I had a lot of fun with a 4" and an 8 3/8" 500. The 4" has a little less recoil than the 8 3/8" and is a lot easier to carry and handle. With Trail Boss loads and 440 grain powder coated lead bullets you could shoot all day. I ended up selling both of my 500's and concentrating on 357's and 460's because I was loading for too many calibers. It's a lot of fun to take somebody to the range and pull out a 500 after shooting the smaller stuff.