On The Firing Line Despite the power of the cartridge, the 500 S&W Magnum is surprisingly controllable. Due largely to the sheer mass of the revolver (combined with the muzzle-heavy balance and an ...

The .500 S&W Magnum is a serious cartridge, and the guns built around it are equally so. The author with a blesbok that he downed with one of his .500 S&W Mag X-Frames in East Cape, South Africa.

The .500 Magnum round typically weighs between 275 and 500 grains, or .62 to 1.14 ounces, and generates a huge range of foot pounds of energy, from 932 to an astonishing 3,032 foot pounds.

Muzzle energy from a fired .500 S&W Magnum round measures 2,868 ft.-lbs. of energy when topped with a 300-grain bullet, comparable to a 1-oz. slug fired from a 12-ga. shotgun.

Leading the way for Smith & Wesson was the Model 500, a .50-caliber revolver that was advertised as the world’s most powerful handgun when it debuted in early 2003.

The .500 Magnum round typically weighs between 275 and 500 grains, or .62 to 1.14 ounces, and generates a huge range of foot pounds of energy, from 932 to an astonishing 3,032 foot pounds.