There isn't anything out there to match my/our redhawks. We have shot mine alot. My brothers redhawk is brand new and i think he only shot it once but we'll shoot it more soon. The balance on these is awesome. I do like the 7 1/2" barrel over the 5 1/2" barrel, less recoil. I figure that maybe ruger has something better in the works next. I'd like to move up to a larger caliber while i'm still young enough to shoot it. (60yo). I hope ruger doesn't wait for too much longer with a new model. I may email them to ask about what there plans are too. CZY
I seen a new S&W 500 with a 6" barrel. That has to have a massive recoil that comes with it free right? I like the looks of it but worry about the recoil.
I too like the longer barrels on a larger revolver. In fact, I was thinking of the 9.5 inch in the SRH.
As for the S&W, I think the price is harder to bear rather than the recoil. That's a lot of gun with a LOT of price! Although it's a different action, I'd probably get a Magnum Research BFR before I bought the Smith in the 460 or 500.
A couple of years ago there was a guy at the range I frequent who had one of those S&W's. It was massive with at least a 9 inch barrel or more. I cannot recall the caliber but it was either the 460 or the 500. He was shooting factory ammo and he had offered for me to try it out. Generally, I don't like doing that but I thought, "what the heck"! I held on to that thing for dear life thinking it was going to be a killer but much to my suprise, the recoil was not all that bad. In fact, I can recall telling him to try my Thompson Contender 30-30 pistol as I thought the recoil was about the same, believe it or not. I guess they just designed that revolver to balance and/or absorb a lot of that recoil. I would have to say that my unscoped and somewhat lightweight 45-70 Thompson Contender pistol is probably about the heaviest recoiling pistol I've ever fired. I can generally withstand about 50 continuous rounds from it (with shooting gloves) before I have to stop. After that, my hand is all "jittery" and has the shakes. It's odd/amazing that the 500 S&W is so much more powerful than the 45-70 yet the design of that S&W revolver handles the recoil so well. (assuming it was a 500 S&W I had fired and not the 460)
I'd say that if you're thinking of buying one, you'd best try one first, if you can.
