The .500 Smith and Wesson incident

My son Austin and I took out his new Remington 1911 .45 ACP yesterday to shoot for the first time and momma wanted to go with us also.Well I threw my Encore in the car(.500 S&W)loaded with 34 gr. H110 under a Lee 440gr. WFN.After we all shot the .45 I let my wife shoot the Encore with a mild load ,10.gr. Unique under the same 440gr bullet.She shot the mild load which we used for deer hunting last year. Then I put one of the more potent loads in the gun(34.gr.-H110)she shot that baby and the gun recoiled hitting her in the brow and cheek and sliding off her shoulder.She fortunately was wearing sun glasses and you could see a scratch on the left lense where we think the hammer hit.I felt so guilty because I thought she was holding the gun tighter than she actually was but I was wrong.Well this morning she has a little headache but no bruising or blackness around the eye.I told her the story about Whitworth and his .50 Alaskan to make her feel a little better about it at least not drawing blood but that didn't work,I'm just glad she's o.k.,and if for some reason you never see me reply on this sight again ,ya all know what happened to me and why!

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That is hilarious!! Sorry for what happened to your wife, but I've been laughing for five minutes on this one. I don't know why I always find it so funny when that happens - it was never as funny when I did it growing up with the scope on my dad's .300 Mag!!! :-)

I can't laugh, it is a serious thing. A big caliber TC is just too much even for me.
I am so glad she is OK, it could have been worse.
I refuse to shoot that .50 Alaskan with the shiny grips and no filler behind the guard. Common sense makes me stay away from swinging sledgehammers.

John,

Glad your wife is OK! I was up at my Dad's yesterday practicing with my 500 S&W revolver. When my nephew stopped by to visit with my Dad, he came up to join me and we shot a bunch of rounds through my Buckmark setup with a Burris Fast Fire II:


He is an inexperienced handgunner but he was clanging steel at 60 yards with impressive regularity. We were seated against a tree, resting our forearms on our thights and resting the gun barrel on my bog pod sticks.

I shot the steel again with the 500 at 100 yards and the last shot knocked the steel target completely over. I could tell that he was impressed by the power of the gun and I think that he wanted to...but he didn't ask...and I didn't offer. I was worried that the same thing that happened to your wife would happen to him! I need to let him start out with my .357, 44, 45, etc. and let him work his way up to the hard kickers.

Let me back up here... I laugh, but my first concern is that she is OK. I know it hurts, and I know it can be serious. I got a scar from the .300 mag incident I had. Believe me, I'm glad she is ok, and I do know it could have been serious, but still, once I know everyone is ok, its just funny. Sorry if I offended anyone, or your wife to be more specific.

John,

Glad she's OK! I had two of my 475 Linebaugh heavies end up in my box of Unique loads recently. I had grown complacent with my grip...fortunately it didn't pop me in the head, but it recoiled a LOT harder, turning a 2-handed grip into a one handed grip quickly. Until I shot up the rest of them, I handled the gun like every one was a max load of H110!

Nobody wanted to shoot the full-house 500WE loads at the range yesterday, but I did make some Contender converts with the 257JDJ.

430man,you're right,but after we seen she was o.k. we started laughing about it.I should have thought before I let her handle it,she has had carpal tunnel surgury in her right arm/wrist when she was 17 so sometimes she has a hard time gripping things but if you knew my wife,whatever us (big boys??!) can handle she has to do it too but in this case she really didn't want to shoot the hotter load but I talked her into it(not very wise on my part but that goes without saying)!

Darrell H .,that Buckmark is one sweet looking piece!I've been thinking about putting one of the smaller red dots on mine,what did yours cost?

Thanks John! The Burris Fastfire II's run about $200 if memory serves correctly.

Good to hear you're wife is o.k.

Glad to hear your wife is OK.

You are a lucky man JW. Blood begets blood ;-)

Glad she came out of it okay, I have a feeling it may be the last time for that one for her, eh?

s4s4u,you are correct,thats why I'm sleeping with my eyes open-L.O.L.

glad your wife is ok, those big bores can be hell on people that aren't used to them. I let my father in law shoot my 7.5"BFR in 45-70 once. I was running hot loads pushing 440gr CPs to 1650. He asked to shoot it and I hesitated and warned him, fortunately the barrel didn't get him but how it missed I don't know, it couldn't have been more than a 1/2 in from his forehead. That scared me bad enough that I'm very selective about who shoots my thumpers now.

By the way the eyes open thing for a while is probably a good idea, especially if your wife is vindictive.

You are a brave man!!If your wife was like mine there would be a price to pay.I'd be worried enough I'd hire a friend to watch me sleep.

Glad everything worked out okay,I know everyone laughed and thought it was funny,did she?

You might want to have one of the kids taste your food for awhile
and I wouldn't complain about the honeydo list either.New sunglasses and roses couldn't hurt.Glad she's OK.

my wife was reading the post and informed me if I know whats good for me to let you all know ,she hit the target before the gun smacked her in the chops so hence the reason for this post.I don't think she let this one go for a long time-johnw.p.o.w. in the williams household!

If you please will you give her a big ATTAGIRL from me,I like her style ATTAGIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will,I like her style too ,thats why I married her!