Do you feel lucky, punk . . . giant Magnum makes gun-slinger's day

The Irish Independent ^ | February 15, 2003 | James Doran

[MadIvan]

DIRTY Harry has a new gun - and it is the biggest, most powerful revolver in the world.

Its .50 calibre bullets are capable of stopping a charging bear dead in its tracks.

The gun, made by Smith & Wesson, dwarfs the .44 calibre Magnum previously known as the most powerful revolver and used by Clint Eastwood in the 'Dirty Harry' films.

The new gun weighs 4lb and is 15in long, with almost double the firepower of most assault rifles on the American market.

The enormous revolver costs $989, holds five bullets, and, with a force of 2,600lb per square foot, is capable of blasting through bricks and the engine block of most cars.

Despite the gun's almost impractical size and weight Smith & Wesson has received a much larger response from America's gun lovers than it imagined.

"The initial reaction has been even stronger than we anticipated so we are ramping up production to meet demand," Bob Scott, Smith & Wesson's chairman, said.

The company claims that the huge gun is designed with big game hunters in mind, who could use the gun as a sidearm to protect against wild animals. The anti-gun lobby disagrees.

"This gun is not being made for hunters. It is being made for bored, white gun enthusiasts who want to make a bigger hole in whatever it is they are shooting at," Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center, a Washington think tank, said.

Mr Sugarmann believes that the gun is designed to revive flagging sales of handguns. In California, sales of handguns have fallen by 160,000 to 170,000 a year in 10 years.

[USMC_tangocharlie]

My dad used to do the same thing. Cool, huh?

[Fester Chugabrew]

Thanks. The reminder is appreciated. I've seen a handful of Eastwood flicks, including Dirty Harry, but that was years ago. Now I can go to the video store with a little more confidence. Should I pack? Ha!

[Jarhead_22]

My point certainly was not that I would ever hunt with a .22, but that any weapon in the right hands can be deadly. The article's author seeks to scare us all with sphincter clenching tales of dropping griz, cracking engine blocks and shooting through brick walls. It's the uninformed preaching to the easily frightened.

I'll stick with my 1911 for social occasions, and leave the griz, brick walls and engine blocks to the professionals.

[ezo4]

classic! You were on a roll. Or is that the way you allways are. :-)

[advocate10]

"You can BEAT an Elk to death with either one if you run out of bullets...!"

You are correct, Sir!

I had the Raging Bull with a 8-1/2 in. bbl. I could not hold it steady at all with one arm, and if I held it to aim, both arms got tired pretty quickly.

The wild pigs were quite safe from me.