Ok, I just have to ask this one. Smith and Wesson is claiming that the New 500 Magnum is the most powerful handgun out there. Everyone has heard that right? What about the BFR pistols with the 45-70 and the 450 Marlin? I thought that those were bigger, case is longer than the 500 Mag right or not.

Just curious,

Jay

Those are rifle cartridges. I believe S&W is referring to production handguns designed for handgun cartridges.

Oh, I see thats how they get away with that! OK

Jay

Not to mention that the .50 Linbaugh maximum is even more powerful than the .50 S&W, but "it ain't factory."

I think Smith's latest ads have added the words "double action" to their claim of most powerful revolver.

I have a S&W 500 on order. I own and have shot the 45/70 full house loads out a 16" barrel of my contender. The full house loads broke my contender had to send it back to get it fixed but you are right I don't think the S&W 500 will kick like that [ the 45/70 ]

i just bought 1 and with the 440 grain hard cast corbon load would make one heck of a nice bear round. i plan on mainly hog hunting with mine but also plan on bring it to africa for a plains game hunt in the future.

Big Bore - what is the maximum load for a 500 Linbaugh? The S&W is something like 400gr at 1650fps, isn't it. I know the S&W is bigger than the Linbaugh. Thanks.

I must stand corrected. The .500 Linbaugh Long Maximum is 1.600" and the maximum load I have listed for a 6" bbl is 1550 fps for a 425 gr. bullet, with general loads from 400 gr. to 450 gr. going 1500 to 1600 fps (Big Bore Sixguns, John Taffin). Hodgdon list the .500 S&W as 1.615 and with a 10 inch barrel, show a 440 gr. bullet at a hair over 1600 fps. Now, while the .500 S&W does this with an extra 4" of barrel, I would say the .500 S&W and the .500 Linebaugh Long are pretty much ballistic twins.

[ 11-03-2003, 05:15: Message edited by: Big Bore ]

From Penetration Test at the Linebaugh Seminar by Kent M. Batchelor :

One of the more astounding things for me was learning of the strength of these revolvers. John spoke of his pressure tests where rounds with 90,000 + psi loads were shot with no ill effects to the pistol. Rick Elliott, who likes to shoot these guns to their full potential, has an early .475 that John built that has in excess of 7,000 full-power loads through it. John said it was as tight as the day it was built. To be fair, these revolvers have failed. There was mention of a duplex or triplex load that went awry, a man who unintentionally mixed his powders, and a few more. However, a gentleman of considerable mettle told me he shoots his .500 Long with a 440 grain Keith at a muzzle velocity of 1,626 feet/second. (This load is safe only in his gun. If you try it at home, you are six bricks shy a full load and deserve the deserts.) I don�t think I could handle that more than once, but the revolver evidently has no trouble with it. The bottom line is if you can hold it in your hand when you pull the trigger, the gun will probably not object. I think I�ll reduce my loads for a while as the gun is definitely stronger than my body and my ego got a good dose of reality over the weekend.

So what I understand is that 1600fps+ from .500S&W is "standard" but the same from .500 long is "top" load . . . but looks like twins . . .

Jiri

Here is my evaluation of my new 500 S&W. First it will launch a 400 gr bullet at 1800fps with handloads. It will easily penetrate 1/4 inch steel plate at 30 yrds. for comparison, a .44 mag will not leave a surface scratch. It is accurate enough for consistent hits on a 6 inch gong at 100 yrds. It's pretty impressive, but very very controlable, unlike some of the Linebaugh guns I've shot. -Rob

What kind of steel plate are you shooting? The 44 I have will nicely penetrate 1/4" mild steel shooting plates when used with CORBON penetrator loads, and also has no problem with hot loaded 330gn. 1/4" steel is not that hard to get through. On the other hand with steel core loads I have shot through almost 3" of steel with a 300H&H. If you are talking hardened tool steel , I would have to doubt the 500 penetrating it let alone a 44 mag. I have rifle stop plates we use on a stalking target course that get shot at 30-50 yds with some rather heavy calibers and the worst the have seen yet is dents, and they are made from 9/16" softened AL6XN.

Brian

My standard Linebaugh is built on a Redhawk (not Super) by Tom Griffin in Houston. The cylinder is 5 shot; made by him out of a particularly good alloy and heat treated; the factory barrel is recut by Cliff LaBounty (7.5"). All this leads up to the max load: A full case of Lil Gun behind the Cast Performance GC 435 gr bullet clocks 1600 even over my Chrony. This is brutal in a Redhawk and makes me a poor, poor shot but I thought it relevant in discussing the 500 S&W vs. the various Linebaughs. You can probably beat it handloading the 500 but to what end? I think the best that can come from the Smith is competition and lower prices so more shooters can enjoy the fun. Who knows, in another 20 years we may be discussing the merits of the Ruger 600 Magnum.

[ 11-04-2003, 05:28: Message edited by: tiggertate ]