I've decided it's time to add a S&W 500 to my collection. I have no real specific purpose for the gun so I am interested what others' opinions are regarding barrel length...?
I have shot both the 4" barrel version and the 8.38" barrel version of the gun and that did not seem to sway me either way. Curious of what others think?

Go with the 4" if you like a lot of muzzle flash, noise and are a masochist.

Go with the8 3/8" one if you want something for self defense. You won't even need any ammo you could just use it as a club.

Sorry couldn't resist.

But seriously either one would be a handful and both would have the same bragging rights and wow factor. Plus the ammo is is a real wallet lightener about $1.50 to $2.50 around.

my .02...I own the 500 in 8 3/8 and have shot over 1500 rounds down the tube. from very mild to full house 700 grain hard cast. First thing to extract accuracy you will need to reload unless you have very deep pockets and can afford corbon or buffalo bore, both use hard cast gas check and the gun likes the 450 and 500 grain for accuracy.

so first thing, unless this is just a novelty gun- plan on reloading

second the difference in velocity between the 4" and 8 3/8 wont make a hill of beans difference in the real world. both can stop any animal that walks, crawls or flys on this planet.

the 4" does have a kind of cool neat look, like a bad *** snubby but the 8 3/8 looks like a cartoon gun...its BIG! and always gets two, three even four looks when ever it comes out of the case.

as for accuracy, longer sight radius wins all the time..period..yeah I know unless you have the initials JM in which case you can shoot a deringer and hit a balloon at 500 yards.

buy used....no need to buy a new one at retail or even retail minus 5-10% when 9 out of 10 owners have not shot 100 rounds and just keep their guns locked up only to come out on a rare occasion. i have seen the 8 3/8 sell for 700 used mint...hardly a ring around the cylinder and the 4" do comand a bit of a premium but if your patient they can fetch around 800 for an auction that ends at early am hours.

lastly if you can afford both, buy them..its just a matter of time and s&w will stop making this cannon.

Since you're askin for opinions... I'd go with 460, you can shoot 45 long colt, 454, as well as the flat shooting, rip roaring 460. The only thing I'd consider a 500 would be a short barreled packing pistol for bear country.

I agree with the general gist of bigshots comments. But if you are going to get only one, you're buying power and there is a major difference in velocity between the 4" (really less than 4" because of the comp) and the 8 3/8".

I'm reluctant to buy used. In a gun like that, someone could have done really stupid things with reloading or using BS reloads someone else gave him. Not worth the risk in my opinion. Don

i'm curious....why would you say S&W will discontinue the 500?they have proven to be popular for one and i cannot recall a caliber of consequence that they have discontinued...
just saying..

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

I spent quite a bit of time looking at both the 500 and the 460 and finally choose the 460 with 8-3/8" barrel. I picked that caliber over the 500 for several reasons:
-- It accepts multiple caliber rounds and thus allows for relatively cheap practice, plinking, etc. The 45C is a fantastic round (perhaps my favorite) and abundantly available at reasonable prices, and the 454 Casull is an excellent high-power round and great hunter on it's own right.
-- The ballistics of the 460 are slightly better than the 500 in terms of trajectory (flatter), while the 460's energies are notably higher. The 460 puts a 360 gr (Bufallo Bore) bullet out at 1,900 fps while the 500 puts out a 400 gr bullet at 1,675. In terms of ME that's 2,860 versus 2,491 ft-lbs.
-- The 500 does have a slightly higher TKO (45 v. 50 at the muzzle for Buffalo Bore) but the difference is pretty minor and I think more than made up by the flatter trajectory and thus better bullet placement for any long-distance shot (and for anything close both rounds are more that sufficient for anything you're likely to shoot). And the 500 can deliver a 440 grain bullet while (as far as I can find) the largest factory ammo available for the 460 is 360 grain. Though I suspect that gap will close with time.

The one significant advantage of the 500, IMHO, is that a wider range of barrel lengths are available for new production. But there's a pretty good selection of barrels in used 460s. That said, I very much like the 500 in a shorter barrel just for the cool factor!

the reason I said that s&w may stop the 500 at some point is there is a huge aftermarket supply selling at a deep discount vs new. again most people buy it, shoot a box if their lucky and whimp out. either due to recoil- yes some factory loads do have a nice smack- grizzley, buffalo and corbon but come at a price..
as far as used...if the gun has virtually no ring around the cylinder its as good as new but selling for 30-40% less....I would not worry about someone double charging the 500 as most of the time the case is damn near full with one charge and two would overflow the case and when you seat the bullet, the case would collapse on itself...but its your money, spend it how you want...my .02

as far as aftermarket...that can be said of any caliber...and they are still made and sell quite well

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

Buffalo Bore is, I think, the only supplier where the .460 edges the .500. If you want to seat the .500s slugs out to use the full cylinder length like John Ross does, the .500s energy runs more like 3400 ft lbs. There is no way, loading each to the max potential with the same cylinder length, that a smaller bore can equal a larger bore. Simple physics. Don