Twenty years ago, Smith & Wesson regained its place as the proprietor of the most powerful commercial revolver cartridge on earth. I say regained to note that Dirty Harry’s famous words detailing the .44 Magnum as the most powerful had been overshadowed by the .454 Casull in the Freedom Arms Model 83 single-action revolver a few years after Mr. Callahan’s classic line. Stating the .500 S&W cartridge is powerful is akin to mentioning King Kong was just an ape.
In a revolver, the .500 S&W is an awesome handful of force capable of pushing 500-grain bullets well over 1,400 fps. This mention of bullet weight and velocity is merely one example of the cartridge’s strength: There are several factory offerings of lighter bullets at even higher velocities. I currently have a half-dozen different loads from Buffalo Bore Ammunition (375 to 500 grains) sitting on my shelf, each capable of cleanly dispatching the toughest of the tough, and Hornady’s good 300-grain FTX load
