Shooting: The Mighty .500 S&W

The Rifle that Dirty Harry could only dream about
Bry Buttars

By now, many of you will have heard about the mighty .500 Smith and Wesson magnum - the handgun that Dirty Harry could only dream about. But, have you heard about the .500 Smith and Wesson rifle? That’s right - rifle. H&R has come out with a version of their Handi Rifle in the mighty .500. I hadn’t heard a thing about it until I was wandering around a local gun store a few months back and saw one on their rack. My first thought was, “I have GOT to have one of those!” I was ready to buy it there on the spot, but then I remembered that H&R has a program called the “barrel accessory program.” The barrel accessory program allows you to send in the action and fore-end of one of H&R’s rifles that you already own and they will fit another barrel to your rifle. I have already done this a couple of times with one of H&R’s Ultra rifles that I bought originally in 25-06, then sent in and had a .223 and 20-gauge slug barrel added to. Take out one screw from the fore-end and open the action and the barrel tips right off. It’s a great program and I don’t understand why they don’t advertise it better.

I went home and looked up the cost of a .500 barrel and, for a measly $80.00 plus the cost of shipping and insuring, H&R would fit my rifle with the new barrel. I also had them include a set of open sights (they come standard with the new barrel) and a scope rail.

While I waited for H&R to send my gun back I bought some brass, dies, and bullets and loaded up fifty rounds of 350-grain Hornady XTP’s over a charge of 40-grains of H110. A nice mellow load to start out with, I thought. (I have to interject here that the first thought that goes through your mind when you hold one of these bullets in your hand is almost always, “That is one big bullet!” A 44-magnum looks almost tiny compared to the .500.)

After waiting about a month, I got my rifle back from H&R and headed to the range to try it out. The first thing I noticed was the open sights. They were very bright fiber optic sights, but I had to hold the rifle so high up on my shoulder to line them up that it was not a natural position. I figured I’d try it anyway and lined up on the target and squeezed the trigger. When I finally quit screaming in pain and crying (OK, the scream was more of a groan, but the crying part is too close to true to deny) and my brother and son got done laughing at me, I had to step back and reconsider what had happened. Even with what I thought was a medium velocity load, the rifle kicks. A lot. And with the gun held so high on my shoulder it was a pretty painful experience.

Not to be beaten by a piece of wood and metal, I mounted the gun properly and held it nice and tight in the pocket and tried another shot. It still kicked, but was manageable. The only problem was that with the gun mounted properly, I couldn’t use the open sights. I had brought along the scope rail and a scope to put on it so I decided to try it out. I mounted the scope, bore-sighted it and threw it up for another shot.

When I got done seeing stars, I realized that in my haste to see how the rifle shot with the scope, I had forgotten to really hold on. The scope hit me hard enough that my first reaction was to check for blood and ask how many stitches I was going to need. Oh, and don’t forget the raucous laughter coming from the peanut gallery again. I was proving to be great entertainment to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. After the scope incident, things went better for me. I fired about ten rounds and was starting to get the hang of managing the recoil, so I offered it to my brother and son to try out. My brother shot a couple of rounds and handed it off to my son who shot one shot and gave it back. While the gun was fun to shoot, the recoil was enough to limit how much shooting you could do with it. I had to find a load that was mild enough to allow some serious shooting.

I did a little research and found a company in Montana, Montanabulletworks.com, which offers cast gas-checked bullets for the .500 at very reasonable prices. I opted for the 410-grain, gas-checked, semi-wadcutter and loaded it over a charge of 10 grains of Unique powder. When I had a batch of these loaded up, I headed to the range again to try them out. For the first shot, I didn’t know what to expect so I tucked the rifle in nice and tight. My brother was standing behind me to see where I was hitting and started laughing again when I shot the first shot. Assuming that he was laughing at me again and, as there had been virtually no recoil at all, I asked him what was so funny this time. His reply was that he had watched the bullet fly to the target. Every shot you could see that gas-check shining like a tracer. It was fun to watch, but the loads weren’t all that accurate. So, for the next batch, I upped the powder charge by 2-grains and tried those. At 100 yards, I put the first fifteen rounds into a four-inch circle. I had found my “fun” loads! Now, I can shoot rabbits without putting myself in the hospital, but I also have a gun that will handle any animal on this continent with ease.

It’s hard to find any published data for the .500 in a 22-inch barrel like that one supplied with the Handi Rifle but, from my experience, it picks up about 300 fps over the loads listed for an eight-inch barrel. That means that a 350-grain bullet loaded up to the listed maximum could easily exceed 2100 fps! That translates to almost 3760 pounds of energy. Your average 30-06 load with a 180-grain bullet only produces 2700 pounds of energy. The downside to all that energy is the recoil that goes along with it. My Handi Rifle weighs just a shade over seven pounds with the scope. That means with that same 350-grain load there is almost 40-foot pounds of energy hitting you in the shoulder. That same 30-06, 180-grain load in a rifle of the same weight only produces 21-foot pounds of recoil. Needless to say, you aren’t going to shoot many rounds of the hot stuff off the bench in any one sitting. But, when you load it up with the mildly loaded cast bullets, the .500 only produces 10 pounds of recoil. This gun is so much fun to shoot, your cheeks hurt at the end of the day from the perpetual grin - not to mention the fun of sneaking a full power load in on good old laughing boy when he’s shooting the mild ones. (HA! Who’s laughing NOW?)

If you’re looking for a gun that will handle everything from rabbits to elk to grizzly bears, consider giving the .500 S&W Handi Rifle a try. You won’t be disappointed with it.

Tags: bry buttars, HI33, shooting

Related articles

• Shooting: Back to Basics (0)
• The King Blacktail (0)
• The Dueling Duo: The War on Coyotes (0)
• Sound off: Letters to the Editor (0)
• Shooting: The .308 Winchester (2)