H&R single shot rifle in 500 smith and wesson?

[seansean1444]

found this h&r handi rifle that is chambered in 30/30 Win,45/70 Gov't, and 500 S&W. i was considering getting this gun in the 45/70 but is the 500 smith and wesson a larger round? i thought it was a handgun round. if it is larger than the 45-70 then i think i will lean more in that direction. any information is apperciated

[Bamashooter]

the 500 is a pistol round. what are you gonna be using it for? close in hunting say 150yrds. and in the 500 will be fine. i have actually thought about sending my reciever in and getting a 500 but ive heard that they are hard on the gun.

[hooligan1]

That would be a good hog round wouldn't it though!!??

[longspurr]

The 500 S&W in the Handi rifle seems to push the gun to a limit. This is from Greybeards outdooors

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.p...topic=221244.0


Bad Day At The Range With 500 HandiI had my first
« on: November 30, 2010, 09:34:32 AM »

I had my first opportunity this past weekend to check the zero for my rifles for deer hunting season. I've been on an out-of-town project and was only back in town for a few days over the Thanksgiving Holidays. I'll have a longer break over the Christmas Holidays and that is when I should get a couple of days to hunt. Anyway, I was attempting to sight in my 500 S&W Handi. However, after every shot, the barrel popped open. Now I'm well aware of degreasing the latch and latch shelf. I also degreased the pin to which the latch is secured during lockup. I did this after each shot but the problem persisted. After last season, I had used Eezox to protect the metal. I used denatured alcohol to attempt to remove the Eezox. Maybe I need something better. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I was using factory ammo (ie, Federal Vital-Shok with 275 gr Barnes XPB).

[B.L.E.]

The pistols chambered for .500 S&W weigh nearly five pounds and have muzzle brakes for a real good reason. This round pretty much duplicates the ballistics, both bullet weight and velocity, of a 12 gauge slug.
Shoot a box of magnum 12 gauge slugs through a lightweight break open single shot shotgun at the range and see if you still want the .500 S&W rifle.

[JohnMoses]

Yeah the 500 is a pistol round - a 60000psi SAAMI rated pistol round. It easily outperforms the hottest 45-70 loads, and with my 440 grain hardcast load, out classes a 150 grain 30-06 in energy, momentum, and drop to 1000 yards. My load is not as hot as the Buffalo Bore load, but still makes 1800fps out of the handi. Mine pops open too, so I'll try degreasing it. I haven't shot it much because it came in with a broken rear sight (cheezy plastic) and the recoil keeps moving the slider and breaking off more pieces of the cheap sight. I've ordered a all steel sight from Williams, we'll see how it does. Recoil is a bit stiff out of the little rifle, but trivial in comparison with my 4" S&W. I like both guns a lot better with intermediate handloads, and they are downright pleasant with Trailboss loads.
What do I intent to shoot with it? Why, anything I care to. While I have no intensions of shooting long range with this round, I left the trace up for the trailboss load on Ballistic Explorer. I was amazed how much energy it retained.

[seansean1444]

this gun with be used for white tail deer at a maximun of 200 yards

[B.L.E.]

.30-30's killed whitetails just fine back in the days before deer became bulletproof. Really, a .30-30 is enough for whitetail and is much flatter shooting than either the .45-70 or the .500 S&W.
It's also way more fun and economical to shoot than either the .45-70 or the .500 S&W.

[OutlawTech3]

I am interested in getting one myself what could i look at spending $150-200? Cant be too much?

[seansean1444]

it is actually 300 but i bet you could find a used one for 100 bucks

[jhenry]

I have fired one and while the recoil was not what I would call abusive, it was very stout and not comfortable at all. It actually knocked my hat off the front of my head. Interesting, but I think the platform it a bit too light.

[45long]

I know this thread is a couple of years old but I believe there isn't much info out there on this round and rifle so i though I'd put my experience out there regarding this rifle and round.

the cons: First off , this is a brutal round out of a handgun and even more so out of a light handi-rifle. Second factory ammo is expensive ,like 50+ dollars for a box of 20 from a well-known company. So you need to reload to afford to shoot this round unless you are independently wealthy.

the pros: it is a viable 'kill-anything in North America' gun and if you tune the round properly it can be real fun to shoot The gun it's self is very inexpensive. And if you load it to under 1200 PSI in the rifle it have a lot of FP of energy and will not blood-shoot the meat like hypersonic rounds will.

I actually bought one of these for my petite wife. She is going to deer hunt this year for the first time. I was in a motorcycle accident last June that crippled me for life and I can't afford to chase down deer. So ,knowing what i know about large calibers and large meplat bullets I knew I would have no worries that this would drop a deer easily from 0-75 yrds with a red dot scope. I really had to cut the stock way down for her. My chrono read 1183 fps shooting a Lee 440 grain bullet over 11.3 grains of Unique with recoil that was equivilent to a 20 ga shotgun and muzzle energy of 1376 which BTW doesn't change much @ 75 yards with that heavy bullet.

Hope this post will help a few people looking for info on the S&W out of a rifle.
BTW here a good link for reloading this round for the H&R:

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpa...p?CaliberID=61

[McShooty]

jhenry, are you still there? I laughed out loud when I just read your post. In fact, I am still chuckling. Put me in mind of giving a youngster a Savage Model 94 Youth Model 20 ga. and a box of 1 oz.. loads. Good way to beat up a little kid. Not to be recommended.

[45long]

Funny , I had my 9 year old Grandson shooting it last Saturday. he loved it. In fact he emptied my box of 25 reloads I had. and he's not a big kid by any means..

[jhenry]

I'm still here, my friend still has the gun, and he can keep it too