Raygun:

I notice that you still have the stats for the standard Model 500 Smith & Wesson revolver (with 8.375-inch and 10.5-inch barrels) on your site, but I was wondering if you were planning to revise the information to include the newer developments of their X-Frame revolvers.

S&W recently introduced a variant of the Model 500--the M-500 Mountain Gun--with a 4-inch barrel (actually, it's 3.5", plus a muzzle brake, but I'm not complaining ).

There's also talk of bringing out the X-frame in another caliber--the .460 Smith & Wesson Magnum--later this year, although all I've seen about it so far says just that--there's a new caliber coming out in 2005, with no further information.

--Foreigner

460XVR on the S&W website.

Sorry, I've been out of town... I hadn't planned on adding this stuff, but if you're interested, it shouldn't take long to do. I'll probably be updating it today.

The .460 Magnum (basically a lengthened .45 Colt case; the gun can fire .460 Mag, .454 Casull and .45 Colt ammo) was introduced publicly at the SHOT show in Las Vegas last weekend. There's more info about it and other new things on the shotshow.tv website.

A place I go to regularly has in it's case a .50 Cal magnum revolver with a short barrel. Sorry, I'm happy with my S&W .357. I can't see a need for something that big, especially with a barrell that short. A troll might be able to handle it but otherwise you're talking a massive kick and not much else.

I actually asked the guy behind the counter "Uh, is that one in case you're mugged by a hump back whale?"

You could handle it if you had to. It definitely gives a noticeable bump, but it's pretty unlikely to drop you to your knees and make a blubbering mess out of you (the shooter, that is). I put a couple rounds through the 8 3/8" gun a while back (more than a year ago now), and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The 4" though, has got to put out muzzle blast that will provide competition for the Sun. In fact, from what I remember, probably the most unpleasant thing about the 500 Mag was the muzzle blast. It was just plain jarring, and it really inspired a flinch, even when I was standing beside the shooter (perhaps moreso because of the muzzle brake). The 4" is probably twice as bad. But considering what the piece is for, the last thing you're likely to be concerned with is muzzle blast. If you're off in the bushveldt with an angry Cape Buffalo or walking through the backwoods of Alaska, something like a 4" 500 Mag (or Ruger's version), might come in pretty handy.

True, it's not going to be too useful in NYC these days (except for maybe stopping a rampant taxi). But it would make perfectly good sense for Troll defense (or against the various nasty awakened creatures) in SR.

Here's the updated page.

Raygun:

Thanks.

Your answer was about what I expected.

That gets me thinking, though; I wonder what a .500 S&W Magnum loaded with APDS ammo would do to, say, a cybered Troll (Or an Ares Citymaster )?

--Foreigner

Probably not much of anything different than the 7.62x51mm US M993 AP load would do to them. The cartridge's overall length would be limited by the length of the cylinder, so you probably wouldn't be able to pack a spitzer bullet into it (like the .50 cal SLAP load) and even then, the sabot would eat up some case capacity. A non-sabotted load, say something akin to the Russian AP pistol bullets, would probably work better.