This weekend, I went to the shooting range and rented the S&W Model 500 (.500 Smith&Wesson Magnum caliber). The rental and a box of 20 target load rounds set me back about $48. A friend and I divided the ammo and blasted away. I've got to say it's quite a powerhouse. Even these "light loads" (330 grain, 1350 fps) were well in excess of a typical .44 Magnum. Quite a thunderous kaboom results when you touch one off. I'm curious about the hotter loads (440 grains, 1700 sps). The gun is a behemoth and the weight gets to you after a moment of holding it on the target, but it also helps absorb the recoil, rendering it quite tolerable. Not an all-day plinker, no, but nothing that leaves your hand sore after a few shots. Much worse, in my opinion, was the small-framed 5-shot S&W Model 60 we also rented. Firing .357 Magnums out of that was...unpleasant. The web of my right hand is sore today because of that little bastard. In my quest for a new .45, I also rented the S&W M&P45. Good gun, though the thumb safety is poorly placed; I kept activating it when I reached for the slide release. I shot fairly well with it. My friend fired it first, putting 5 rounds into an area the size of a silver dollar at 20 feet. I like the SA XD45 better. I wish the HK45 were available here... All in all, a fine day spent flinging lead!
I want a 4" X-Frame in .460 so I can fire .460S&W Magnum, .454Casull, .45LC, and .45ACP from the same revolver using full-moon clips.
I've heard .454 Casulls out of the S&W 460 are actually fairly pleasant to shoot. I remember a gun magazine a few years back hinting that S&W might make a .223 Remington version of their X-Frame (the cylinder is long enough). That would go directly to the top of my must-buy list.
When you gonna put down the pop guns and play with a real gun? (No, that's not me in the photo. Were I to attempt to fire such a howitzer, I'd no doubt end up like the guy in the video at the bottom of the linked page.)
I've seen the .600 Nitro handgun. I especially like when it gets propelled out of the guy's hands when he fires it!
When I bought my .357 Ruger SP-101, the wise guy at the counter sold me a box of hot 160-grain loads. First shot at the range I got a blinding fireball, an earth-shattering kaboom, a sore wrist, and everybody dropped what they were doing and looked at me like I was crazy.
I love doing that to people. Of course, I'm of the old school magnum family. The guy that trained me carried a 4-inch Smith Model 29 on his hip and a snubby .41Mag on his ankle.
Years and years ago when things like .44 Magnum autoloaders were not so common, I took my Desert Eagle to an indoor shooting range, popped in some HOT 250 grain loads and started shooting. Every shot produced a visible fireball several feet across and the blast easily out-thumped anything in the room. It was like that scene at the shooting range in RoboCop where, once Robo starts shooting, all the other cops stop shooting and become spectators. Alas, the impression wasn't lasting. A few trips later I was upstaged by a guy blasting away with a USAS-12, a drum-fed autoloading 12 gauge. That was some serious firepower.
The one and only time I took my Ruger Super Blackhawk to an indoor range with hot 260 grain handloads, I had to stop 'cause it kept recoiling up into the target trolly wires.
I wish someone had told the guy in the video that .60cal and 'ultralight' shouldn't be in the same sentence. There's a REASON big guns are heavy.
I thought I had some photos of my best friend shooting his dad's Super Blackhawk at night, but I can't find them. I do have some of him shooting one of his dad's .357s (I forget whether it was a Smith or a Ruger, though I lean toward the former). 1000 ASA film, 1 second exposure on a tripod. Pentax K1000 with a wide open aperature (f 2.8 or wider, I forget which lens this was). Full or nearly full moon. 1986.
Same shoot (so to speak), different weapon. Same exposure variables. That red smeary-looking shit on the third photo is scratched emulsion on the print. I didn't bother to fix it when I scanned it a few years ago.
I was going to create a "Nautica test fires THE BIG ONE" thread, but it would have gone in the White Room.
The truly "BIG ONE". Pentax MX (or ME, I can't recall and I don't own the camera any more), braced on the turret roof with the shutter held open until the moment of firing (sometimes as long as thirty seconds or more). 28mm lens on the first two photos (something with a little more focal length for the third photo) with the aperture at its smallest opening (f22) because anything else results in a way too overexposed image just because of how much flame comes out the end of that barrel. The third photo is slightly overexposed because I didn't have the aperture shut down enough. Probably the prettiest night firing time exposure I ever took was of an M1, but I've never scanned the image.
The M60 in the last photo looks like it is firing final protective fires against a Munchkin army. Or Oompa-Loompas. I hate Oompa-Loompas.
^ That range had a considerable berm and the targets were at a lower level than the firing line. It made for some pretty awkward firing angles in order to keep from exposing too much of the tank to the "enemy". I remember when it was my turn, the breech was up near the turret roof. The loader had a helluva time with reloads when it was that high. IIRC, one of the platoon sergeant's gunners "scraped" that berm on one engagement, scooping some dirt into the muzzle. When they fired it shredded the end of the barrel. I'm surprised I didn't take a photo of that.
Here's a frame from a vid of my friend Tony trying out some hot loads in his L-Frame .357. Broad daylight.
Acquired my own .500 Magnum this year. This is from this past weekend: my second outing to shoot it. Juuuuust a little bit of recoil...
Not sure my (phone) camera can do that, but that's a heckuva good idea. Edit: yes, my camera can do that.
