.460 S&W Magnum - Smith & Wesson

I went to the range this weekend.  There were 6 people at the 50 yard range when I arrived.  2 were leaving so I used their stand.  When the range went cold and I set up my targets to shoot pistols and my Springfield 87M.

The 4 guys that remained must have had a dozen pistols of all shapes and calibers.  Once we were all set down range we went hot.  The first pistol I heard go off to my left was the Model S&W500.  With a 4 inch barrel it made more noise than my .44 Magnum ever did.  It was impressive.

I stopped shooting and went to check it out.  It was a nice gun. We started talking about hunting.  I said I hunted a few times with my .44 Magnum but had never seen a deer when hunting with it.  I told them the .500 was nice but the S&W .460 had the best handgun hunting ballistics so that would be my choice.  One of the guys piped in and said … OH, that’s right here ...

They had the Model 460V Revolver with a 5 inch barrel.  They told me to shoot it and handed me 5 rounds.  I know the ammo is expensive ($3.35 a round) so I said thanks but one round will work for me.  They said you don’t get the feel for the gun with just one round so shoot all 5.  I was told the gun had a light trigger so they suggested I shoot single action.

I put 5 rounds in the cylinder and got ready.  The grip felt very nice.  Since I shoot a .44 Magnum I am fine with large frame guns with some kick. 

They had a dueling tree with 4 inch plates set up 15 yards out.  Anticipating a light trigger I made sure I was aiming at what I wanted to shoot before I put my finger on the trigger.  As I started to squeeze the trigger I thought to myself “I wonder ho …” BANG” … w much pressure I will need before the gun goes off?” … and that answered my question. 

Now, to back up a minute there were 2 things.  First, when I was told about the light trigger I should have dry fired the gun to get the feel of the trigger pull before I loaded up.  Second, I should have asked if I could shoot at the 4 inch steel targets before I shot to make sure I wouldn’t blow a hole through the steel.  There are various grades of steel and thicknesses so you need to make sure the steel you are shooting at can accommodate the caliber you are shooting at the distance you are shooting.

So what happened?  Well, this dueling tree had six 4 inch plates and was set up 15 yards in front of me.  When you hit a plate it will swing 180 degrees from side to side, right to left or left to right.

In this case the top plate was on the left, the other 5 plates were on the right.  For my first shot I aimed at the second plate from the top on the right side (3^rd plate down from the top of the tree).   Because the .460 had so much power, and perhaps being so close, when I hit the 4 inch plate it swung from the right to the left with so much force one plate above and the two plates below also swung around to the left side.  The force of the plate going from the right to left 180 degrees caused 3 additional plates to swing around.  No kidding ... 4 plates turned with one shot of the .460.  "Jerry Miculek look out!!!"  hehe ... There were now 5 plates on the left and one lonely plate on the bottom right.  I was impressed.  The round didn’t blow a hole through the steel either which was lucky for me.

They were impressed that I was able to hit the 4 inch plate with my first shot of this BIG revolver I hadn’t fired before.  At the 50 yard mark there was another steel plate set up.  I hit that with my second shot.  What a great round and a great revolver.  The trigger pull was not a problem for me but I thought it felt too sensitive for a gun this powerful (personal preference).  For hunting I would probably increase the pull a bit especially if wearing gloves.  I would love to try the .460 again at the 100 and 200 yard range.  The .460 ballistics say that distance wouldn’t be a problem.

Assessment: The S&W .460 revolver has Bark and a HUGE BITE ... I WANT ONE ...