S&W 500

[prospector86]

Hello everyone,
I'll be heading on vacation back home in a couple of months and was thinking about getting a S&W 500 but there's not to many people that know a lot about them, so I thought I would come here for everyone's thoughts on the piece.

[Tiapan64]

I have the 500 mag in the 8 3/8 barrel.  Love the gun, great to shoot.  I do reload my own ammo as the store bought are expensive.  I have also settled on the 370 grain hardcast as my favorite bullet, I hunt mostly Pigs here in Texas and this bullet is simply awesome for them.  I load it with 41.0 grains of lilgun for a nice warm round with plenty of punch....turns cinder blocks to little pieces real well.  I also have a ultradot matchdot scope on it.  The trigger is really smooth and crisp, the workmanship is simply awesome and the fit and finish is top notch in my humble opinion!  I have about 2500 rounds thru mine with no problems so far!!

[Tom C.]

I have three .500s: a 6 ˝” 500 PC Hunter, a 5” JRS and a 4”. The Hunter has a 2x Weaver scope in Warne QD mounts so I can swap back and forth easily. The JRS and 4” both weigh about 57 oz. and are intended for carry in serious woods. I like the JRS the best. It doesn’t have a comp and rolls more in the hand. The comp guns roll less, but recoil straight back. I prefer a little roll.

I hand load for this on my Dillon 550. Many of my loads are pretty mild: 325 Speer HPs in front of mild loads of Titegroup or Universal Clays. I also like 325 to 375 LFP stuff. Universal is great for light loads. I have recently gotten some Longshot. It should be good for more than mild, but less than wild, loads. I like Lil’Gun for loads approaching full power loads. The nice thing about the .500 S&W is you can load it down to achieve loads equivalent to the .500 Linebaugh.

The only one of the three I have attempted to test is the PC Hunter. It seems to be able to easily shoot into 2” at 50 yds. With as much recoil as this thing has, it can be a bear to shoot from the bench.

[Handgun Hunter]

Hey Prospector,

     Do you reload? The 500 is kind of a project for me. I would never have bought mine if I didn't reload as a 20 round box of shells go for @ $60 here. That being said, I love mine. I have as much fun developeing a load as I do hunting with it. I took a small 9 point last year. The quality is very good, and I expect this gun to last long enough to hand it down to my son.