Holy Cow!

[PhoenixConflagration]

I just came from the range, and someone there was shooting a .500 magnum! The first shot they fired caused the whole range (about six or eight guys) to lean back out of their stalls and look. The report was more felt than heard. I could feel my earphones compress in and then out with every shot, as though they were jumping up and down on my ears. What really got my attention though, was the muzzle flash. It lit up the whole indoor range like lightning. And it's not like the range was dimly lit to begin with. All I can say is: Holy @$%#!

 

[RevolverRO]

In my humble opinion, a .500 or a .460 is just too loud for use in an indoor range, unless the shooter happens to be the only one in the place. even then, the concussion/report in an enclosed area is just a wee bit too loud for my tastes.

Heck, they are loud in an outdoor setting, and even with muffs and plugs worn together my ears would still ring after firing a co-worker's .500 !

 

[PhoenixConflagration]

Fortunately, the range I was at had soundproofing foam coating the walls. I've been to some that had bare concrete block walls and a low, really low, ceiling. Ouch.

 

[Smaug]

I agree

44 Magnum is plenty loud, and plenty powerful.

Guys that have the 500 Magnums either just like to have the biggest handgun around or they are wannabe moose hunters.

 

[NAKing]

Yeah, there was a guy shooting a .500 at the indoor range once, right in the stall next to me. I'm used to loud guns (I shoot a .44), but I almost had to walk away for a little bit. The noise and the constant thumping on my chest were hardly bearable for any length of time. You know those fireworks that go up, explode, and you can feel it? That's what it felt like every time he pulled the trigger.

One time he miscounted and tried to fire an empty chamber. 'Ya should have seen the flinch!

 

[SavageMOA]

I was at academy sports (I despise their customer service at the gun counter), where when I asked what brand that first AR-15 they had on the rack was, and the guy at the counter said they didn't sell AR-15's, he said those were Bushmaster carbines. I called him an idiot (only because I've had to deal with him before) and informed him that that style of rifle was called an AR-15.

On to my point: This same gentleman told this older couple that the .357 they were looking at would not be powerful enough for home defense. He handed them a S&W 500 and told them the recoil wasn't bad because it was so heavy. Can you imagine letting lose a round in a dark hallway with that thing?

How much is "cheap" ammo for the .500?

 

[Gunsmom]

This same gentleman told this older couple that the .357 they were looking at would not be powerful enough for home defense. He handed them a S&W 500 and told them the recoil wasn't bad because it was so heavy. Can you imagine letting lose a round in a dark hallway with that thing?

You have got to be kidding me! I hope someone informed them better! Had the idiot ever, by chance, shot one of those things himself? I can't imagine an elderly lady shooting one.You couldn't pay me to shoot one and I'm not quite elderly, yet.

"Cheap" ammo for those is strictly a relative term. It runs around $50 for a box of 50.

 

[kayakersteve]

muzzel flash? What muzzle flash???

Just a figment of your imagination.

$50 for 50 is a bargain!!!

 

[ZX10Aviator]

my buddy has a s&w500, says its hardly more recoil than a .44mag to him. If you want to hear a big thump, a .50cal rifle is a mans gun.

 

[bluetopper]

That kid at the firearms counter needs to be sent to another department or fired. I can't believe they would let a kid tell people such s#*%.

 

[SavageMOA]

That's the shocking part. It was NOT a "kid". This man was easily in his 50's. I've dealt with him before as he is usually always working, and he is extremely ignorant about firearms. I don't have a problem with someone working at a retail store like that not knowing about firearms. But when you obviously have no clue what you're talking about, and then tell me I'M wrong, then we have a problem.

I did politely tell the couple looking at the .500 S&W would be a little much indoors. But only after he had walked away. He got really upset last time I told him he was wrong.

 

[abber]

I agree completely that the X frames are not prudent choices for SD. I keep a purty little .357 in my nightstand. Those behemoths are dang fun to shoot, though. I don't hunt anything, but I love to take the .460 out once in a while. I'll probably round out the collection one day with a .500 Mag, because I can. Shooting these with your buddies is a heck of a lot of fun, especially if any of em have never handled one. Some guys fall instantly in love with em, and others don't see the point. To each his own....

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Ridiculous for an indoor range. I've shot my .45-70 Contender indoors, and IT was ridiculous. It blew out all the wall furnaces behind us to the chagrin of many patrons, and the blast was horrendous. Depending on load, the .500 surpasses the .45-70, plus the chamber/forcing cone spitting puts a lot of blast a lot closer to bystanders than the Contender. A lot of baseball hats blow off. The .500s and .460s are certainly NOT indoor guns. I'd go as far as saying the entire family of .454s are for the outdoors.

 

[kayakersteve]

stevie ray

I agree - 454 - 500 exceed sound and power capacities for most indoor ranges.

 

[bikerbill]

Last time I was at my local range -- outdoors -- a guy and his buddy showed up with a new revolver ... they were three stalls down from me, but the first round about knocked me out of my sneaks ... walked over to ask what they were shooting, it was a .44 Magnum ... felt like a Tomcat had just broken the sound barrier about a foot over my head ... can't imagine what that would sound like indoors ... and a .500 would be all that much louder.

 

[PhoenixConflagration]

Again, fortunately they only shot it like six time at the most. Anymore than that and it might not have been cool anymore. I don't know if that's all they wanted to shoot it or if the range guys had them knock it off.

 

[A/C Guy]

He handed them a S&W 500 and told them the recoil wasn't bad because it was so heavy. Can you imagine letting lose a round in a dark hallway with that thing?

I was told of a hunter that slept with his S&W 500 while hunting in Alaska. One night a bear comes into camp and the hunter fired his 500. He said the next 5 minutes were the scariest of his life. He was blinded by the flash and he couldn't hear anything. Basically, deaf and blind with a bear a few feet away. He sold his 500 as soon as he flew home after that trip.

 

[orionengnr]

At my local indoor range, .44 Mag and up are not allowed.

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

THE .500 MAG HOME DEFENSE LOAD

 

[B.N.Real]

Went shooting close to twenty years ago at Gilberts Small Arms range in Newington,(Northern Virginia) and I was thinking I was Charlie Bad axx with my Dan Wesson .357 magnum,just plunking away when WHAM! ....and then....WHAM!WHAM!WHAM!....my chest and my eyes shake with the concussion of whatever the heck the guy was shooting eight lanes away from me!

I walked over,kind of carefully,and peered around the shooting lane divide to see a guy shooting a 44 mag Smith,with full house loads obviously.

He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled and returned to shooting.

All I could think of ,at the time,was,what a great way to loosen your fillings if you ever needed to pull them!

I don't mind that though.

That noise to me is like music.

My guns play rock music.

His gun was playing heavy-death-speed-metal-music!

BOOOM!BOOOM!BOOOM!