Dirty Harry Sized Handguns

By Gun Rack Editor Ed Hall

 

 

Even Dirty Harry might find these hunting handguns to be a handful

Back in the day when Dirty Harry packed “The Most Powerful Handgun in the World,” it was a .44 Magnum revolver. Today, the .500 Smith & Wesson revolver drives a 500-grain bullet with 2,500 foot pounds of muzzle energy, more than double one of Harry’s loads. Things sure have changed, and there have been many steps up the power ladder leading to the .500 S&W.

Way back in 1935, the .357 Magnum was the all-powerful one, touted as being capable of smashing engine blocks. It was based on the .38 Special, only in a stronger gun to handle higher pressure. The cases also were made a tad longer, to preclude a .357 cartridge being accidentally loaded in a weaker .38 revolver. (But the shorter .38 Special ammo does fit in a .357, and it is just right for plinking.)

The .44 Magnum did the same for the .44 Special, and while a “standard” 240-grain jacketed .44 bullet is effective for deer-sized game, a 320-grain Cast Performance hard bullet, loaded by Cor-Bon, drives deeper into close-range critters.

The .454 Casull was the next step up. What the .357 did for the .38 Special and the .44 Magnum did for the .44 Special, the .454 did for the .45 Long Colt. Bigger, fatter and much more potent than the .44 Magnum, it plows a wider hole with 1,800 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

The .454 Casull was once a custom cartridge, gaining its top potency from a triplex powder charge stacking three different pistol powders within one case. It was fired in custom conversions of Ruger revolvers that had been strengthened by using thicker-walled, five-shot cylinders. Modern powders have negated the need to use multiple powders, and Freedom Arms makes a truly excellent production revolver for this cartridge.

The .475 Linebaugh uses a modified .45-70 case in a modified Ruger to drive a fat, 400-grain bullet at almost 1,400 ft/s. Yes, it is tough on wrists, elbows and even shoulders. Ruger decided that a little less potency might be better, and the result was their .480 Ruger. Its most popular loading is a 325-grain bullet at 1,500 ft/s.

Then Smith & Wesson built the massive X-Frame revolver and a giant cartridge to go in it: the .500 S&W. Despite the massive revolver’s abundant recoil-absorbing weight, the .500 S&W is all most handgunners (myself included) would ever care to shoot. A stubby new version of the X-Frame revolver is lighter and therefore must kick a bit harder, but it just might be the ultimate hip-hugging bear stopper.

No handgun load matches a magnum big-game rifle’s energy, or even a .30-06, for that matter. But there is plenty of dependable stopping power in the momentum of fat, blunt, heavy, hard handgun bullets. And while a heavy, tough bullet from a .44 will likely suffice for anything up to a brown bear, a fatter, heavier, more potent bullet from an even bigger bore just might get the job done a bit better.

Of course, all of that stopping power comes at a price. All of the big handguns kick beyond most shooters’ tolerance level, or at least their enjoyment level, and most of the folks who shoot the big revolvers also practice with a .22 or .357 revolver, or at least they should.

Mid-power “plinker” ammunition also is available for most of the big guns, even the .500 S&W. Ending an afternoon of plinking or practice at the range with a final cylinder of full-power carry loads should be enough to check that the gun is properly sighted-in, and also that you are familiar enough with the full-load recoil to recover smoothly for follow-up shots. Interestingly, if a shooter wears both ear plugs and muffs to really deaden sound at the shooting range, the perceived recoil also seems to be lessened substantially.

Of course, when a handgun unleashes more than a ton of muzzle energy, it is going to jump a bit. (Yes, that is a deliberate understatement.) And even if the shooter doesn’t flinch at all, any follow-up shot will be hampered. If the first S&W .500 load hits a brown bear squarely between the eyes, that bear is going down. But what if the shot is off just a bit? How long might it take to get the gun on-target for a second shot? With any of these guns, there’s no such thing as accurate rapid fire.

I carry a T/C Contender .410 pistol when hunting with my beagles. On occasion, the gun gets wet and the grip gets slippery. A 3-inch .410 kicks about like a .44 Magnum, and that can be enough to spin the pistol until the hammer cuts the web of my shooting hand’s thumb.

Ultimate potency may be a plus in a bear handgun, but I hear it does rain in Alaska, and I can’t imagine shooting some of these handguns with wet hands. One of my favorite sayings is: “Learn from experience—preferably someone else’s.”

Single-action revolvers tend to twist upward in the hand but soak up quite a bit of recoil as they do so. Double-action revolvers tend to recoil more straight back, and while they bite the web of the hand more, they also retain position a bit better and can be just a tad quicker with a second shot, all else being equal.

Scopes also add weight, which helps tame recoil. But aiming at a close, moving target can be difficult. Bushnell’s more open Holosight might be ideal.

Last year, Smith & Wesson chambered their X-Frame for another new cartridge, the slightly smaller .460 S&W (actually a .452 bullet). Load the heaviest bullets in the .460 S&W, and it comes up only a bit short of the top load in the 500 S&W. Of course, 2,040 foot pounds of energy still is a tremendous stopper.

But the true driving idea behind developing the .460 cartridge was to make a long-range big-game hunting revolver that could shoot a lighter, faster, more aerodynamic bullet with flatter trajectory. It’s a real bonus that the light bullet in the .460 also is quite pleasant to shoot.

A hunting load with a 200-grain Hornady or Barnes “X” bullet leaves the muzzle at more than 2,300 ft/s, yet it is not at all hard to handle with the weight of the massive X-Frame soaking up recoil. It is dandy for deer out to 200 yards or more, especially since it can put five rounds in a grapefruit at that range. The 200-grain Barnes “X” is adequate for elk, as well, though I might step up to their 275-grain bullet for this bigger game. Switch to a hard, heavy bullet, such as the heavyweight 395 cast by Cast Performance and loaded by Cor-Bon, and you’re ready for that trip to Alaska. For plinking, the .460 can be loaded down with .454 or even .45 Long Colt, which is very pleasant to shoot in the X-frame. The variety of loads makes the .460 S&W a very versatile handgun.

And don’t discount the good old .44 Magnum. Firing a heavyweight 320-grain hard cast from Cor-Bon, it still is a significant thumper. The recoil from a .44 is much more manageable for getting off follow-up shots, especially when compared to the .454 Casull or the .500 S&W.

There was a time when only handloads put heavy, hard cast penetrating bullets or jacketed hunting bullets in a revolver. Today, Cor-Bon offers a wide variety of hunting ammunition for .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, .460 S&W and .500 S&W. Winchester also offers a good selection, as does Federal. Of course, handloads still allow the most leeway to tailor a just-right load at your preferred recoil level.

You can have big-time firepower on your hip weighing as little as 26 ounces with S&W’s Scandium 329PD in .44 Magnum. Or, you can pack a whopping 82-ounce Performance Center .500 S&W with 10-inch barrel, and shoot the ultimate.

The Big Guns:

Smith & Wesson X-Frame: Chambered in .500 S&W and .460 S&W. With standard 8-inch barrel, weighs 72 ounces; with 4-inch barrel, weighs 56 ounces.

S&W 29: Chambered in .44 Mag. The 629 denotes stainless, and it is available in several barrel lengths. Their Performance Center offers some really nice 629 options, and the 329PD, with “3” denoting scandium, is one of my absolute favorite handguns. At just 26 ounces, it’s a real “bear” to shoot with full loads, but with light .44 Special loads, it’s back in the fun-to-shoot category.

Freedom Arms: Chambered in .44 Mag., .454 Casull, .475 Linebaugh, .500 Wyoming. Easy to carry, but with the more potent loads, especially their new .500 Wyoming, this medium-weight gun does require an experienced hand.

Ruger Redhawk and Blackhawk: Available as a 53-ounce .454 Casull or .480 Ruger, and a much wider variety of Redhawks and Blackhawks are also available in .44 Mag. One advantage with the Redhawk or Blackhawk Hunter is the integral scope mounting, which allows a scope to go on or off in seconds while maintaining the sight-in.

Taurus Raging Bull: Chambered in .500 S&W, .460 S&W, .454 Casull and .44 Mag. Offered in several barrel lengths, and also an Ultralight 28-ounce .44 Mag.

I would shoot several of these guns, with different loads, before buying one. While a .454 bear load may be a handful in the Freedom Arms, the same cartridge is a pussycat in the heavier X-frame .460.

If you’re buying a revolver to hunt deer or other big game, the .460 is probably ideal in a heavy gun. The Freedom Arms is fine in a standard weight gun, and the Ruger Blackhawk Hunter is on the budget side of this high-end spectrum.