B & R Photography

Well, this is a big one. One of the largest handgun cartridges in my collection.  Sadly, I don’t own one to shoot but maybe one day if we get handguns back here in Canada.

The .500 S&W Magnum. As the name states this isn’t your average handgun cartridge. A little history is that back in the day (1950s) The 44 Magnum was the top dog in the handgun world. It was knocked into second place by the .454 Casull which was designed in the late 1950s and eventually entered the commercial market in 1997. So, in 2003 S&W decided to take its title back and introduced the Model 500 X-Frame Revolver alongside the .500 S&W Magnum Cartridge.

As far as I am aware the .500 S&W Magnum remains the most powerful cartridge in a production handgun. While more powerful cartridges exist, they require custom firearms to handle them.

The loadings for the .500 S&W range in projectile weights from 300gr all the way up to 700gr. Which is quite impressive. The 300gr loading you get a velocity of 2,075 fps and 2,868 ft-lb of energy. The 700gr loading provides a velocity of 1,200 fps and 2,238 ft-lb of energy.

When it was originally designed the cartridges had a purpose of handgun hunting and self-defense against the largest bears in North America. Due to its size and being easier to carry than a full-sized rifle the .500 S&W makes a great protection cartridge while in the back country/wilderness.

As far as trajectory goes the with the 300gr FTX loading from Hornady mentioned above with a velocity of 2,075 fps shot out of an 8.375” test barrel you get the following trajectories when zeroed at 25 yards.

50 Yards: 0.200 inches of drop.

75 Yards: 1.1 inches of drop.

100 Yards: 2.8 inches of drop.

(Please note the above trajectory information was pulled from https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/standard )

Short Notes.

Official Name: .500 S&W Magnum. (12.7x41SR or .500 S&W)

Year Designed: 2003

Designed by: Smith & Wesson alongside Cor-Bon

Parent Case: N/A

Rifling Twist Rate: 1 in 18.75”

Maximum Point-Blank Range: Roughly 125 Yards. (Based on ballistics data from Hornady.)

I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the .500 S&W Magnum and will return next week for our Cartridge of the Week series.

Please remember to always practice safe muzzle control when dealing with firearms and happy shooting.

B