .500 S&W Magnum cartridge, is a telling testimony to Smith & Wesson’s boldness in the strength {and} durability of which specific kind of high-tech metallic fabrication technology.
The three-vent muzzle brake fits over the protruding rim of the inside barrel tube. The interchangeable entrance eyesight cutting tool utilizes a spring-loaded plunger attachment mechanism.
Alright, individuals are the fundamentals of Smith & Wesson’s big, new gun {and} cartridge combo. The question everyone can by now be inquiring is “Which accomplishes it feel like to shoot it?”
Effective BUT SHOOTABLE I invested a early morning with Belin firing the {Model} 500 as a S&W Academy’s indoor range. I was going to the S&W manufacturer in Springfield, Massachusetts, through the {time} the engineering department was confirming the final-stage prototype with Cor-Bon’s original .500 S&W Magnum ammunition runs.
{There is} completely no query which the gun is a profoundly powerful few number to photograph, but I could additionally focus on which I had greatly over-anticipated the experience. I had noticed an preliminary full-size {Model} 500 {computer} printout {from} the SolidWorks device control software in May of last twelve months {and} had been struck by the apparent disproportion separating the range of the little, K-dimension grip-frame against the massive physique body {and} barrel. {And} I was additionally vigilantly aware of the enormous supremacy specifications for the developing .500 S&W Magnum cartridge in comparability to existing high-end handgun loads.
ccording to the author, S&W’s {Model} 500 is the greatest {and} heaviest magnum revolver currently produced, {and} its AirLite Sc {Model} 360 PD .357 Magnum is the littlest {and} lighter.
Based on individuals observations {and} information, I frankly expected the {Model} 500 {to be} somewhat clumsy {and} unbalanced to {grasp} {and} shoot {and} had prepared myself for most incredibly punishing recoil. My job calls for me to photograph a lot of big-bore handguns in the most heavy-kicking chamberings at this time available. I’m not especially recoil-sensitive, but I’d be a liar if I {did not} admit I approached my first crush of the {Model} 500&primary;s set off using some trepidation.
My expectations had been wrong. In terms of handling, the wraparound Hogue grips are easily handfilling without excessive reach, the weight of the body sits precisely over the assist give out a two-hand {grasp}, {and} the full-lug barrel imparts a comfy ahead equalize with no extreme heaviness. As for recoil, make no {mistake}, the {Model} 500 will come proper back again at you when you touch it off. But it {is not} far more hard to manage than any other current powerhouse handgun chambering, {and} {it is} surprisingly a lot more relaxing {and} less abrupt compared to some various well-known {and} popular existing big-revolver styles.
Taking pictures offhand at 30 yards without profit of the muzzle brake, Dick put five shots into four inches using S&W’s new .500 Magnum X-Frame revolver.
The key to what I call the “shootability” of nowadays’s heaviest power handguns is their software of recoil mgmt technology, {primarily} around of grip settings {and} muzzle brake/compensator applications. For example, I {do not} consider guns like the original-design Smith & Wesson {Model} 29 .44 Magnum 4 inch, using its light-profile barrel (by nowadays’s levels) {and} hard-checkered wood grips, or the relatively light-weight Ruger Very Redhawk .454 Casull using its unported barrel {and} noncushioned wood-insert grips {to be} particularly “shootable.” Each are very good, quite practical processes, but soon after on three rounds fired in succession, you wish to put them straight down. As a other hand, you can shoot guns enjoy the Taurus Raging Bull .454 Casull using its rubber shock-absorber grip insert {and} heavy-profile full-lug barrel with integral muzzle brake or a Magnum Study BFR .475 Linebaugh single-action revolver with Pachmayr grips {and} a excellent aftermarket muzzle brake all day.
Likewise, it is possible to shoot the {Model} 500 all day too. The mixture of the Hogue Absorbathane-insert cushion grip layout {and} the muzzle brake work properly to mood the gun’s muzzle flip {and} moderate its effect back into the hand. Of course, every one of the 3 available bullet freeweights {and} power amounts of Cor-Bon’s preliminary .500 S&W Magnum loadings has its own personalized recoil report, {and} the differences are distinct. I {did not} possess any other big-bore guns to truly photograph facet by facet using the {Model} 500, but right here are my comparative impressions of how it felt. Using a prototype muzzle brake in arrange, firing the 275-grain Barnes Hex-bullet .500 S&W stream seemed to me subjectively {to be} quite similar to firing a factory-issue Ruger Tremendously Redhawk chambered for .480 Ruger or an MRI BFR .475 Linebaugh using muzzle brake–each of which I take into account {to be} really shootable, comfortable-to-handle combinations. Firing the 400-grain Hawk Precision JFP or the 440-grain Cast Performance flatnose stream is notably more abrupt {and} comparable to th e sense of a full-power 300-grain .454 Casull stream in a Taurus Raging Bull. Shooting a similar masses with no the muzzle brake was a various tale; the flip was excessive. Not too many handgunners can ever want to photograph the {Model} 500 devoid of its muzzle brake attached.
Admittedly, shootability is a subjective idea. This is subject to on personal rpc_75_rpc in handling technique {and} recoil sensitivity, what’s shootable for one {will not} necessarily be shootable for yet another. But doing so is how the {Model} 500 feels in my give, minimum, compared to some of the other heavy-hitters using that you may be acquainted which are already out {there}. {And} one matter I’m completely sure of is the {Model} 500 is much, many more snug to photograph in contrast to the revolver you may look at its intense reverse–the wee 10-ounce, J-Frame S&W {Model} 360 AirLite Sc .357 Magnum.
SPECS
Maker: Smith & Wesson {Model}: 500 Operation: Double-action revolver Caliber: .500 S&W Magnum Barrel duration: 8.38 in. Overall duration: 15.0 in. Weight, vacant: 72.5 ounces Safety: Internal self-engaging hammerblock; security hammer keylock Places of interest: Adjustable hindmost; interchangeable post entrance Eyesight radius: 10.75 in. Rifling: 6 grooves, 1:18.75 LH twist Stocks: Hogue rubber Monogrips Cylinder capability: 5 rounds Finish: Brushed stainless metal
As for precision, the situation of my day at Smith & Wesson with the {Model} 500 {did not} enable a correct shooting review, but I had no issue publishing four-inch {groups} using the 275-grain insert firing the gun standing at plain-surface (no seek to point) 30-yard IDPA targets. You know I have absolutely no question which when I sit down at the benchrest with the {Model} 500 equipped using a great eye eyesight, I’ll be capable to cut which by more than 50 percent. In addition to, I’m absolutely not ashamed of 4 in. offhand at 30 yards spread with a big boomer prefer this, shooting in the “concussion-chamber” of an enclosed interior array where there is no the muzzle brake. (The nonlocked screw keeping the prototype muzzle brake as a preproduction gun got here {loose} although I was capturing {and} fallen it slightly in front of the muzzle; the next picture ruined it.)
The new {Model} 500 in .500 S&W Magnum is an extraordinary, without a doubt historic, shooting app, {and} the introduction of the X-Frame style additionally provides Smith & Wesson with significant further opportunity for developments off its initial settings {and} chambering. S&W planners are currently talking about the chance of further new, super-long, super-powerful .475-caliber {and} .450-caliber “S&W Magnum” refills for the gun. Plus the dimensions {and} {pressure} capabilities of the X-Frame cylinder also present the potential to chamber various full-length bottleneck rifle tubes–prefer the .223 Remington or even (perhaps?) the new .223 Winchester Super Brief Magnum. How regarding a four-inch .500 S&W “Bear-Defense” method for Alaskan fishermen? Or an X-Frame eight-shot .44 Magnum method designed with a scandium/aluminum-alloy physique which may weigh much less in contrast to a current N-Frame {Model} 629?
International students have few big-bore revolver fans in the world who {do not} carry a crystal clear photograph in their reminiscence of the cinematic second in 1972 once Clint Eastwood aimed a Smith & Wesson {Model} 29 in between the eyes of a recalcitrant felon {and} snarled, “Doing so right here being a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun all over the world, you gotta ask yourself. . .do you feel lucky?”
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