The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Wildcats And Their Development .500 S&W Special?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Any of you folks used a .500 S& W Special? How did you like it? To clarify what I am speaking of, a local gunsmith is converting Ruger Super Blackhawks from 6 shot .44 Mags, to 5-shot revolvers with the same length cyclinder as the .44 Mag, and chambering with a .500 S&W reamer run in a bit short. It is about the nicest machining and bluing I've ever seen on any revolver, and functions super smoothly with superb timing and alignment, so I have been cogitating a bit about getting one. Would be nice to hear from anyone who has shot something similar, before leaping into the fire. So what can you guys tell me? | ||
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Edited, I mistook you were asking about the .500 S&W. -------------------------------------------- Nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home. | |||
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AC: Always a good thing to have a new project in mind! A .500 Special sounds very practical. There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author | |||
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I saw an article on one once. It fired a 400 grain bullet at about 900 or so. Its biggest advantage was its size. It was no bigger than a Model 29 in 44 mag. I would love one with about a 5 inch bull barrel with about a 46 ounce weight. To bad all they want to build is cannons these days. Cheers, John Give me COFFEE and nobody gets hurt | |||
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Yes, the size was one of the things that really attracted me to his single-action conversions. These have the standard Super-Blackhawk frame, will use whatever SuperB'hawk grips you want to put on them, and have the standard length & diameter unfluted 5-shot cylinder, and a 5" barrel. Further he knows his Rugers pretty well. For a number of years before he went out on his own, he worked as a gunsmith for Bill Ruger. It is actually a somewhat smallish gun for a full-size revolver. Would be very easy to tote around in the field, and kill things plenty dead. I have him doing a rifle for me right now, but when he is done, I think we'll talk about his .500 Specials. That's the first Super Blackhawk I've seen in a long time that was actually beckoning to me with a sly, sexy, come-hither look.  My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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How much is he charging for one of these? I've been looking to get a converted Ruger Blackhawk for a while now. The big name gunsmiths are way to expensive though. | |||
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I didn't ask him yet. Will see him again tomorrow, though. Will ask for you...and me. I assume you would be supplying the pistol to be converted? (It should be a lot less expensive than having him buy a new one to convert...) And, I'm sure he could crank out whatever barrel length a guy might want...even something weird, like 5 & 23/32"s. | |||
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Thanks, I don't have a Ruger Blackhawk yet. They're pretty cheap though so I don't mind picking one up if that's easier. I'm looking for a short barrel (4 5/8"). Any idea if he can do other calibers? I was originally looking for a 454 conversion, but the 500 Special is also tempting. | |||
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Are you reinventing the wheel ? M71 Army and the similar Navy round for the Remington Rolling Block pistol . 1871, .50 cal, 300 gr , 600 fps. They could shoot in those days so only used a single shot !!   | |||
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I don't know to whom this question was addressed. But, if it was me, I am not inventing anything. Simply reporting on a gun I saw in the local shop on Thursday last. As to whether it is a new concept or new ballistic performance, I couldn't possibly care less. It is what it is. That sort of thing happens fairly frequently in all technical areas. For instance, in the early 1960s Lincoln was advertising and bragging about their new innovation where by pushing a single button on the dashboard, the car would simultaneously give all its lube-requiring joints a shot of grease. Pretty handy, eh? But not any too new. My Packard touring (convertible) sedan had the same thing 20+ years earlier. Didn't make it any less handy on the Lincolns, though.   | |||
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AC: I'm looking forward to your report on what the conversion costs. Does he use a brand new barrel or just rebore and rifle the existing tube? I have enough arthritis in my wrists that the big magnums have lost their allure for me in a sixgun. So this one sounds quite sensible. There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author | |||
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count me interested, too as to how much it would cost... as well, will he do it on a REDHAWK, or perhaps a super? why? i like stainless pistols.. opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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AC, I'm just being a PITA as I'm always amused by "new technology" that was used many years before.  Like the 1916 Marmon that had many aluminumm parts ,body , engine ,etc, etc ,at a time when most people never heard of the metal.Eat your heart out Audi ! | |||
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If one would read a firearms book like the one by W. W. Greener, among others, that not much is new in the gun world. This also applies to automobiles. The round sounds like a good one because the full size 500 S&W is too stout for most shooters. | |||
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You're not a PITA, Mete. As far as I know, you're a pretty sharp guy. Anyway, for those who care, I looked at the 'smiths price schedule today, The conversion of a customer's gun is basically $1,250. That is for any length barrel up to 7-1/2 inches. Kreiger barrels are what he regularly uses...other makes on request. Turn around is in weeks, not years. He will also do other caliber conversions. I do not yet have his "proper" name or phone number, as the gun shop is a little disinclined to give me that info...because they suspect I mght buy direct instead of them getting their cut. However, I WILL get that name and phone number in the next week or two at the most. I won't continue to do business with a shop who will not tell me who does their work, and I have been doing enough stuff with them that I don't think they'll want to lose me as a customer. I hope not, anyway. I like one of their partners as a fellow shooter, so I don't want it to come to that. But it will if they won't tell me. After all, I don't buy rifles if I don't even know which make they are. I do know so far that he is known locally as "Magnum Mike", so perhaps one of the other Phoenix area residents on these forums can tell us his real name...... | |||
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AC, Could this be it: http://www.magnummikes.com/ind...ndex/page/contact-us Then there is this too: http://phoenix.citysearch.com/..._custom_cannons.html | |||
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Smokin J... The first link is the correct one. That is him. http://www.magnummikes.com/ind...ndex/page/contact-us Now that I see his name on his web site, I recognize it from when I was first introduced to him. The second link is dead wrong. He is not closed. That second link is basically an internet ad service. I suspect Mike quit paying for advertising through them. They may not have been effective for him. I know he is still doing work, doing it well, and on time. I have seen three pistols he has done come through the local Cave Creek Armory gun shop, from him for delivery to local customers, in the last week. And he showed up on time there Friday to pick up my rifle to work on. (He does pick-ups and deliveries at local shops on Fridays...doing it all on one day a week gives him the rest of the week to do the work on the guns.) He is a very pleasant fellow to talk with, and does every kind of gun work, from rebuilding faulty action rails, through adding flat-tops to Mausers, and just about anything else you can name. He also does gun refinishing, with four different grades of bluing, depending on whether the customer wants polished, bead-blasted, super high polish, or just a simple dip. He does both caustic bluing and rust-bluing. And I think he does color case hardening, but I am not positive on that. If the customer wants, he will also drop their guns off at Robbie Barkmanns (RoBar) for an MP-3 finish before returning it to the customer. Thank you very much for using your sharp brain to find his info. My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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AC Yeah I figured that out about the link after finding the good one. Hey do you happen to know the case length on his 500 S&W Special? Oops! I found it, it's 1.274. Sounds like a really good big bore round. | |||
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50 AE? 577 BME 3"500 KILL ALL 358 GREMLIN 404-375 *we band of 45-70ers* (Founder) Single Shot Shooters Society S.S.S.S. (Founder) | |||
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I have a converted Super Blackhawk in 50AE. Nice gun, bit light, but not too bad. The 50 cal hole in the barrel really lightens it up. DRSS Beretta 45-70 belgian mag Tikka 512S 9.3 x 74R Baikal o/u 30-06 Looking for next one | |||
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Is this the 500 JRH? http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/main.html __________________________________________________ The AR series of rounds, ridding the world of 7mm rem mags, one gun at a time. | |||
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Bowen's has imformation on the 50 special. It is also listed on his web-site. | |||
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There can be some confusion regarding the "50's" in handguns. This may help to clear it up. The 500 Linebaugh by John Linebaugh, is a 348 WIN case base. .510 groove dimension and shares the same bullet diameter (nominally) as the old 50-70 Government and the "50" caliber buffalo cartridge guns He even offers it, ( and the 475 Linebaugh ) in 1.6" variations called Linebaugh Long or 500 and 475 Maximums. It has two "special" variations offered by other gunsmiths. The 510 GNR by Gary Reeder is a shortened version to 1.25" The Bowen 50 Special by Hamilton Bowen is a 1.16" version. Now with the 500 S&W The 500 Smith is a .500 bullet and groove and is 1.625" length. It shares the same bullet diameter as the 50 AE and the 500 Wyoming Express by Freedom Arms. The 500 JRH by Jack Huntington is a 1.4" version and is now offered by Magnum Research in their BFR revolvers. Another 50 Special, or 500 S&W Special is listed and loaded by Cor-bon. I BELIEVE that it is a 1.285 case length. I don't know for certain. There may be other variations with a true "special" length of 1.16". If there is a shorter variant, unless case modification is made by inside reaming, bullet weights will be limited as the cartridge case carries a great deal of thickness that the JRH variation at 1.4 " can contend with when bullets are used that deeper seating depths. Hope this helps Todd | |||
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