Thread: 460 vs 500
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Old 01-04-2012, 11:42 AM
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DCWilson DCWilson is offline
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Ah, the never-ending question. And again it has brought forth informative and thoughtful answers.

When I faced this question I bought a 460 XVR with the longest standard barrel. I love the gun.

Then about a year later I found a four-inch 500 on the consignment shelf and bought it because the price was right. It looked unused but came at about a $200 discount to the new gun price. I love that gun too.

I didn't feel undergunned when the only X-frame revolver in the safe was a 460. I sometimes look at the 500 and think, "What am I going to use that for?" But I am not inclined to tune my collection by getting rid of it. Both are very accurate revolvers, and I like making tight clusters in far-away targets at the range (as tight as I am capable of achieving, at any rate).

Now that I own one of each, I can see that there may be a different way to approach the first-purchase question. Ask yourself, "How much excess capacity do I need?" If your answer is, "A whole bunch," the 460 is good enough. If the proper answer is "As much as I can get," you want a 500.

I believe 500s outsell 460s by quite a significant margin, but that is a descriptive statistic, not a recommendation.

You will like whichever one you get. Whichever one it is, I bet you will find yourself wanting the other one, too.
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