Smith and Wesson now has Model 500 firing a .50 Magnum round that has regained the "most powerful handgun in the world" title...
At the 2003 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, the manufacturer regained its crown... And, most significantly, it did it by introducing a new massive double-action revolver that is chambered for an equally new .50-cal. cartridge.... With its 8-3/8-in. barrel, the overall length of the Model 500 is 15 in. and the empty weight is 4.5 pounds.... The cylinder alone is almost 2 in. in diameter and approaches 2.25 in. in length.... Thumb the cylinder open and five charge holes await... Each is 1/2 in. in diameter, and the .50-cal. cartridges they hold are almost 2 in. long... Load five of them and the total weight of the handgun climbs to 5 pounds...
The 500 S&W Magnum will produce almost 2600 ft.-lb. with its heaviest load, and more powerful loads may well be on the way...
New VPC Study, Vest Buster: The .500 Smith Wesson Magnum—The Gun Industry's Latest Challenge to Law Enforcement Body Armor, Documents That the "Most Powerful Handgun In the World" Has Armor-Penetrating Power That Can Pierce the Highest Level of Bullet-Resistant Patrol Vests...
Police body armor is designed to protect against handgun threats. The new Smith Wesson .500 Magnum revolver, however, develops a striking force exceeding the power of many rifles. Only special external body armor, designed for use by SWAT teams and other high-risk units, can withstand rifle fire. The .500 Magnum thus brings a new level of handgun threat to the nation's streets.
"This vest-busting 50-caliber handgun draws a bead on every law enforcement officer in America," said Tom Diaz, VPC senior policy analyst and study author. "It is unfortunately only the latest example of dangerously reckless marketing by America's virtually unregulated gun industry." Diaz further noted that the .500 Magnum handgun, first introduced in February 2003, is already appearing at gun shows, notorious as sources of criminal gun trafficking. In addition, he pointed out, at least one shoulder holster is being sold for the Magnum revolver, thus making it easy for criminals to carry the gun concealed.
For the report, the VPC analyzed information published by Smith Wesson, ballistics test data from the National Rifle Association's American Rifleman magazine, and federal body armor standards established by the U.S. Department of Justice. Vest Buster demonstrates that the power of the new .500 Smith Wesson Magnum round substantially exceeds the protection of the highest level of concealable body armor normally worn by law enforcement officers in the field, known as Type IIIA.
The .500 Magnum follows a Smith Wesson tradition of designing extremely powerful handguns. Vest Buster points out that 27 out of 144 (nearly one out of every five) law enforcement officers slain with a handgun from 1998 through 2000 were killed with one of three types of handgun and cartridge combinations originally designed and introduced by Smith Wesson: the .357 Magnum, the .44 Magnum, and the .40 S&W.