1 Bad A$$ Gun

[Dan]

Today, I shot a 50 caliber Smith and Wesson REVOLVER! I don't know the model but it is the one with the 4' barrel.

All I can say is OH MY GAWD!!!

I have never fired a gun with more kick that this thing had. I was using as solid as a two handed grip as I could muster and I was still worrying about getting a broken nose.

I shot all 5 shots. By the thrid short the pattern of the grip was imprinted on my hand. Most guys who shot the thing stopped at 3 shots but when I saw that my first three shots were in the 9 ring of the silhouette I got motivated to put another 2 out.

What an experience I had today. Nothing but shooting, shooting, shooting. I started out yesterday by buying a precharged pneumatic pro grade Air Force Air Gun, .177 caliber. (http://ww.airforceairguns.com)

I went to where my friend works, a local gun shop and shooting range, where they were having an S&W day. I spent some time sighting in my scope and then went up and shot the S&W. I shot 3 or 4 but the two I remember were the 9mm and the 50 cal. I actually did pretty good for my first time out with handguns. With the exception ofthe 50 cal all of my shots were within a 2" grouping and in the center mass.

Anyhow, I figured I woud let you guys know about the 50 cal since we were talking about it lately.

Best,

Dan

[Petrograde]

yup,... a .50 cal pistol is pretty bad a$$. You ever fire the Desert Eagle .50 Magnum? that thing hurts!

[Dan]

Before today I hadn't even seen a 50 cal. :)

The S&W was pretty close to hurting, too.

[Rob1559]

Here you go!

[hitchhiker]

Today, I shot a 50 caliber Smith and Wesson REVOLVER! I don't know the model but it is the one with the 4' barrel.

All I can say is OH MY GAWD!!!

I have never fired a gun with more kick that this thing had. I was using as solid as a two handed grip as I could muster and I was still worrying about getting a broken nose.

I shot all 5 shots. By the thrid short the pattern of the grip was imprinted on my hand. Most guys who shot the thing stopped at 3 shots but when I saw that my first three shots were in the 9 ring of the silhouette I got motivated to put another 2 out.

What an experience I had today. Nothing but shooting, shooting, shooting. I started out yesterday by buying a precharged pneumatic pro grade Air Force Air Gun, .177 caliber. (http://ww.airforceairguns.com/)

I went to where my friend works, a local gun shop and shooting range, where they were having an S&W day. I spent some time sighting in my scope and then went up and shot the S&W. I shot 3 or 4 but the two I remember were the 9mm and the 50 cal. I actually did pretty good for my first time out with handguns. With the exception ofthe 50 cal all of my shots were within a 2" grouping and in the center mass.

Anyhow, I figured I woud let you guys know about the 50 cal since we were talking about it lately.

Best,

Dan

Nice gun. I consider my 357 Mag. adequate.

Best Regards,

David

[BillyGman]

Nice!!! The caliber is called S&W .500 and it's much more powerful than the the caliber that the Dessert Eagle fires, which is 50AE. Ofcourse neither one are anything like the 50 BMG caliber, but that's strictly for rifles,and very heavy ones at that. there would be no way that you can fire the 50 BMG round out of a handgun. Your hand would be broken, and that's assuming that you would even be able to build a handgun that wouldn't blow up in your face from the 50 BMG round.


Anyway, that must have been quite an experience shooting the S&W .500 caliber!!!! :)

[rayjay]

I have not shot a .500 S&W, but I have shot a friend's .454 Casull. That think is down right nasty also. The shock wave coming off it was amazing with his hot reloads.:eek:

[BillyGman]

I have not shot a .500 S&W, but I have shot a friend's .454 Casull. That think is down right nasty also. The shock wave coming off it was amazing with his hot reloads.:eek:Yep, another heavy handgun round. The 454 Casull is also made for hunting w/a handgun and would take down Elk, or even Moose. I have a 454 Casull revolver. It's fun to shoot. The Ammo is $1 per round if you don't reload. I'm sur that .500 S&W ammo is atleast $3-$4 per round if not more because that's what the .475 Linebaugh ammo is (another hefty hunting round).

[BillyGman]

yup,... a .50 cal pistol is pretty bad a$$. You ever fire the Desert Eagle .50 Magnum? that thing hurts!That caliber is the 50AE which isn't anymore potent than the 44 mag (if even as potent), so I can't help but to suspect that if firing the Dessert Eagle chambered for that caliber is painfull, then it must have something to do w/how big the handgrip is on that gun. It's really made for guys w/really big hands. So I'm sure that adds to the discomfort of shooting it in 50AE.

A pic of the 454 among others......

[Brutus]

That caliber is the 50AE which isn't anymore potent than the 44 mag (if even as potent), so I can't help but to suspect that if firing the Dessert Eagle chambered for that caliber is painfull, then it must have something to do w/how big the handgrip is on that gun. It's really made for guys w/really big hands. So I'm sure that adds to the discomfort of shooting it in 50AE.

.44 Mag 300 gr. max load (34,800C) CUP/psi 1300 fps
.50 AE 325 gr. max load (32,000p) CUP/psi 1300 fps

As you can see, the AE is throwing a heavier bullet at the same velocity which will equate to more recoil.

"Pressures are held slightly lower than the .44 Magnum. Performance is just about intermediate between the .44 Magnum and the .454 Casull. With about 28 percent more frontal area than than a .45, no doubt, the .50 AE can generate considerable impact trauma."
-Metallic Cartridge Reloading
3RD Edition

[Haggis]

Here is a pic comparing the .50 S&W round to other handgun rounds.

[BillyGman]

.44 Mag 300 gr. max load (34,800C) CUP/psi 1300 fps
.50 AE 325 gr. max load (32,000p) CUP/psi 1300 fps

As you can see, the AE is throwing a heavier bullet at the same velocity which will equate to more recoil.

"Pressures are held slightly lower than the .44 Magnum. Performance is just about intermediate between the .44 Magnum and the .454 Casull. With about 28 percent more frontal area than than a .45, no doubt, the .50 AE can generate considerable impact trauma."
-Metallic Cartridge Reloading
3RD EditionYou're equations are inaccurate due to one factor that you've completely left out. Ft/Lbs of energy at the muzzle for each round. The 44 magnum is the same as a 454 Casull you say? No way!!! That's just plain wrong. I don't mean to offend you Brutus, but that just isn't even close to being true. I have a 44 mag revolver and a 454 casull revolver and they're completely different. I didn't notice what state you live in if you've listed it, but if you're anywhere close to me, then I sincerely welcome you to write to me, and we can meet at a puiblic shooting range where I'll let you shoot my 44 magnum revolver, and then my 454 Casull, and after firing just one round out of it you'll immediately feel what a difference in recoil there is. It's a very significant difference.

It's the ft/lbs of energy that determine the felt recoil, and NOT the cup pressures. The cup pressures are used for the safe reloading of the rounds so that you won't blow up the gun that's being used to fire them, but there are a lot of variables that determine cup pressure. Just because the cup pressure of one round is less than that of another does NOT neccessarily mean that the lower cup pressured round has less muzzle energy, or less felt recoil. Below is a comparisant of the rounds as far as muzzle energy and that's what gives you a good idea of the felt recoil:

45 auto round 250 gr. bullet- muzzle energy- 420 ft./Lbs.

.44 magnum round 240 gr bullet- muzzle energy- 780 ft./Lbs

454 casull round 240 grain bullet- muzzle energy- 1,689 ft./Lbs

as you can see, they're not even close my friend. :)

[Brutus]

Billy, please read my post again. I quoted a reloading manual and my point was simply this......The .50 AE is in between the .44 Mag and the .454 Casull. Muzzle energy is determined by bullet weight, Ballistic coeficient of the bullet and muzzle velocity, which when all is said and done would support my claim, that the .50 AE is more powerful than a .44 Mag and less powerful than a .454 Casull.

[BillyGman]

Okay Brutus. Yes, I did misunderstand your point. Thanks for the correction on that my friend. :up: As far as the 44 mag and the 50 AE comparisant though, you have my curiosity and I'm going to look up what the muzzle energy of each round is later on cuz I believe they're very close w/the 44 mag being a bit more. But I'll get back to this later. Gotta go. ;)

[Brutus]

I believe the best comparison will be for a bullet weight in the 300 gr. range. Lets make this interesting and wage a few beers on it, that is if you are attending MVII!!!

[jefferson-mo]

the one with the 4' barrel.Dan



WOW :eek:


That's a long barrel :lol:

[BillyGman]

Brutus, the most significant spec to use when determining what the felt recoil that any given round would likely produce is the ft./Lbs. of energy at the muzzle as I've indicated before. Ofcourse the weight of the gun it's being fired out of, what type of action it has (auto, single shot, or revolver type) and wether or not that firearm has a muzzle brake are also factors. But a round to round, or caliber to caliber comparisant must be gauged by the muzzle energy that the rounds in question produce.

The challenging thing here about the 50 AE (Action Express) is that hardly any ammunition companies offer that round. Which BTW is the reason why I'd never purchase a handgun chambered in that caliber. The ammo as well as the individual components for that round are even more difficult to find than some of the odd ball calibers that I shoot (such as the 41 magnum, and the 10 MM auto). "So what's that have to do w/the price of eggs?" you say? Because the only publications which usually list the muzzle energies of each caliber are the ammunition manufactures' catalogues. But I only have two of them, and neither ammo manufacture even makes the 50 AE ammo. And most of the reloading manuals do NOT list the muzzle energy specs but merely the cup pressures and bullet velocities as you have indicated. Obviously since it's the cup pressures that you're concerned w/while reloading.

So therefore we cannot really compare these two calibers as far as felt recoil simply by looking at the specs since the muzzle energy specs for one of the calibers in question are very difficult to obtain. However, I will concede that you're probably correct on this since it IS true that while using Hodgen H110 powder for a 300grain bullet for both calibers using the same firearm (the Dessert Eagle) I see that according to the reloading specs the 50 AE is pushing that 300 grain weight of bullet about 80-100 FPS faster than the 44 mag round is. So even though I really wish that we can find a muzzle energy spec for the 50 AE, based on the limited info on that caliber, I'd have to say that it likely does produce a slight bit more felt recoil than the 44 mag caliber does, assuming that they're being fired out of the same type of handgun having the same type of actions, and the same weight.

Again, thanks for your replies Brutus.:up:

[Brutus]

Muzzle energy is calculated by the formula E=MV<SUP>2</SUP>/450400
M is bullet mass in grains, V is the bullet velocity in ft/sec, AND 450400 is the constant. However for the sake of this argument I will use factory loaded ammo ballistics. (you can check them with the formula)

.44 Rem Mag. 300 gr (Black Hills) Muzzle velocity 1150 fps/ Muzzle energy 879 foot pounds

.50 AE 300 gr (Speer GoldDot) Muzzle velocity 1550 fps/ Muzzle energy 1600 foot pounds

Now for the sake of comparison

.454 Casull 300 gr (Speer GoldDot) Muzzle velocity 1625 fps/ Muzzle energy 1759 foot pounds

Now IMHO it would appear that the .50 AE is actually closer in ballistics to your .454 than it is to the .44 Mag., as far as muzzle energy goes, using the same weight bullet in each caliber. Where the 50 has 721 foot pounds on the .44, the .454 only has 159 foot pounds on the 50. As far as the pressures that I quoted in the previous post, I am not really concerned with them. I was just showing that the .50 was loaded at a lower pressure than the .44

So in conclusion, for the sake of our debate, I would have to say that being Desert Eagle has the same pistol chambered in both .44 and .50 and theoretically, if you shot both of these loads thru the same platform, the .50 should have significantly more recoil being that it has almost twice the muzzle energy as the .44

On a side note, I have only owned a .44 Mag of the three, and I am sure they are all great guns, however, due to my limited funds, and surplus of hobbies, all my current handguns are .45 ACP, which better suits my interest and current occupation. You know what they say; Beware of the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it!!

[BillyGman]

yep, if you shoot one firearm all the time at the range, then you'll become much more proficient w/that one weapon than someone like me who shoots multiple weapons. No argument there. For me, I don't have a great need for self-defense using a firearm outside of my home.

It seems that no matter where I go, people leave me alone. I'm not even positive as to why that is. I'm not a big guy, but nobody messes w/me. Perhaps it's where my faith is. But whatever the case, criminals are usually cowards anyway, and therefore they seek the easiest targets which are usually the very young, the very old, and many women as well. So it's those groups of people who would have a greater need to carry a weapon for self-defense than I have.


I simply enjoy target shooting w/firearms which mostly includes shooting paper.That isn't to say that I don't take my right to self-defense seriously, because I do. I was recently really disgusted by the fact that a co-worker of mine is being told by the police department that he MUST get a personal reference from his employer in order to obtain a pistol permit!!! I immediately wrote to an Attorney that I know who is a big 2nd Amendment advocate to ask him what this guy can do.

I mean what if the guy recently lost his job? Should that mean that he cannot obtain a pistol permit? Furthermore, it's none of your employer's business that you're applying for a pistol permit. Okay, sorry for getting a bit off topic here.