Gunmaker Introduces New Handgun
Revolver Said To Be Most Powerful Handgun On Market

POSTED: 10:12 a.m. EST February 13, 2003
UPDATED: 10:17 a.m. EST February 13, 2003

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Gunmaker Smith & Wesson has introduced its biggest handgun ever.

The company bills the new .50-caliber Magnum revolver as the most powerful production handgun on the market.

The five-shot Model 500 revolver with an 8.5-inch barrel weighs 72.5 ounces or about a pound more than its big-frame .44 Magnum.


It fires a new .50-caliber cartridge that the company said produces nearly three times the muzzle energy of the .44 Magnum.

Company President Roy C. Cuny said the new revolver builds on the .357 Magnum revolver it introduced in the 1930s and the .44 Magnum that it brought out in the 1950s.

Douglas B. Wesson, a grandson of one of the company' s founders, developed the .357 Magnum to promote handgun hunting.

The gun, which sells for $989, is one of nine new models the company introduced this week at a trade show in Orlando, Fla. Cuny said it was the largest number of new introductions in recent years.

Smith & Wesson Corp., based in Springfield, is a subsidiary of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., based in Scottsdale, Ariz.