Gotcha...sounds like they've performed pretty well for you at a wide range of velocities.

That is some pretty damn good performance. My loads are just killing water bottles, paper, and steel, though. I've never hunted.

I traded in a Smith & Wesson Performance Center revolver chambered in .500 Smith and Wesson Magnum when I acquired the Henry rifle. It was a great offered trade in value for the revolver,
and likely because there was "money on the table" due to the person selling the Henry rifle to the store got hosed. I checked trade in value on the revolver maybe three months ago, and the trade in value went up $300 since the last trade in value price check. I also removed the Leupold variable EER pistol scope from the .500 before trading it in on the Henry, and remounted the Leupold on top of a Ruger single action in .44 Magnum.

At nearly 70 years old today, the .500 revolver sat in the safe for at least the last five hunting seasons without getting into the woods for some exercise.
Why? It's a beast to shoot. Two full cylinders (10 rounds) and the next day, your wrist and grasping hand is stiff & sore.
Yup, old age rearing it's ugly head, and I'm not getting any younger.

Anyway, when the trade deal was finalized, I walked out of the store with the gently used Henry rifle, and a store gift card for right around $278.00

I returned to the store several days later, and had them order in six 100 count boxes of the Hornady 200 grain XTP projectiles. The store "gift card" and $13 something cash out of pocket.
Damn, the price has gone up on reloading components!
I may never need to source any Hornady 200 grain .44 XTP projectiles for the remainder of my life. Maybe...

I don't miss this revolver now that it's gone. I am "officially" now without any handguns chambered in .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum. Note: I mentioned handguns, and not rifles.

IMG_20190405_101541167 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
It's a beast to shoot. Two full cylinders (10 rounds) and the next day, your wrist and grasping hand is stiff & sore.

A beast to shoot? That looks like it would be a beast to hold steady with outstretched arms. Any pistol large enough to have sling mounts would give me pause.

While it "can" be fired offhand, the real niche for the long barrel .500 is using it supported with shooting sticks when afield, or from sandbags in a hunting blind, or even the padded rail rest/bar on a steel ladder stand. But as an ethical big game hunter, you still had that yearly chore of taking it to the range prior to hunting season, just to be certain it still placed holes in the target where the scope was looking.

The real reason I purchased that revolver many years ago was the now gone, smoothbore shotgun/slugs only big game hunting regulations.
Plain and simple, the .500 long barrel revolver reached out twice the distance of smoothbore shotguns with lead pumpkin ball slugs.
It was a then legal, workaround for stupid obsolete hunting regulations.
Those regulations are gone now, and pretty much now, if it goes bang, it's OK. Including centerfire rifles with bottleneck cartridges.

I still have this one, a T/C Encore pistol frame, with a T/C Custom Shop air-gauged premium barrel. It is chambered in 30-06 Springfield. The barrel porting was an option on the Custom Shop barrel. So whenever you feel the urge to reach out and touch something at distance with a handgun, this one will also do the deed. Five shot group, sandbags, benchrest, under 1" at 100 yards.
The T/C Encore pistol in 30-06 reaches out even further than the long barrel .500, and was purchased for the identical reason.
It is even LESS fun to shoot than the long barrel .500 revolver. It qualifies as a legal handgun for concealed carry in this state, IF you were foolish enough to do so!

Guns 003 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Nope. So far, the largest caliber I've shot in a handgun was the .45-70.

Here is one of my favorite loads for introducing new shooters to bigger bore single action revolver shooting, I used my 5.5" Super Blackhawk...