S&W 500

[TMan]

I doubt if any revolver got the publicity and articles written about it that the S&W 500 got.

Now as you that have known me for awhile have figured out, Tman likes to be the first kid on the block with a new toy. This didn't happen with the 500. It took me a long time to figure out which particular model of the 500 that I wanted.

I finally settled on SKU: 163501, which has the removable compensator and HiViz Red Front Sight. It comes with two compensators, one for jacked bullets and one for lead bullets, which is the same as my 460XVR. It has an 8-3/8" barrel with an overall length of 15". It is a big honking gun!

Although I would have preferred the Performance Center model, I liked the looks better of the one I bought, and price wasn't a factor. The main reason I would have rather had the PC model was that I expected it would have a better trigger. Then I got to thinking about how good the trigger was on the 460. I then concluded I'd take the risk and go with the non-PC model. It turned out to be a good decision. This thing has a wonderful trigger in SA mode, which is how I normally shoot revolvers. No take up, very crisp break, with just a tad of overtravel.

It sure is good to be back in the USA again, at least for awhile. No, I'm not planning on going anywhere - the USA is going somewhere - down the tubes.

[MLB]

I always like to see TMan with a new noisemaker, but since you have the 460, what made you decide on a 500? I kind of figured that they were the same gun with a different cylinder and barrel.

[TMan]

MLB, I think it was Dirty Harry ;D

[5ontarget]

Mar 29, 2009 22:06:15 GMT -5 TMan said:

It sure is good to be back in the USA again, at least for awhile. No, I'm not planning on going anywhere - the USA is going somewhere - down the tubes.

As a friend of mine said (he probably heard it somewhere else), "America has a case of BO, and will have to deal with a stinking mess for the next 4 years."

Nice gun by the way. There was one at the used gun counter for months at the local range. It looked nice, like it was hardly shot. Talking with the counter guy, the previous owner said it had one box of ammo through it, and decided he'd hunt with something else. I passed on it, as it was only marked down $50-100 from MSRP.

["DoubleAction"]

You've did it this time TMan; You wait until the ammo reaches far beyond that houses selling for, when you go out and buy you a S&W 500. I wonder it cost to load a cyinder ? As much as cost to fill a tank a gas ? ;D

Serously I feel happy for you; I am still walking around singing "Make My Day" and "Do You Feel Lucky Punk" and you got me out gunned three to one.

Those was the good old days with Dirty Harry and me, with the most powerful handgun in the world.

[TMan]

DA, I picked up 3 boxes of Hornady 200gr with 20 rounds/box at $29.95/box. So that comes down to $1.50/round. I doubt if I'll put all 3 boxes through the gun.

I expect to shoot it tomorrow.

[TMan]

It is now tomorrow and I've returned from the range.

The day started prior to leaving for the range. I picked up a couple of boxes of ammo, and something caught my eye: "460XVR". Crap, they had 460XVR on the shelf marked 500 S&W - no wonder I got such a deal.

Fortunately, prior to ordering the gun, I had ordered a box of Double-Tap 325GR at 1975FPS ammo from Midway. So I retrieved it and went to the range after meeting Ed for breakfast and three cups of coffee.

Without getting too technical, the 460XVR ammo that we were shooting before had a 200GR bullet and FPS of 2200. Ignore the FPS and the weight of the powder. The bullet weighs 1.625 times that of the 200GR bullet in the 460XVR (keep in mind the guns are almost identical). So roughly the recoil is 2.5 times that of the 460XVR. Oh yes!!!

I remember watching a Bill Wilson video where he said that there wasn't any recoil with the 1911. I disagreed with him at the time, but have since changed my mind. There isn't any recoil, but there is muzzle flip.

The S&W 500's muzzle flip is not bad at all because of the compensator. The recoil, on the other hand, is very noticible. [Note to self: do not take this gun to the range again without gloves.]

Our target was set up at 50 feet, and of the 5 rounds I shot, 3 were in the bullseye. Ed then shot 5 rounds and 3 of his were in the bullseye. However, he won because one of mine was way outside the bullseye and his was closer.

So after each of us shooting 5 rounds we had a religious conversation: "Holy..."



Edited to fix picture and add the following:

I didn't realize Ed took a picture of the target with his iPhone. We counted anything in the dark green or sticky as a bullseye. The lower left was mine - big time flinch. The one at the top was his and the lower right was mine. I was more to the right, with the exception of the flinch. We are sort of that way politically too.

["DoubleAction"]

Mar 30, 2009 18:23:48 GMT -5 TMan said:

DA, I picked up 3 boxes of Hornady 200gr with 20 rounds/box at $29.95/box. So that comes down to $1.50/round. I doubt if I'll put all 3 boxes through the gun.

I expect to shoot it tomorrow.

TMan; That's not too bad, very good price.

["DoubleAction"]

Good groups; S&W revolvers are as it gets.

[TMan]

I had a friend over at the house this afternoon along with his wife to see if they wanted the light fixture in the dining room (perfectly good fixture $#&%# new one cost more than the most expensive Wilson Combat 1911).

He has a Python that has had a trigger job done on it. It is really sweet. It is sort of the benchmark that we compare to other guns. I let him dry-fire the 500 and he was amazed at how good the trigger felt - especially for a factory trigger i.e. it didn't come out of the Performance Center. I used to be a real PC guy, but when the factory is putting out triggers like this...

(DA, remember when you talked me into my first revolver?)

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; There few times I ever poured out my love for the double action revolvers; I reckon you got the tail end of a best of those thoughts.

I be the first admit that S&W has been churning out some fine revolvers, mainly due to the new owners. My brother has bought some of their Performance Center revolvers, and they are jaw dropping, the least.

I am still having trouble working around this aphasia, however, I'm making tracks for improvement.

I've found out that most good triggers jobs will exhibit a smooth 8 lbs, for a double action pulls. Some will have a non-stacking triggers, while others will exhibit a two stage double action pull.

The Python is well known for it's two stage triggers and longer hammer, but it's double action pull is like butter. Those who have mastered the art of the Python trigger jobs are sought after. One of Python workers was called in from retirement to finish a run of Pythons. I heard of one pistol smith which was called in from retirement in his late 80's. I heard of the Python triggers by Junking Reeves and Jerry Moran, which exhibited single stage non stacking double action strokes of 5 lbs. The best I've had was 8 lbs, for a S&W, and it's still good enough for brag about.

The best two stage double action trigger I've owned, was on my S&W 629 DX.