As I mentioned earlier, I carry a 4" 500 quite a bit, usually open on a belt holster but sometimes concealed in a (large) fanny-pack. I have also hunted with an 8 3/8" and have shot, handloaded, and chronographed a lot of loads in both guns. I do not CCW the 500 in an urban setting. It is, for me, a backcountry gun. I live in NW Montana and this is grizzly country. I own some acerage on the Swan River in an area where griz are often seen, and I have found tracks and scat of both griz and wolves on my property, although have never actually seen either of those species of critter there 'in the flesh'. I hike sometimes in Glacier National Park, and now that CCW in parks is legal, and given the number of griz in that particular park (and a number of fatal maulings over the past several decades), consider the 500 in a fanny-pack to be mandatory equipment there. I realize that one may be just as likely to be attacked by a two-legged predator in a national park, or even moreso in some, but I think one needs to arm himself for his biggest potential opponent, not the smallest one.

The 500, more than any handgun I have ever owned, inspires confidence. I shot a deer with the longer gun once, a good sized buck at about 40 yards, and it anchored him, literally slapped him to the ground, DRT. I've shot deer with 357s and seen them shot with 44 Mags and the 454 Casul, and there's really no comparison. I honestly think I'd feel no less well-armed in a face-off with an ornery grizzly with the 500 versus any bolt-action hunting rifle on the planet.

The load I have settled on is a handloaded equivalent of the 440 grain flat nosed gas-checked SWC Cor-Bon.