S&W's mammoth Model 500 combines technology, innovation and flat-out horsepower.

It's been 32 years since Dirty Harry's on-screen coronation of the S&W Model 29 as "The World's Most Powerful Handgun." At the time there was little argument (except perhaps from a few hardcore types who'd been messing around with Dick Casull's .454).

A loud power trio indeed! The three initial Cor-Bon loads for the .500 S&W X-frame include (left to right): a 275-grain Barnes X (1,665 fps), a 440-grain SP (1,675 fps) and a 440-grain Hard Cast (1,625 fps).

Although the great .44 Magnum had been in existence for nearly two decades before its "Best Supporting Actor" career breakthrough, it was the movie that put the cartridge (and revolver) on the map as a cultural icon. And in terms of pure horsepower, it pretty much ruled the roost. Ruled it, that is, until the advent of such numbers as the .480 Ruger, .475 Linebaugh, .500 Linebaugh, .50 AE and God knows what other horrendous concoctions power-mad wildcatters could come up with.

Keeping pace with the seemingly endless upgrades in the cartridge department, of course, were bigger, heavier-framed revolvers than the Model 29. After all, one required more platform mass to launch bigger, faster projectiles.

Finally out-framed: The Model 500 literally dwarfs an 83?8-inch-barreled Model 629 .44 Magnum N-fame. The weight differential is considerable--about 50 ounces vs. 72 1/2 ounces. For additional security, the M500 features a ball detent lockup.

Well, evidently the folks at Smith & Wesson got a little tired of watching the resulting "Boomer Of The Year Parade" and decided to end (or at least suspend) the arms race. The company's new Model 500 X-frame lives up to Dirty Harry's immortal description of long ago. Why? The X-frame is considerably bigger than the N-frame. And the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum is, in a word, awesome; its heftiest load dispenses more than twice the muzzle energy of the heaviest .44 Magnum offering.

Swing 'em out and see: A loaded six-shot N-frame cylinder (left) is almost petite when compared that of the five-shot Model 500 (right).

And the 8 3/8-inch-barreled Model 500 appears to be a sufficient platform for it. The gun weighs 721?2 ounces, sports a relatively small K-frame grip (with rubber stocks, naturally) and has an additional ball-detent lockup on the yoke for additional security for the revolver's massive five-shot cylinder. And yes, there most definitely is a compensator.

Super snubbie from the Performance Center: The Model 625 Ultra Carry .45 ACP (left) is shown next to a .38 J-frame Centennial (right) for scale.

A Load And A Half
The cartridge itself was developed by Cor-Bon Ammunition, Peter Pi's innovative South Dakota-based company that's been in the forefront of high-performance handgun ammo since its inception. The cases are manufactured by Jamison International, and there are currently three commercial loadings. They include a 275-grain Barnes X (1,665 fps for 1,688 ft-lbs), a 400-grain Hawk SP (1,675 fps for 2,500 ft-lbs) and a 440-grain Hard Cast (1,625 fps for 2,580 ft-lbs). I recently had the opportunity to shoot the Model 500 at the Smith & Wesson Academy in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the company of some fairly recoil-hardened handgun types--the "usual suspects" found at these types of industry premiers. They included Roy Huntington, Charlie Petty, Dick Metcalf, Dave Spaulding, Steve Comus, Massad Ayoob, Wiley Clapp and several S&W personnel including Ken Jorgensen and Herb Belin.

The Performance Center's very distinctive take on the .500 S&W concept features a shrouded 10 1/2-inch barrel, integral scope mounts and a rakish compensator that also serves as a barrel nut.

Shooting Impressions
Now, as world-class as the indoor shooting facilities at the Academy are, they're exactly that--indoors. And the .500 S&W is something designed to be discharged in God's Great Outdoors with restraint (meaning infrequently and with suitable ear protection). It isn't a whole lot of fun to light one off several hundred times in the course of an afternoon, which is what we did.

There's obviously no power shortage from here! From left: .500 S&W, .500 Linebaugh, .50 AE, ,480 Ruger, .475 Linebaugh, .454 Casull, .445 SuperMag.

Obviously, there is recoil. It's not unmanageable for a seasoned big-bore handgunner, but the Model 500 is not something you're going to use to smack plates with for relaxation. The light 265-grain load, however, kicks noticeably less than the big 440 hard-cast and should probably get the nod if you plan to do anything beyond a bare-bones zeroing session. The muzzle flash of the lighter load is fairly awesome, though. But since this isn't the type of setup you're going to be using during low-light tactical drills, that's OK.

S&W PERFORMANCE CENTER
S&W's Performance Center has further enhanced its already considerable reputation for innovation with this year's series of offerings. They include a very interesting M625 Ultra Carry and a chopped .45 ACP snubbie with a two-inch slab-sided barrel, chamfered charge holes, wood combat grips and a "fast access" fixed rear sight teamed with a white-dot front. The short cylinder on the 625, incidentally, allows that 2-inch tube to be set back farther, making that little barrel appear even shorter. The advantages of a big-bore, lightweight snubbie with moon clips should be obvious to anyone in need of a defensive handgun, and the Ultra Carry's "Neatness Quotient" is just about off the scale as far as I am concerned. I shot it in slow, double-action mode with 165-grain Cor-Bon Pow'R Balls (which clock around 1,200 fps from a 6-inch barrel) and found it to be awesome.
Bipod and barrel shroud: The Performance Center's Model 617 in .17 HMR represents the ultimate manifestation of the "subcaliber varmint wheelgun" concept.
Then there's the Model 66 F-Comp, which looks to be the new "King of the K-frames." It features a 3-inch ported barrel, full-length extractor, drift-adjustable red ramp front sight paired with a fully adjustable rear and wood combat stocks (an additional set of rubber grips is included with the gun). This is the one I shot for fun--with .38 wadcutters--when my "boom and blast" level had been reached. Then there was a very interesting variant on the .38 Super wheelgun concept we covered in the March issue. The M686 .38 Super is a six-shot stainless L-frame with a 4-inch tapered barrel. As was the case with the N-frame M627 .38 Super, the cylinder is recessed for moon clips. "Wild-looking" is the description indeed for the Performance Center's take on two of the keynote introductions of the main plant. First off is the PC's inevitable variant on the Model 500, which features a shrouded custom 101?2-inch barrel with a full compensator (which also serves as a barrel nut) and integral scope mounts. It's a fairly futuristic-looking item that will, no doubt, appeal to hardcore handgun hunters. The second item is the PC Model 617, a .17 HMR wheelgun featuring a fluted 12-inch barrel, bipod lug, wood target grips and integral scope mounts on the barrel shroud. It was, in a word, fun to shoot, but it was a trifle disconcerting to light off a .17 HMR after shooting the Model 500 (the noise and recoil were so negligible by comparison that I had to check to make sure the thing went off). Finally, for all of you who've been grousing about heavy trigger pulls on factory guns, all Performance Center guns will now feature a trigger pull that's 20 percent lighter than models emanating from S&W's "Big House." Good news indeed!

Since recoil is going to be a major area of conjecture in any discussion of the .500 X-frame, I'd like to put in my two cents' worth by saying that the sensation of shooting it is closer to firing a .480 Ruger Super Redhawk than a .454 Casull, meaning that it's closer to a big push than a sharp (read: painful) jolt. But make no mistake about it, it is a big push.

HEAVYWEIGHT FACTORY LOAD COMPARISON
CALIBER	LOAD	MV (fps)	ME (ft. lbs.)
.500 S&W	440-gr. Hardcast	1,625	2,580
.500 S&W	400-gr. Hawk SP	1,675	2,500
500 S&W	275-gr. Barnes X	1,665	1,688
.500 Linebaugh	440-gr. Buffalo Bore WFN	1,300	1,650
.50 AE	325-gr. Speer GD	1,400	1,414
.480 Ruger	325-gr. Hornady JHP	1,350	1,315
475 Linebaugh	400-gr. JFN	1,400	1,740
.454 Casull	300-gr. Hornady JXTP	1,650	1,831
.445 SuperMag	.300-gr. Hornady XTP	1,501	1,652

I fired several groups with the Model 500 at 50 feet on a standard silhouette target, and the results were gratifying, although I did not even consider attempting double-action fire. But I did watch S&W's Herb Belin--who was instrumental in bringing the Model 500 project to fruition--shoot it that way, and he did surprisingly well (although he'd be the first to admit that it's no walk in the park).

The S&W Model 500 is slated for a suggested retail price of $981.

The rear sight of the .44 Magnum AirLite M329 PD is an adjustable "express-type" V-notch.

Other Models
The Model 500 is an awesome showpiece for what is S&W's biggest array of new models in years, which includes the S&W Model 1911 .45 auto (see Wiley Clapp's feature in this issue), two SW99 Compacts (in 9mm and .40 S&W) featuring 3.5-inch barrels and finger-hook magazine buttplates, the full-size SW99 .45 ACP (a modular polymer number featuring interchangeable backstraps, a 9+1 magazine capacity and 25.6-ounce weight), a .22 Magnum Model 648 six-shot K-frame and an 83?8-inch-barreled Model 647 in .17 Hornady. For those who've been bemoaning S&W's decision to go "all stainless" in its handgun line, the company is also issuing a limited run (1,000 units) of blue carbon steel .44 Magnum Mountain Guns featuring Ahrends cocobolo finger-groove grips.

For those who prefer a double-action auto as a carry gun, there's the Model 4040--a scandium-framed single-stack (7+1) compact number in .40 S&W that provides a terrific weight/power compromise.

A Whole Lotta Lite
Redefining the term "handful." The 26-ounce Model 329 PD scandium/titanium .44 Mag is the embodiment of "special purpose." It is definitely not for the recoil sensitive.
Many veteran handgunners have long been wondering where the trend toward light weight is going to lead. After all, you can only tweak the "weight to power" ratio so far before what you've got is just plain unshootable. Oddly enough, during our range session with S&W's new models, the hardest-to-handle specimen was not the mammoth 721?2-ounce Model 500 X-frame nor its Performance Center variant. It was the Model 329 AirLite PD--a handsome 4-inch .44 Magnum featuring a scandium N-frame, a titanium cylinder and a shockingly low curb weight of just under 27 ounces. All who shot it (with 240-grain Federal magnum ammo) agreed that it virtually redefines the concept of "carry a lot, shoot a little." Someday I'd like to try one with some nice .44 Special SWCs at around 800 fps. But with magnum loads of any stripe, it's every bit as much of a bear as the critters it was obviously designed to deal with. The specimen we fired was fitted with Ahrends cocobolo grips but production guns will also include a set of rubber grips, which isn't a bad idea. Of the writers who shot it, most would have preferred rubber, except for Wiley Clapp, who is a firm believer in smooth, oversize wood grips for hard-kicking guns (he is particularly enamored of the Jordan Trooper pattern). Wiley feels that all rubber does is "give the grips a running start into your hand."I agree with him--up to a point. But I feel that point has been reached--and surpassed--by the Model 329 PD. In keeping with the "short-range emergency" niche the gun is so obviously designed for, the sighting arrangement is rather specialized. It consists of a fiber optic front paired with a V-shaped adjustable "express-type" rear. Granted, it's not the optimum setup for shooting at bullseye targets, but for getting on big things that are closing fast, it's about the fastest option available. At least as far as magnum ammo goes, my feelings about the 329 PD pretty much mirror the way I feel about life jackets. They're comforting to have, but you just hope you never have to use 'em. With this particular model, Smith & Wesson has effectively trumped its own AirLite concept. Tough as it is to handle, those needing a powerful handgun in remote wilderness areas--where weight is at a premium--should definitely check it out. The Model 329 PD retails for $896.

Last but not least is the stainless Value Line auto lineup, which includes four traditional DA autos in compact or full-size configuration: The M908S (9mm compact single-stack), the M910S (a 9mm full-size double stack), the 410S (a full-size .40 S&W double stack) and the M457S (a compact .45 ACP single stack). And, as anyone could have probably guessed, there are more chamberings and variants in store for the X-frame platform.

This 50-foot, five-shot offhand group was fired from the Model 500 using the lightest of the Cor-Bon factory loads--a 275-grain Barnes X at 1,660 fps. Even the "light" .500 S&W load produces more than twice the energy of a standard 240-grain .44 Magnum.

This certainly represents a staggeringly diverse lineup of new handguns, and it would be tough to think of another manufacturer that could have pulled off anything similar in scope.

Whatever controversies have swirled around S&W in the past couple of years, one thing is for certain. The company is definitely "firing on all cylinders" now.