With great fear and trepidation I touched off a round from the behemoth known as the S&W 500 Magnum. I had my younger daughter safely in a sandbagged bunker nearby, wearing a Level IIIA bulletproof vest under a milspec flak jacket, as a safety observer. She had already dialed 9 and 1 and was poised to mash the last 1 to summon first responders if anything went wrong. Twenty-five yards away a target trembled in the wind. With a horrendous clap of thunder the 325 grain jacketed hollowpoint leapt out of the 8 and 3/8ths inch barrel at a screaming 1400 feet per second. The flames emanating from the barrel scorched the timbers of the shooting range roof.
Opening my eyes slowly, I scanned the target for some sign of impact. There it was, a dark circle nearly one inch to the right and two inches high of the bullseye. I checked my hand for broken bones or blood, and found none. So, I resolved to continue firing this 4.5 pound engineering wonder, and to complete the circuit of five Ultramax cartridges.
After each hammer fall, I somehow kept the revolver in my hands, and at no time did my arms leave my body. Somehow the bullets were all impacting the target. Perhaps it was the steadiness afforded by the revolver weight, along with the long barrel and precision sights. It could have been my incredible marksmanship, developed over years and years of reading gun magazines. Bullet two was two inches high, the third was in the bullseye, the fourth to the left two inches, and the fifth down one and right one inch. Incroyable! I exulted.
All kidding aside, I am amazed by this weapon. I had never shot it before, and from a two hand offhand stance, to put all five rounds in a five inch square was most exciting. I continued practicing through the box of cartridges, and look forward to a rewarding hunt in late November this year. Recoil from this particular cartridge was nowhere near the level I had feared. I plan to reload to about this energy level to maintain good control and accuracy.
Range Report: 500 Magnum
Linear Mode
