I recently bought a Model 500 and am planning a trip to the local range next weekend to shoot this monster.
Anyone have any experience shooting some type of reactive target with one of these models that would show the power of this cartridge? I am planning on shooting some HSM 350grn JHP's.

Car Door? Have fun.

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with wings as eagles

Reactive target for a 500?

Nothing will stay in front of it long. Water melons are fun. Hit them with a HP and stand way WAY back.

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NRA Benefactor Member

X-rays of your wrist showing BEFORE and AFTER squeeezing the trigger?

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S&WHF 366

Spare elephant?

Water jugs are fun. A 44 mag will frag a gallon milk jug but a 500 can vaporize a 2.5 gallon industrial container. :-)

And yes, watermelons just turn to pink mist. Phone books soaked in water are cool to see expansion and penetration, cinder blocks are kinda neat but a little dull after the above.

Clean up after yourself and take some video.

If you can afford the ammo, they you can afford some watermelons - birds will eat the remains...

A Army surplus tank perhap's? Boy, hard to find something portable for the 500 that would do it justice, but maybe some of those chalk biodegadeable targets.

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Stay safe people!

D9 Caterpillar Dozer.

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VIVERE MILITARE EST

I've always enjoyed the reaction of the folks standing next to me..

It's only good for one shot, but I like one-gallon cans of white hominy corn, bought cheap at the discount food store. It blows up like water jugs, but you have highly visible solid matter arcing a trajectory and marking a dispersal pattern that is still visible after water droplets have gone away. You also have the split-open steel can remaining to show where you hit the target. And even though it's biodegradable, it's not like you're wasting real food - I mean it's hominy, yuck.

That's what I usually shoot with my .460 Weatherby - it's a real crowd pleaser. A .500 S&W is puny by comparison, but still does the job.

Well, there's always Tannerite!

https://www.tannerite.com/

Starting at 30 yards, a very very angry cape buffalo coming at you.

trapshooter, I generally use these when shooting my 500:

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Aaron Terry

water filled 2 liter soda bottles. Add some food coloring to the water if you want.

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ASA/NSA 67-71
NRA Benefactor

Watermelon, grapefruit, oranges, potatoes, jug of colored water, ice blocks (freeze the jug of water).

Had several obsolete propane cylinders I was going to fill with water and shoot with my .458, but the valves were so frozen in the cylinders I couldn't get them out. Bet that would have been spectacular!

Like (love) the Hominy idea, it sure isn't fit to eat, but on a public range they may take exception to the debris.

Mule deer.

Hard to find a good, affordable commercial source, however, and getting them to the range may be problematic. They don't like riding in cars.

Grizzly bear?

I have a heavy duty spinner but the problem is what you probably guessed. Even with loads that qualify as light to plinking level, the .500 hammers the spinner out of the ground. Not much fun when you have to reset the spinner every round or two.

For TomK, yeah, I'd guess that a .460 Weatherby does dwarf the .500. After all, 2650fps with 500gr beats 1500 by a LONG shot. Don

sherman tank??!

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

the merino ram in my avatar photo was my most recent reactive target for my 500...he weighed in over 300 lb.as you can see he reacted in a rather predictable manner...my 500 is also in the photo but it's kinda small...

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO