I think I'm good at .50cal.

Unless.........a 12ga pistol............

BFR's are great guns for the money, but there big and chunky to me compared to a Ruger Bisley or Freedom 83. I wasn't happy when I got mine so I had some custom stuff done to make it look and handle better. Those front plastic sights just don't work for me on a gun that cost a grand

The sights are metal. Not really chunky. Beefed up and strong but not huge.

Beefed up and ugly kinda like a super redhawk

Not so ugly, in my estimation. They're not Freedom Arms pretty, but they aren't Freedom Arms four-shots either, and they tend to be accurate in the extreme. At that price-point, I'll take it!

Oh, and for those who don't know, Magnum Research is no longer equipping their revolvers with Ruger rear sights. They're using LPA-sourced sights now and they are outstanding.

Yeah. Double action and just the same as a srh?!?! Just like it.

The bfr is quite simple the strongest and most appropriate single action platform for a 50 cal revolver in existence. Im not sure how many buy them and expect them to be as small and light as a new model vaquero in 357. The short cylinder bfrs arent appreciably larger than a standard blackhawk. Pictures prove this.

Excuse the lousy photo, but here is one of my .500 JRH BFRs next to my FA 83 (.454). When the sight base is removed, it's really not much bigger, but a little extra bulk is your friend with top-end .500 JRH loads.

hell I thought a srh was double action guess I'm wrong again

No genius, i was implying the bfr wasnt double action and the srh is. I guess sometimes sarcasm must be felt even when its obvious.

God I love this site!

All in good fun. Variety is the soice of life

To make .500 JRH cases from .500 S&W brass, what do I have to do?

Just shorten the case length? I read somewhere that the case head had to be reduced to fit in a BFR cylinder or something.

What say ye?

Just shorten it. The BFR is set up for the bigger rim.

Dammit. Why you gotta make it that easy?

Haha! Because misery loves company!

Hi Zee

Having a high speed arrow cutting saw, I made a simple jig that holds the 500 Mag brass. This makes quick work for shorting them. I cut them a little long and finish them up on the case trimmer. Buzzed though a box of 100 in no time.

Good luck
B..

That's a good idea!!

Zee, have you made a decision yet?

The cartridge will be either a .500 JRH or S&W.

I have the brass and dies.

The platform is still undecided.

.500 S&W = MGM Encore Barrel
.500 JRH = BFR

Do you want another gun or another barrel?
Do you want short and compact or long and heavy?
Do you want a single shot or a repeater?
Short and packable BFR in 500 JRH gets my vote

!

To me it's more about the actual round...kinda like 38 Special or 357 Mag, 44 Special or 44 Mag, 480 or 475 Linebaugh. The JRH, while powerful, cannot equal the full length version (500 S&W)

Well, just get both and quit yer bellyaching...worsethanateengirlonpromnight

I?m pacing myself. Not rushing into a decision.

:buildingthe.308gasgunfirst:

Boiling down to........how much am I willing to spend.

Kinda my thinking as well. Plus.....less case prep with the S&W.

ZEE: AT A YO HANDGUNNER HUNT YEARS AGO, WHEN THE S&W 500 WAS STILL NEW, ONE OF PETER PI's SONS TOLD ME THAT SCOPES WOULD ONLY LAST A FEW ROUNDS ON THE S&W 500's (I DO NOT RECALL THE # BUT IT WAS SMALL. LIKE UNDER 20), SO I WROTE THE S&W 500 OFF MY WISH LIST.

It would be a 1 inch bull barrel about 8 inches long plus a good brake. Should tame it enough so as a scope might survive.

At least.............I?d hope.

The scopes hold up pretty good on the 500. As long as you run a quality one

It's all academic. It boils down to what you want. Do you want something that can be comfortably carried or something that weighs five pounds and requires a bipod, a muzzle brake and a crew to fire? That's a rhetorical question. I feel the .50 cals (excluding the .50 AE) have a higher function than most other handgun rounds and that is really big and dangerous game. In that vein, I prefer handguns and quite frankly the game will never know the difference. Basically, if it can't be shot offhand, it's functionally of no use to me especially if dangerous game is on the menu. Otherwise, you might as well carry a rifle because it can be pressed into action without a rest. I am focusing more on dangerous game with my comments here. This is not an indictment of specialty pistols or long barreled, scope wearing revolvers, it's just that their spectrum of use is different from that of a short barreled revolver. It again boils down to what you expect from your chosen firearm.

A good compromise as far as the .500 Smith & Wesson is concerned is the BFR with the 7 1/2-inch barrel. For some reason that you might not think judging by the size of the long frame, they balance remarkably well and can be shot offhand.

I'm not following the logic here. The cartridge either does what you need it to or it doesn't.

Zee, did u give up on the bfr 7.5" 500? I think that fits the. Ill for what u were talking about though u can get jrh brass and not need to prep it, but i agree with ernie! Get both

The brass from Buffalo Bore ain't cheap but it beats the heck out of trimming S&W cases.

Craig, it's simple logic. I understand everyone's point about what size and style of gun to choose. If you look solely at the two final rounds and choices, the 500 JRH or 500 S&W. The 500 S&W is the Magnum version, the JRH is more similar to the Special.....

Actually, there is a .500 Special (see photo below -- Special left, JRH right) that was intended to be just that, a mellow, soft-hitting alternative to the .500 S&W. The JRH from the outset was meant to be a maximum effort hunting cartridge for a "normal-sized" revolver. At the 50,000 or so PSI I load it to, there is nothing soft or "Special-esque" about it. That's not how I would characterize it, but maybe that's not what you meant.

The JRH was conceptualized long before the S&W. It was designed as a rimmed cartridge that would fit the FA 83 platform and could be easily adapted to those guns already chambered in .50AE. The S&W simply makes brass easier. So this idea that the JRH is a "Special" version of the S&W has no merit. The .500Spl is a special version of the S&W.

I'm not following your logic on this at all. So there's no reason to own a .500Linebaugh because the Long version exists? Or neither because there is a .50Alaskan? No .50Alaskan because there is the .50-110? No reason to own a .38 or .44Spl because there are longer versions? So no .357Mag or .44Mag because there is the .357Max and .445Supermag? You pick the cartridge that does what you want it to and all the rest of this is just mental masturbation? Or is there something else at work here? Is this just an obsession with velocity? All that extra velocity is fine if you want or need it. If I was shooting a single shot out to 200yds, I'd probably want the long version too but I'm not. So again, you choose the cartridge that does what you want/need it to.

After contemplating the lint in my belly button, I concluded that the .500 S&W BFR is bulkier than I want in a handgun. Similar to the X-Frames.

It?ll either be a short cylinder revolver or a short barrel and roughly same OAL Encore.

That makes sense. An encore with a barrel even with a compensator will be a lighter shorter and inwould guess gun that is shootable offhand. With the right brake itll be comfortable to shoot and likely a good option.

I want a .50cal handgun. So.............

-I have .500 S&W dies that would work for either of my two choices.
-I have .500 S&W brass. Do I want to trim it or use it as is.
-Either cartridge will kill anything I am likely to EVER hunt. That, is not the question.
-Building a .500 S&W barrel is half the cost of buying a .500 JRH Revolver. How much I?m willing to spend must be decided by me.

I am not in a rush to make these decisions. It kind of boils down to, when I have the money and that project is at bat..........availability will likely win.

I could build the Smith barrel right now. But, I?m working on another project. When I?m done, if I have enough for a BFR, I?ll probably do the JRH. If I don?t, I?ll probably do the Smith.

I photoshopped my .358 Win barrel to conceptualize my idea for the .500 Smith barrel. This is kinda what I?d like it to look like with a ?brake?.

8 inch barrel + brake should put it about 9-9.5 inch total barrel length.

Like u said either will kill anything u are likely to hunt but both will kill anything you can hunt and i totally get the brass trimming thing. I hate doing that. The smith gets ya into a velocity range that id suspect could be fun at extended distances and if ya play with 50 cal there is an appeal to having the top of the heap imho. I look forward to seeing what ya get or build and seeing what results u getnon game!