NEF's biggest and baddest Handi-Rifle: yeah, it's a .50

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2007 by John Taffin

Fun Loads

I thought the 440/10-grains load was great until I tried the CPBC 370-grain version over the same powder charge. These are a little faster at 1,000 fps, shoot even easier and are accurate enough to cut one very slightly oblong hole measuring .625" in diameter. That translates to a 3-shot group of 1/8" and I can't even hold a rifle this steady! And again, although this is an accurate fun-shooting load, it would certainly work well on deer and feral hogs. Compare these loads to the standard .45 Colt sixgun loading from the black powder days of a 255-grain bullet at 850 to 900 fps, which was carried over into the smokeless powder era, and which has taken innumerable deer, black bear, hogs, and even more than a few grizzlies. This puts these fun loads into the proper perspective.

Hodgdon/IMR recently introduced a new powder, Trail Boss, specifically made for light loads in large capacity cases. It is a natural for use in the .500 Magnum offering very pleasant shooting loads in the 925 to 1,025 fps range. Going up a notch we can use 25 to 27 grains of either H4227 or IMR 4227, which will be the same powder by the time you read this with H4227 being marketed as IMR4227, and the velocity is more in the 1,300 fps range. Now the fun loads are becoming more serious, and the recoil pad doesn't do the job quite as well, so we can we start reaching for the Pact Magnum shoulder pad if we are going to do any extended shooting.

Getting Serious

Loads in this category start to show the real capabilities of the .500 S&W Magnum in a rifle. My two powders of choice and their amounts are 30 grains of H4227 or 32.5 grains of AA5744 with 370-, 400-, and 440-grain gas-checked bullets from CPBC and/or Oregon Trail Bullets, the 440-grain Keith Bullets from Dry Creek Bullet Works, and Sierra's 400-grain JFP. With these loads and bullet choices, muzzle velocities are in the mid-1,400s to high 1,500s. All of the bullets have wide, flat meplats (noses) and smack with great authority matched up with deep penetration. All results are in the accompanying chart, however, a few of note are the heavier bullets, the 400-grain Sierra and 440-grain CPBC and Dry Creek bullets all of which group well under 1" at 25 yards. This means when up close situations can easily become nasty, a bullet can be placed with surgical precision.

Heavy Duty Factory Loads

The .500 S&W Magnum has only been around for little over three years, however, the ammunition companies have not wasted any time in providing full-house loads. The Smith & Wesson Model 500, as one might expect, was the first sixgun chambered in the largest of all Magnum sixgun cartridges. It is also now offered by Magnum Research in their single action BFR revolver and SSK offers custom Encore barrels, which, by the way, are superbly accurate in the .500 Magnum. As this is written I know of 10 factory loads all of which perform well, and in some cases exceptionally well, in the Handi-Rifle.

When we start pushing 400-grain bullets at 2,000 fps from a six-pound rifle, life is not all that pleasant. One definitely does not simply lay the forearm on a sandbag and pull the trigger. If that forearm isn't held on to this little rifle can jump right out of your hands.