Does anyone have an idea how much the zero changes on a Smith 500 at a particular distance, say 50 or 100 yards, when the ammunition is changed from one grain weight to another?

The only reason I ask is that there is just a wide range of grain weights for the 500 from 300 (or less, I don't know) to 700 grains +.

How much recoil does a 700 grain bullet give the shooter? What's it feel like? I ran out of cash when I went to the gun show, otherwise, I would have bought it to find out first hand.


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All things being equal, and they seldom are, the harder the recoil, the higher the bullet will hit relative to the original line of the bore. So it stands to reason that the heaver bullets, which generate more recoil, will hit higher if the gun is sighted for a lighter, less recoil generating round. My 500 sighted to hit point of aim at 50 yards with a 350 grain bullet will hit about 4 inches high with a 400 grain bullet and about 6 inches low with a 300 grain bullet. YMMV of course so the only way to know for sure is to try different loads in your gun. Variables like grip, eyesight, shooting technique will have an impact on your results.
Your question about the 700 grain bullet has a two part answer. There are mathematical formulas which will tell you exactly how many foot pounds of recoil energy a specific load will generate in a specific gun. FELT recoil is a different matter altogether and is very subjective from shooter to shooter. One shooter can shoot those 700 grain bullets all day and think they're not so bad. Another shooter will flinch with a 22 long rifle. Again, YMMV and the only way to know how those 700 grain bullets are going to feel to you is to shoot some.

I would disagree. The main issue is how long the slug is in the barrel before exiting not recoil.

A light, low powered (not that anything out of a 500 is really low powered) will print very high compared to a heavy load because being in the bore much longer, recoil has more time to move the barrel up pitching the slug higher on the target.

A light Trail Boss load such as what I use from Hodgdon's data, 12 gr of powder behind a 400 gr slug easily prints 6" higher at 25 yds than does a heavy load of Lil Gun and a 385gr hard cast. The Lil Gun load kicks far harder than the Trail Boss load. Don

I have seen drastically different POI's from one shooter to the next shooting the same revolver and same exact load...

YMMV, all you can do is try different loads and record the results... Then when you settle on the load you like, practice practice practice....