New gun (Smith and Wesson 50 cal) makes their day at show

Washington Times ^ | 2/14/03 | Jenny Harper

[hoosierskypilot]

Smith & Wesson has rolled out the big guns. The really big guns.

The new .50-caliber Model 500 Magnum revolver made its debut at the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Orlando, Fla., yesterday.

It is the biggest, most powerful revolver ever made.

[Cincinatus]

Do you feel lucky?

[RebelDawg]

Now that is a beautiful revolver. I am going to have to get one for my collection!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Like my long guns. I probably have more shotguns than I need, but not as many as I want.

[MissTargets]

me too

[hoosierskypilot]

There's got to be a heck of a recoil

I remember reading about a similar gun, the .50 Linebaugh, a custom built on a Ruger single action frame. One of the testers actually injured his wrist. I also read that one of the testers for the Smith 50 broke his wrist.

Guess I'll shoot handloads in mine.

[hoosierskypilot]

I'm not familiar with the 454 except that it uses small rifle primers. A friend of mine bought the 454 and a Dillon press with 454 tooling. He asked me what kind of primers to use and I told him to check it out, but that I was sure it had to use large pistol magnum primers.

He later told me that he tried to force the large pistol primers in the 454 cases, but that they kept exploding. I told him that a) he should have checked the specs before proceeding and b) when your primers blow up, it's a clue something isn't going right.

Anyway, in answer to your question, the 50 Smith is supposed to generate 3 times the energy of a 44 magnum. This would be, what, twice the force of a 454?

[HangFire]

Does anyone know the price of this bad whamajama???

[Deguello]

"Do you feel lucky?"

The odd part about the Dirty Harry line is that in the movie, he tells another cop that he preferes loading up with 44 specials to tame the recoil. Sort of makes have a magnum counter productive.

For me, I will stick with Ruger. I had a hard time being impressed with a S&W product whose owner's manual states that "shooting magnum loads not recommended". My Redhawk has more that 12K full house loads through it with zero crane stretching or alignment problems.

[TroutStalker]

They also came out with a .44 Magnum in titanium that weighs a pound an a half. I think I'd rather shoot the .50.

[BooBoo1000]

Never fear, S/W has a long history of bringing out guns with a lot of whoopla, they they disappear from the scene.Case in point Model 53, a really neat gun, but the hand loaders whined around that the cases stuck in the cylinder. The problem was that the handloaders were too lazy to clean the case lube after hand loading,. Anyhow S/W quit making this little, snazzy, neat,very desirable pistol. 50 Cal.. this too shall pass.l

[dfwgator]

"It shoots through schools."

[Destructor]

"Smith is no longer owned by the euro weenies that sold out to Klintoon. I think I'll buy one of these."

Smith & Wesson still hasn't issued a public apology for their treachery against American gun owners. I won't buy anything from them, until they do! I've written the company and told them so.

Frankly, I was hoping that S&W would go out of business.

[verity]

Where is the adapter for either a bipod or bayonet?

[Centurion2000]

Thanks for that table .... based on it I think I'd handle the 500 with no problems :)

Just recently finished a batch of 260 grain bullets at 2000 fps (37gr H110) .... and realized it wasn't enough .... shoots nice one handed though :)

[kellynla]

@ $1K per

[hoosierskypilot]

I can't tell from the picture, but are the chambers recessed?

[hoosierskypilot]

Bob Scott, new CEO for Smith, says that he wasn't with Smith when the earlier deal was made with the govt. But, he says, "..No one here now is going to do anything to endanger the Second Amendment rights of our customer base. We are in the firearms business, and that is where we commit all or resources..." (American Rifleman, Dec. '02, p. 55)

[Shooter 2.5]

I just came back from a gunshop in Mesquite, Texas and they're getting two of these in. Since there was a news report with a bunch of panicked libs on camera, the phone was ringing off the hook from customers trying to buy it.

The gunshop owner said he was going to charge $750 for it.

Well, that's what he said.

[CholeraJoe]

That picture made my nipples hard.

[HangFire]

The gunshop owner said he was going to charge $750 for it.

$750.00 what a deal!

I'll take one in each color...