Rammer

Oh yes. I forgot about that lil detail. 500 it is then

James B

Although I don't have ballistics for it, I have been told that the 500 S&W is pretty well Maxed out in the longer pistol barrel and several guys who have the 22 Inch NEF Handi rifles report about the same velocities as the hand gun. However not many are experimenting with it in rifles yet as there are not many out there. You might try the NEF forum at www.graybeardoutdoors.com. Many of them have the 22 inch handi rifle which is a pretty good gun.

gray hunter

I don't know the ballistics for my pro-hunter 500 S&W 20" barrel (I haven't cronyed it yet), but I do know what it did to 2 deer this fall (devastating wound channels, and complete chest cavity pass-through diagonally on both animals). I shot 3" groups at 100yds using a 4.5 power scope.
My hand loads are as follows:
Hornady brass
Winchester Magnum Pistol Primer
18gr Tight Group (luv it, burns very clean)
350gr Hornady XTP bullet (light roll crimp for single shot barrel)

And no, it didn't do a bit better job than my pro-hunter 50cal. muzzle loader barrel that shoots 3 quarter inch groups at 100yds. But---I didn't need an excuse for buying a new barrel or trying a new caliber. The 500 Smith is definitely the best choice to hunt with in rainy weather. What a "BLAST"!!!!

handloader1

Go to www.handloads.com Good luck.

SecondChance

I had a S&W Performance Center Custom in .500 and got rid of it for a .460 Performance Center Custom for those exact reasons. The 460 has flatter trajectories. I can shoot milk jugs at 200yds with boring consistancy and we stretch it out to 250 and still stay at over 50%. I shoot a Burris Long Eye Relief 2x7 scope with Hornady 200 FTX's and H110 powder.
I had the Ruger 480 before the 500 and you see where it is now, traded in for and upgraded 500.

gray hunter

Gray hunter here!!! I Crony'd my T/C 20" 500 S&W barrel today. The 3 shots averaged exactly 1,500 fps. The 350gr Horn. XTP at this speed is a serious threat to virtually any animal in North America. Remember, this is my load----18gr Tightgroup and Win. Mag. pistol primer. I don't know or care what factory loads might Crony.

Primitive Weapon

I know this post is OLD but is it safe to assume Gray meant he got 2,500fps out of this 20" barrel? I believe the fps out of an 8.5" pistol barrel is nearly 2000fps.

Nomercy448

This post was old the first time it was reopened - it's REALLY old now...

No, 1,500fps is not a typo. 18.5grn of Titegroup is the max load Hodgdon shows for the 500S&W with a 350grn Hornady XTP, with a velocity of 1461fps. Titegroup is a fast powder, so it doesn't capitalize on a longer barrel as well as a other powders, so 1500fps out of a 20" isn't that surprising. Being so fast in a large bore, high pressure round and behind a big bullet, it's a slower velocity than many other powders, BUT it also gets that velocity with about half of the powder (W296 max charge = 43grns at 1877fps out of a 10" barrel).

2,500fps with a 350grn pill is over 4800ft.lbs. - that would exceed the .375H&H!! The .500S&W is a massive handgun cartridge, but it's not really that big of a case in the grand scheme of rifle cartridges. I've read that the 500 case has an internal capacity of 63grn water, putting it about on par with the 30-06 family of cases, which is about where the 500S&W falls in terms of energy. Cartridges with >4800ft.lbs. tend to be in the 90-100grn+ water capacity ballpark.

uncle matt

Why such an involved, complex and expensive way to something so simple? Why wouldn't a good shotgun or ML work?

Ridge Runner

dedicated technologies builds an AR chambered in 358 wssm, its indy legal and can be made into a 300+ yard rifle, RRA offers the 458 socom, also indy legal
RR