Well... yes.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

A few quick rounds will clear the indoor range so you can have some privacy to shoot your 617.

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SWCA 3255 SWHF 615

Probably not, except for a very few experts. A light rifle will weigh only a little more, is much easier to shoot well and at longer ranges, isn't as awkward, and you can get into shooting position at least as quickly. Don't forget recoil, a very significant factor when dealing with handguns using huge cartridges. Some people can't handle the recoil well, especially those who don't shoot frequently.

Or......it might be better than a spear in this type of scenario;

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

A .50 caliber handgun is probably a popular subject with the bear thread people; they're always looking for something bigger.

Probably only in Alaska when the only thing between you and a mad grizzly bear is nothing. Even then a .50 caliber will seem small.

All handguns are useful! Even an empty gun makes a good club!

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Support Israel!

Absolutely the .50 is useful
in providing a lot of laughs
on the S&W Forum.

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Ubi Est Mea

Not much. I'm interested in shooting one but would never seek one out to own.

I’m sure that the accounting department at Smith & Wesson will agree that the 500 is very useful for the bottom line. Marketing will certainly enthusiastically back them up!

Well, I've found the S&W to be quite useful. I've taken an old stink bull giraffe and a lion with mine. Giraffe took a 500-gr Hornady through its second vertebrae; lion got a 440-gr hard cast in the neck, and the bullet drilled all the way down to the left hip.

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Is a Ferris wheel useful?
Is a car that will go over 80mph useful??
Do you really need a 50" TV and find one useful?
How useful is a more expensive watch?
How useful is most jewelry?
How useful are women high heels or about 1/2 their shoes for that matter?
Do you need a 50 cal hand gun?

Whats with the useful?

I'm not sure I could afford the ammo, but I sure would love to shoot one!

There's a great story on the forum about a guy taking an American Bison with one.

I bought my 10.5" specifically for elk, but I haven't been drawn for a tag, yet. Yes, it's a bit "big" for elk, but I wanted a challenge. A friend got a nice 5-point bull this year at 67 yards so I know I can get close enough.

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

I’m sure this conversation happened when the 44 magnum first arrived in gun shops all over North America in the early fifties.
I don’t have a 50 nor have a shot one but when I come a cross one at the right price I will likely buy it, and it wouldn’t be that I need a hand gun of that size just simply because I don’t have one.

LOL. Yep.

You can also post fun pics like this:

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

Just because full house loads are over the top doesn't mean that a .50 caliber handgun can not be made an excellent choice. Back when the .50 AE came out there was wild speculation about how useful it would be. A few handloaders got hold of a specimen and soon found out that .50 has everything going for it when it comes to providing optimum accuracy. You get the benefit of a large bearing surface which combined with the right powder charge, bullet, lube, etc. is capable of one hole groups.
I've seen a woman who supposedly worked for the FBI (maybe as a bookkeeper) shoot a .500 Smith that her husband had downloaded for her and in her hands it was scary accurate, she said it was her favorite handgun. I know a couple of guys that although do not shoot a .50 cal. do shoot 45/70 revolvers that have been custom downloaded and they are also very accurate, these guys use them to shoot marmots off rock piles at 100yds.

There are firearms that I find useful and some I don't everyone's individual value set and life will impact that. The only reason I would want a .500 is the same reason I would want a Barrett .50 BMG semi-auto rifle. It would upset the handwringing crybabies, snowflakes and moonbats. That does not mean enough to me to overcome the fiscal prudence and the fact that I try not to make a public display of owning/carrying a firearm.

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NHI, 10-8.

Is there a 20mm handgun yet?

I did see one chambered in .600 NE.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

I’ve never heard of anyone shot with one complaining ... just saying ...

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I invest in Lead and Copper!

The truth is after you get proficient with a 500 all other calibers are much easier to shoot. Would you ever think a 44 mag didn’t recoil? Shoot one after shooting a 500.

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-Matt

Herb Belin was the handgun guru at S&W when the 500 Mag project started and went to completion. He said they considered things as large as 70 cal but didn't go there and one of the reasons was that it would then fall into the category of a "destructive device".

I wanted one early on and couldn't find one. Called S&W and shockingly got ahold of Herb. He said if I still couldn't find one soon, call back and he'd get me one. I found one at a distributor soon afterward. Don

To those who say "What is it good for?" I say lots of things, it's good for anything humans use guns for other than long range and for most people, concealed carry.

I've been shooting them since they were released in 2003. It has a massive power range from the bottom of my reloads with Trail Boss, 321gr @ 1097/847 ft lbs, feels like an overgrown 38 Spl to beasts running near 3000 ft lbs.

Great triggers and more accurate than 99% of shooters can exploit.

On animals, it's performance is more like a .375 H&H Magnum. Early on, Dick Metcalf shot a large bull Cape Buffalo. Broke a front shoulder and ended up under the skin on the rump. Don

Not very practical. However I bought one anyway; go figure ��

Soon after I heard of the .500, I had the opportunity to shoot one after a competition. I didn't think at the time that I had any use/need for one until after shooting 5 rounds, I went back to my local dealer and ordered one. Still have it, don't shoot it much, but wouldn't part with it!!

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

Amen! To really make one recoil insensitive, load up some of those 700 grn. Underwood "dinosaur killers".

That said, it's not overly wild with for example 350 grn Swifts.
Heck, a 12 year old can shoot it.

Genna shoots the 500

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

I always thought a more "normal" sized revolver chambered for a .50 cal cartridge firing a 375 - 400 grain WFN hard cast bullet at about 900 fps would be an excellent deer and pig setup without the unneeded blast and fuss of the big magnums.

Larry

I bought one soon after they came out. First time I fired it was at the range under cover on the far left side. There were a few people shooting on the far right side of the range. I fired one round and you would not believe how much accumulated dust in the rafters came pouring down on us all. They started to object and I said that I was putting it away. Some people have no sense of humor or adventure.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

This is the best response I have ever heard to any SW 500 magnum detractors, and pragmatists.
I have one and am looking for another. They are just plain fun to own and shoot, end of story. I have a 4" and I am in the market for a PC 3.5" or a 2.5"ES.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

I would however, say that to be able to deal with today's traffic asking does one need a car that can go over 80? Hell yes, some interstates have 85mph speed limits and even the lamest car sold in the US, the Prius, can go about 110 and merging onto an interstate with a Prius must be scary with 80,000# of semi looming large in your rear view mirror.

The slower of my two cars will go 165 and I'm happy it can though I've never done anything like that. Don

I believe I could find some use for one; if nothing else but to shoot propane tanks or some other type of can. A real fun can plinker! There was one at the gun shop (it's still there) and on the shelf above it was a .30-30 revolver. I thought it was some fake, but it was real! What the heck does one do with a .30-30 revolver? Dumb question, I know: you shoot it! Actually the ammo would be cheaper!

Where's your sense of adventure? Take the .50 cal and your faster of the two cars out into the desert and you'll find something to do!!

The .50 cal is probably about as useful for most people as most peoples guns. Most people don't practice and are pretty bad shots. And those like me that have several don't use them in a useful way other then for having or plinking.

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balin
NRA Life Member

they melt snowflakes pretty quickly

My neighbor has a 500 S&W. He complained that he'd love to shoot it more but the ammo is too expensive. Went and priced some components and some of those bullets in a box of only 50 are well over a buck a pop. Course powder and primers are the stumbling blocks for reloading. Unfortunately he does not reload so for him factory ammo is his only option. Frank

My thoughts exactly. Biggest handgun caliber I will ever "need" is my .454 Casull, and if I were honest with myself I really don't "need" that one. But owning guns is rarely about "need", we all know that.

Is that New England, or Nebraska??

I bought my 8 3/8' barreled .500 in 2005, and the first rounds I shot from it were the Corbon 440 grain lead, at 1650 fps. These were the most powerful available at the time and were 36 dollars for TWENTY of them! Recoil figures on those work out to be in the 60 foot lb range. In other words, you know real quick that you've touched off something really powerful! I now load 26.5 grains of SR-4759 behind an RCBS 400 grain semi-wadcutter that I cast from wheel weights. Velocity is 1258 fps and recoil is at aroung 28 ft lbs. And they cost me around 85 cents per shot. One hole clover leaf groups at 25 yards. What more could you ask for?

I've shot one (a .500). A big push, but I'd rather shoot it than a .357 J frame.

While most are range toys, sure, as noted above there are folks that hunt with them and/or find them fascinating reloader platforms.

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Psalm 27:2

Good to see these years of good 500 magnum use.

But as I am trying to get 500 loading process up I find it appears one can ask for more SR4759.

Looks I will be pushing cast 400 with H110 for my introduction to loading.

One of my favorite revolvers is a Redhawk converted to a .50 Bowen Special. It is a proprietary cartridge from Bowen Arms and is essentially a .500 Linbaugh shortened to the length of a .38 special cartridge. Unlike other .500's, this is designed to be (and is) a very pleasant round to shoot. When I used to hunt, it cleanly took wild boar and black bear with full penetration. This from a 350gr WFN cast bullet at 950fps. For fun, I load it down to 750-800fps.
For hunting, it's really the best example I can think of of why intense horsepower is not needed in large caliber heavy weight bullets. Anyway, back on point and to answer the thread question. For me, yeah. It just depends on the .50.

Yeah, when they discontinued 4759 this last time, I went on a gun store-gun show crusade. I bought up around 10 lbs to go with the 8 lb caddy I already had. So, altogether I have maybe 16 lbs left. At 26.5 grains per shot, this should last me the rest of my life, as I'm 75 now, and I only shoot it twice a month, or so.

A member asked what velocities I was getting based on a post I made about how much reloaded 500 Mag ammo costs.

Went to the range this AM and did some chronographing along with general shooting fun.

41gr of H4227 behind a 330gr polymer coated slug; 1540fps/1738 ft lbs
44.5gr Lil Gun behind a 382gr hard cast gas checked slug; 1820fps/2809 ft lbs.

And yes, there was a distinct increase in recoil with the latter rounds. Hodgdon says 50,400 psi so if you want, you could go hotter as the gun is SAAMI spec'd at 60,000 psi.

I will readily admit that at 73, shooting 45 rds of the hammer tires me a bit but nothing more than that. Don

No, but they are really cool and I want one!!!!!!!!!!!!

I enjoyed mine and made money when I sold it. It was a Lyman Plains 50 cal percussion pistol. No way am I packing an X frame, sorry.

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Front sight and squeeze

I had an X-Frame but it was just a bit too big and heavy--now I have a Freedom Arms 83 in .500 Wyoming Express and its more "packable" either strong side belt carry or cross draw. Most of the time I shoot a 400 grain Cast Bullet behind 10 grains of Trail Boss and its good for about 850 FPS and a 340 Power Factor Out of 4.75 inch barrel. I can shoot that load all day--the power loads using H110 or W296 with 440 grain hard cast and a gas check 1200 FPS (Power Factor 525!) well thats another story!!

No 50 handgun is useful. However, my personal 53 caliber (actually .532") Whizzbang (TM) is precisely right for plinking, home defense, and salt-water crocodile eradication.

I think 50 caliber handguns are extremely useful for quickly turning large quantities of money into noise.

For a big game hunting revolver, I would take something like that over a smaller caliber that relies on bullet expansion.

I find big fat bullet with a wide meplat at about 900 fps preferable to a 1,300 FPS “magnum” round.

It’s easier on the gun, easier on the shooter, effective at any range I have any business shooting, and performs with total predictability.