who really needs big bore guns. ME! I find that about everyone that badmouths them are guys that havent used them or guys that cant handle them. Sure you can accomplish about 95 percent of all handgun hunting with a 44 mag but then again you can accomplish 99 percent of all rifle hunting with a 308 and how many guys that badmouth big handguns own magnum rifles and hunt little deer with them. A 500 linebaugh shooting full power loads is no more powerful then a 4570 using factory level loads out of a marlin and how many guys here will say that using a 4570 in the field is silly
Well said Lloyd.
I have been shooting the 500 Mag from the day it hit the gun stores, I have owned 6 of them. I have sold 5 of them to friends and fellow shooters after I set them up with red-dot sights, and found loads that shot great in them. The guys are still shooting them as well as myself..
But to get back to the OP's question as to why not so many manufactures don't make guns in the 500 Mag? It is hard to beat a S&W 500 Mag made by Smith & Wesson, the trigger pull is like any other S&W out there smooth and crisp. I also owned a BRF in 500 Mag, and just sold it about a month ago to another hunter that wanted a 500 Mag. Magnum research is still making the 500 Mag, as well as Thompson Center in there Encore barrels.
Taurus got out of the 500 mag business because people were not buying there version of the 500 Mag, there 500 Mag was nothing close as far as quality of the S&W. I tried one out and think it felt like junk.
Ruger did not get into the business because the Blackhawk, Redhawk and Super Redhawk's, are there bread and butter handguns, none of which can hand the 500 Mag due to the size of the cylinder needed to accommodate the 500 mag case. Ruger knows it cannot compete with the quality of the S&W and made a wise choice to not get into the 500 mag arena. You don't see Ruger making the 475 Linebaugh, 500 Linebaugh or the S&W 460 either.. To much money involved into retooling for such a cartridge.
Now for all you guys that think there is no reason for the 500 mag, I say either you can't handle the 500 Mag, or you never shot one, and if you did, you did not like the recoil or the weight of the gun.. But I have shot well over 10,000 rounds out of my 500 mags, and I have taken several black bear, hogs and a bunch of deer with my 500 Mag. Just because you personally don't see how the 500 mag fits in the world of handgun hunting, does not make you the authority on handgun hunting.
The 500 Mag is not going away, people have said that in 2003 when they first came out, S&W has sold a ton of them and they still sell today, not as much, because the guys that shoot them already have them. But I still see new shooters that get into the 500 mag after a few years with standard handgun cartridges.
The 500 mag is no novelty, it is truly a great cartridge, and a lot of us use them. When you get 7 years of experience of hunting and taking game with a 500 Mag, come back and talk to me about a novelty. When you put 10,000 round through a 500 mag, and that is no typo, then come back and tell me it is a novelty.. And for the guy that thinks I have to have a 500 mag to impress someone, hell I was impressing people with my handgun hunting when I was shooting my 357 Mag, and killing deer 35 years ago. So I don't need to impress anyone, but I do impress myself as to how well I can shoot my 500 mag off hand with open sights and still kill game. The only person I need to impress is myself.. If you want lessons on the 500 Mag, come see me...
