Well..... I think everyone here agrees a 500 is not a gun for the novice or the occasional shooter. We're also hearing these assertions from a man who created and markets one of the best 500's available today, the John Ross 5" 500's.

The 500's are at the very upper limit of what is useful and applicable to shooting and handgun hunting, IMO, and certainly a caliber where much care and caution is to be used when shooting or re-loading. John Ross should be commended for stressing dangers in this thread as he could easily lose a sale or two because of it.

Danger for the shooter is apparent with this caliber's unanticipated recoil and the extreme noise report in many shooting and hunting situations. The unaware novice, or even those standing close to a 500 being shot could experience irrevocable damage to their hearing in certain conditions. Additionally, detonation problems have also been found with reduced loads when using some popular powders...

I should add here that the John Ross 500, by design, doesn't have a compensator and that is a big issue in reducing the noise report to the shooter.

I love my 6.5 500. But I'm aware the potential dangers associated with this gun are amplified many times over than with lesser calibers..... even the 44Mag or the 454 Casul.

JMHO