Big bore revolver need

[Dump1567]

I'm a big fan of the Ruger Alaskan in .454. You can go .45 Colt light/cowboy, .45 Colt heavy, of even .454 Casull.

[Joelski]

Think about it some more before you potentially waste money better spent on something else. A buddy has a .500 mag and I fired it exactly twice and handed it back and told him "No thanks". Coincidentally, Nicholas Irving appears on a Demolition Ranch vid and does the same thing and offers Matt the same opinion. If I were camping bear country and about to become converted into bear shit, I would enthusiastically and thankfully empty it into said bear's melon, otherwise, I see no use for it other than to have the biggest pistol round. With, or without a comp, it's gonna feel like someone smacked you in the palm with a 9 lb mallet.

[Uni-Vibe]

At the same gun show where I saw a 8 3/8 inch 500, I saw a snubbie Alaskan like the one above in .454.

Recoil city!

[jsbhike]

Not a recoil fan, but fired a couple of rounds of .500 on a cloudy day and whether a person minds recoil or not I wouldn't think many people's eyes would recover from the flash fast enough in low light for a follow up shot.

Another vote that the weight is close to a rifle.

[Coal Dragger]

Currently my only revolver is a .454 Casull made by Freedom Arms. For big bores the single action style grip frame is more comfortable than a DA gun is going to be, and part of the reason I wanted the FA to begin with. Mine is a premier grade with a 6” barrel, so it fits in any holster made for a Ruger Super Blackhawk that I’ve found, and is sized right to actually carry around.

Handloading makes all the difference in the world for enjoying big bore handguns. Shooting a steady diet of full house .454 Casull is not fun, nor particularly productive from a proficiency standpoint. Should you shoot full power ammo for practice? Yes, so you maintain skill at dealing with the recoil. Should you practice the majority of the time with full power ammo? Absolutely not, you’re going to wreck your elbows, wrists, and fingers doing that on a regular basis.

Fortunately I reload, so tailoring ammo to my own gun and purpose is easy, big bore revolvers are also really easy to load for once you figure out how to apply a sufficient crimp on full power ammo. My FA is not particularly sensitive to loads or bullet weights, and shoots everything pretty well to spectacularly well. 300gr-330gr hard cast lead bullets at around 900-1000fps are fun to shoot, accurate, and don’t cost a fortune to load. Stepping down to a 250gr lead bullet at similar velocities is even cheaper and finding bulk cast bullets is a cinch. I will note that bullets above 360gr are not as consistent in my revolver, I suspect the barrel twist rate is not quite fast enough for the 395gr pills I last tried. If you want 400gr bullets I suggest a .475 or one of the .500’s.

One advantage the single action also has over the DA in a big bore .45 caliber is the ability to easily convert to .45 ACP with an auxiliary cylinder. I sent my FA back to the factory and had a .45 ACP cylinder made, and acquired some appropriate height front sights at the same time. I have heard that Ruger makes the Redhawk capable of taking moon clips now for .45 ACP, but reviews I have seen the .45 ACP was not accurate at all from the .45 Colt cylinder. My FA cylinder in .45 ACP is a line bored, hand fitted, work of art that locks up like a bank vault just like the primary cylinder. With an RMR mounted on top I’ve had .45 ACP reloads easily cut one ragged hole groups at 50 yards from the bench. Recoil feels like shooting a .38 with wadcutters. Plus if you have ammo that doesn’t like to work right in your .45 auto, the .45 ACP auxiliary cylinder is one hell of a garbage disposal.

[gaijin]

^^

“Handloading makes all the difference in the world for enjoying big bore handguns.”

Truth.

[ubet]

Joleski, the loads you shot out of the 500, were they full house hand loads? It also appears that 500 doesn't have a break.

The 6" look like they would be easier to control, because they have the brake and more weight under the barrel all the way out to the muzzle. Any truth to that?

I've handled the 460s in ruger and sw, not shot them, the sw fit my hand better just handling them in the store.

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[ubet]

I'm a big fan of the Ruger Alaskan in .454. You can go .45 Colt light/cowboy, .45 Colt heavy, of even .454 Casull.

That's a pretty nice looking setup. Is it punishing to shoot with that short barrel?

Everything I shoot I load for. So that'll help mitigate cost and I can lighten just using loads up

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[HKGuns]

I too reload for everything I shoot and agree that hand loading for big bores is a must.

[Wildcat]

Joleski, the loads you shot out of the 500, were they full house hand loads? It also appears that 500 doesn't have a break.

Smith has different brake designs.

One is a simple muzzle cap with slot(s) in the top (believe that is shown in Joelskis photo above).



Another is a more elaborately machined insert that fits into a recess in the end of the barrel.


They also have a more traditionally constructed brake: