500 S&W questions

[dhnut1973]

I would like to get another Handi and I was thinkin 500 S&W. I was wonderin what the effective range would be for deer thru moose? Also how much does it recoil in a rifle? What does it compare to recoil-wise? Thanks for any info you can provide.

[dk17hmr]

I remember reading when the 500 came out in the Handgunner magazine some one I cant remember who though, shot a mule deer at over 200 yards with the 8 3/8" S&W.  I bet you could push that out to alot further deer.  I have also read in the Riflemans magazine of moose begin taken at 400 yards with a 458 win mag with 400gr lead.

Recoil is going to be stout though, I havent shot one in a rifle but they arent bad with the muzzle break on the revovlers.

Dk

[xhare]

I recently shot mine for the first time.  Let me just say that recoil is quite stout.  It compares to my 45-70 with heavy handloads.  About 25 rounds left my shoulder bruised.  That said it was quite a lot of fun. 

As far as range on big game I would say this...say you are shooting a 400 grain hard cast bullet and it is leaving the barrel at 1700-1800 fps....pretty much anything that gets in the way is going to be in grave danger even at 300,400, 600 yards.  The problem is with trajectory, hitting the heart lung area of a deer is probably limited to 200 yards or less or it becomes a real challenge.  If you are like me and didn't put a scope on it then 100 yards may be the practicle limit.

[dhnut1973]

Thanks for the replies. I've never shot a 45-70 but I have shot a .300 win mag a couple of times and it wasn't too bad. I have also shot my 12 ga with slugs from the bench some. It wasn't something I like to do alot but managable. So I dont know how it compares to these but sometimes ya just gotta suck it up.

[xhare]

Swampman, you have the same idea I had.  Before I bought my rifle, I thouht about making the 500 magnum into a 50-70, at least as far as loads go.  I have seen "plinker" data for the 500, but I wondered how it would responds to loads with typical 45-70 or smokeless powder 50-70 gunpowders.  Say 30 grains of IMR 30-31.  It ought to be low enought pressure, but still offer enough power for reliable 100 yard hunting.