Ok so the 500sw barrel is probably my favorite to shoot for deer hunting. I have been having some issues with a forend surviving its recoil (ate my reddot last yr too!). So I thought i came up with a sloution but doesnt look like it. Last yr the forend screws were breaking the wood.
heres the gun:

and the bullets im shooting-535gr cast keithstyle (next to a .22lr for comparison)

So to fix the problem this yr I put in aluminum inserts and also put an aluminum rod croswise through the forend to keep the back screw from breaking out the end of the forend



Well I shot about 10 times yesterday and bent one forend screw a little and you can see the threads are digging into the aluminum and it cracked the epoxy on the rear pillar and still pushed it back a little even with the rod perpendicular to it.
sooo......?
What do i do. I love the way this forend feels on it and although I prefer a red dot for this barrel we will see if the simmns 4x lasts any length of time. Would a hanger bar fix this issue? Just dont know if will have time to get and set up forend before deer season. Im sure Wapitrod will have a good fix right? Thanks guys for your help. In the encore platform the 500sw is so gentle to shoot---it just eats accessories

You might want to try sliming down your forend to pull some of the weight out of it, from the picture it looks fairly "beefy" with some weight to it. While that weight is good to help tame recoil it also creates an inerta problem. When you fire he handgun all that weight is trying to stay at rest while the pistol is going into recoil throwing a strain on the mounting system. If it was lighter you would reduce this resistance to move and possibly solve the problem. There is a similar problem with heavy telescopes on hard recoiling rifles, tends to jerk the mounts loose and possibly shear the mounting screws.

On the forend...

Have you tried the Pachmayr forend designed for hard recoiling guns? Back when I had my 12" MGM 500 S&W, that's what I used and had no issues. I've also used the Stratton Custom hanger bar/Ole Ga Jim forend combination on some very hard kicking handguns.

I used a Burris 2-7X on my 500 S&W. I can't imagine an Ultradot not holding up if you prefer a red dot sight.

Hope you get it all sorted out in time for deer season!

what brand of red dot did you have on it?

This may be silly question, but why such a heavy bullet for deer hunting? I am sure the load shoots accurately othewise you wouldn't be using it.

Take some weight out of the forend ,either remove some wood or replace it with something lighter.You are trying to start a 2 pound weight[forend] from a dead stop, to recoil velocity in tenth's of a second. Screws just won't stand up to that. I have Pachmayr forends on all of mine and have had no trouble ever. Don't know how hard you are pushing those heavy bullets but hope you have enough big screws in that base,and an extra ring for the scope,to prevent movement. Good luck with hunting season.
Bow season starts tomorrow here in KY. at o dark 30 for me. Time spent sitting in a tree is never wasted.

Ya i was wondering if the weight of the forend was an issue-I dont think its weight helps with recoil at all i just really like the length and shape of it.
The red dot that got eaten was a bushnell trphy-lasted one season and stripped threads holding the tube to main body and fell apart when took rings off cause it was shooting all over.
I bought these bullets from i forget who but that was the lightest keith style cast they had.
Gramps reloads them i forget load but it was on lower end.
Ill have to look into the pachmyar forend- i have the deccelerator grip on it and thats awesome!!
Ya i hope the scope holds up at least for this season--we will see

Try shooting with just one screw in the forend; the one closest to the action. It acts much like a hanger bar system. Less barrel contact and flex could help and the one screw set up can help do this.

Joe W

Find where you grip the fore-end and then relieve the other areas that you don't use to grip the gun. That's just wasted material anyway (unless it's aesthetics). It's a nice looking setup, but some judicious power carving might make it even moreso.

(Wow, sure is easy to butcher someone else's gun, huh?)