500 vs the 460 S&W

I didn't see a need for either of these monsters when they came out. But i have found my self wanting the 460 lately. Mostly because it gives me the option of using 454 and 45s'. I read that the 460 has the potenial for greater velocity. Any one had a chance to compare these rounds or own one?

I have a .460 S&W in a 15" Encore barrel no break. It's a beast , I also have a .454. The .460 is just a .454 on steroids. In my opinion the .454 is all you need, now for the wants is a different story. IMO the .460 gives me more range and were I hunt in corn and beanfields it can reach out just a bit more with a lot of knockdown power still there, I think it's a lot of gun for Whitetails here in the south, but deads , dead ! And that's what I'm looking for. I'm gonna try mine on a big ole hog in Dec, let you know what the outcome was.

Your post title is: Quote: 500 vs the 460 S&W.

Do you also want comparison info on those two calibers?

Well...it's like i always say. I may have more guns than i need, but i'll never have as many as i want. And that's what this is. I have a BH in 41mag and a SBH 44mag and a bunch of Contender barrels. They are plenty for Ga whitetail an hog.

Yea, I'm in Iraq at the moment. We got an alert an i fat fingered the post, before i finnished. I was reading on line about the 2. Some one said that the 460 had more power potential than the 500 when hanloaded. The Hogdon powder load site, gives 1917 as max fps for a 335gr bullet out of the 460 and 1977 for the 500 with a 325gr.

Bigger hole = bigger hurt.

Exactly. When those bullets are running that fast they are both likely to pass through that Georgia whitetail deer or hog, so: through is through so the bigger hole would be better.

God Bless You, Luckydawg, for serving our country in Iraq; if its ok I will say some prayers for you, sir, and your family.

The prayers would be apriciated. I was pretty wild for a while, till i met my wife. She jerked a few knots in me so, now i am a regular. But i'm probably still behind a few. My plan for the Deer an Hogs was to use the 45 Colt. I'm speaking of using the X-frame as the launching platform. That way i could still have the option to fire the bigger stuff. But what i realy want to know is, can the 460 outperform the 500? My wife is from Alsaka around Kenai. I spent some time up around Fairbanks as a Survival instructor years ago. We plan to retire there in 6 years. I want to use it on the big stuff.

A bigger bore with more diameter and bullet wieght will hit harder than a smaller bore and do more damage from a revolver. The 460 is a 1.6 inches case the 454 is 1.4 inches. The 45 Colt even the 454 are much shorter than the 460 and the bullet will hav a ways to go before it gets to the cylinder leads. This is not conducive to top accuracy in general.


What branch of the service are you in? I have a son in Military Intelegence and a cousin in a combat unit that has 3 combat tours in Iraq.

Thanks for your service, I know that it comes with a personal sacrifice..

I was curious about accuracy with the shorter rounds. My SBH shoots 44spl pretty well. There is a .12" differance there. Now that i look at it. There is nearly a 1/2" differance in case length between the 460 and 45. Still want it though.


jwp475- I am Air Force. I work on the HH-60 Pave Hawk Helicopter. Our main mission is CSAR and medi-vac. I live with the Army more than the Air Force though. This my fith trip to Iraq and been to Afghanistan twice.

+ 1

X2

For large dangerous game such as brown bear, cape buffalo, etc., I chose the .500 S&W revolver.

I expect to take delivery of a 14" (including Holland brake) .460 S&W Encore barrel from MGM today or tomorrow. I have absolutely no "need" for it. I wanted it "just because".

When has "need" ever played a role??

YOU STOLE MY LINE! lol......tis true though IMHO more are bought due to what the buyer WANTS than needs.

Id take either, if I could find a "cheap" one lol.

NOTGONNAHAPPEN!

Steve

i have the 460 but now i want the 500. go figure.

Too bad i cant afford both, i'd do it in a heart beat. But i already promised the wife new furniture and floors. To be payed for with the extra pay i made while being over here. I should have just enough left for one or the other.

Ya gotta love it!

You probably don't want to follow my example:
I have a Ruger SBH .44 mag; I have a Freedom Arms .454, I HAD a S&W .500 (sold it), and currently own a Freedom Arms in .500 Wyoming Express.

So what is this telling you??? Pretty much that I have the "don't NEED it but GOTTA HAVE it" syndrome that SOME HERE also have.

That is why I WANT me a .475 !!

I was very interested in the Wyoming Express too when i first heard about it. All of my revolvers are SA, i just love the look. I've always wanted a Freedoms Arms revolver. But for me it's champange taste and an ice water budget. So i have stuck with Ruger all my life. I do have a 375 JDJ barrel for my 2nd gen Contender that i love to shoot. It'll do real number on pigs. Used it at Ft. Benning just before i left.

luckydawg, get you an encore frame and grow from there. endless barrels to be had. OH YEA, be safe over there !!!!!!

I tried one out. I work part time at a gun shop back home. My boss loaned me his in 7mm-08. The grip just feels funny to me. I love my old Contenders but the Encore just makes me stretch for the trigger, and i take the recoil on my thumb instead of my palm. I do think the Encore an G2 are nice looking guns. I like the color case finnish you can get them in.

Its kind of amusing about all the hype/false advertisement,that the 460 is the fastest and flattest shooting round.Look at all the manuals,the .500 is shooting just as fast and in some cases a tad faster.Smith and Wesson had to drop their original ad about the .460 being a 250 yard cartridge,anyway I try not to fall into the hype(its hard sometimes),thats why I bought an Encore in .500 mag instead of the .460.

I'm not a big fan of the .460 -- at least conceptually, but there are factory loads that will do 2,300 fps, and I do believe that puts the .460 solidly in the lead in the fastest production revolver cartridge category. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is a factory load in .500 Smith that'll get anywhere near that.

I stand corrected on the 200 gr.You can push a 240 gr. above 2000 f.p.s. in the regular casull so imagine what it would do with a 200 gr.,that would have to be in the Encore because of the nose length but I would bet it would be darn close to the .460.I've been using the new Lyman manual lately and had forgot about the 200 gr. bullet becuase they don't list it but in the manual all comparable bullet weights the .500 had the edge.Non-the-less, Smith did drop the 250 yard claim becuase it wasn't true.

I have the 6.5" Smith in 500 I take to woods every now and then. It is a very accurate gun. I have found that it is not as hard to shoot as I had read about. Even though I prefer the 480 to hunt with the most of the time I like the 500. It can be tamed down by the reloader if you want.
I live and hunt in Ga. also and have taken several deer with the 41,44,and my now favorite 480.
I believe the 500 is an excellant choice for a deer gun to even here in Ga. I call it the "pocket muzzle loader". Believe it or not the 6.5" Smith is almost exactly the same size as a 7.5 SRH in 44 its jus heavier. It packs OK for a hunter. I don't have the 460 to compare but the 500 is a fine gun for sure...

I had a SRH in 480. Very nice revolver and while recoile was stiff it was not unpleasant. I even got a little kick out of it. no pun intended. Sold it to another guy who cusses me to this day. But i shot a Super 14 in 45-70 for years. So my recoil meter is probably busted. I just want a heavy revolver and i lean more toward the 460. That's why i wanted knowledgeable opinions about the two.

I'm late into this post but been tied up so I'll just start with the title of this post. I've owned both the 500 S&W and the 460XVR. Both guns were extremely accurate but on the 500 I went with a 2X Leupold in the end because it seemed more practicaly for the guns proposed uses. The load I settled on for the 500 was a Sierra 400gr sp running around 1700-1800fps as I remember. (I'm rusty on my #'s so don't completely quote me on these velocities for the 500) I did try a 2.5-8 Leupold on the big boy and It would shoot about 2" at 100yds. Recoil to me was not bad at all but I'm used to shooting big bore single actions which have alot more recoil. The 460 I settled on a Leupold 2.5-8 and a max load of H110 under a 260gr Partition for 2000fps. The accuracy on the 460 was excellent shooting moa out to 150yds. I never did use either gun to kill an animal as the first time I took one out I realized that I might as well be carrying a rifle so I sold them and went back to my single actions. It says alot for Ruger that S&W had to create this monster sized x frame yet the 357 Maximum Ruger frame can be chambered for the 500, unfortunately with the stretched cylinder it's still a little short for the 460. If massive sized guns are your cup of tee both will shoot great, I will say however that I had to send my 500 back 2 times for the barrel nut coming loose and when I sold it to tig he had to send it back for a misfire problem. I personally think a person is ahead for most revolver situations with a Blackhawk or possibly redhawk converted to 454, 475, or 500 but that is my own opinion but if I'm going to carry something that big it's either going to be a rifle or a T/C where I can really reach out and touch something. Don't think I'm knocking the Smith stuff because I'm not and in fact I love the N frame and K frame stuff but when it comes to big bores I just prefer something smaller I can easily wear on my hip.JMHO

Has anybody read the handgun hunting article in this month's American Hunter yet? There were some pretty impressive shots made with the .460 S&W including a kudu at 300+ 280 yards!

Edited...the kudu was taken at 280 yards

Not Yet. Just got mine yesterday and haven't had time, maybe tonight.

Thanks Wapitirod- that's the kind of imput i've been looking for. I've been doing a lot more thinking on the subject. I realy wish Ruger would come out with big bore SA. The 480 on a SBH frame would have been perfect. Heck i mite just buy another contender. I do prefur blued steel to stainless. And Ruger makes a workin' mans guns.

x,

that doesn't look like a 460 nor does it look like an elk in Georgia! Are my eyes deceiving me?

Doc