I have a .500 and used to have a .460. Fun hand rifle. Hard on the wallet if you don't reload. Otherwise, they are fun, accurate, and very effective on everything I shot with it.
Downside is that they are heavy, bulky, and to really get all you can from one, you have to scope it which adds to the heavy and bulky. Open sights or a red dot are good to about 125 yards for me. You might have better eyes, though.
I was thinking about adding a scope later on. I had a scoped anaconda for a long time and it’s a pain, but for me and my eyes it really helped. I do handload, going to try to squeeze some accurate long colt out of it for practicall reasons. Already have the dies so might as well try. Do you think the performance model is worth the extra $
I have a S&W 460 with 5" barrel and really enjoy shooting it. I've shot everything from 200gr soft-point hunting loads to 395gr hard cast loads through it and have found the recoil to be surprisingly manageable even with hot/heavy loads. Recoil from the 460 feels different but no more difficult to manage than my smaller/lighter magnum revolvers (S&W 69 in 44 Mag, Taurus 415 in 41 Mag). The smaller/lighter revolvers feel "snappier" and slam my palm more violently. The 460 is a slower but sustained shove absorbed with the entire hand and arm. The ability to shoot 45 Long Colt and 454 Casull through a 460 is also nice feature.
I had a xvr when they first came out, it shot great ,killed a bunch of deer and hogs with it.
Ended up selling it and got one of these in 460 e,it's a fun gun to shoot and has some punch as with the longer barrel it picks up about 300fps more than the pistol.
I have the smith .460 with the 8” barrel. It’s a great gun, have killed many deer with it. It’s a lot of fun to shoot. The only downside that I can see that no one has mentioned is the concussion......it’s beyond loud. I double up on ear protection. It’s actually worse for anyone standing near you when shooting. I mean, you literally can feel the concussion in your gut lol. I topped mine with a Burris 2x7 and have had zero issues. I’ve had a few Leupold pistol scopes over the years and have come to prefer Burris pistol glass.
Have a 454 (MR BFR 6.5) and it’s just too much for me. Really fun with 45 colt +p though. Glock 20 in a gunfighter chest rig for me; I know my limits and accuracy is #1. For those Neanderthals that can shoot those big bore cartridges... you are tougher than me!
Wish you hadn’t showed me those, now I’m really not sure what barrel length. Thought i had it figured out. Is that a 12 or 14? Does the sling work pretty good for packing? I’ve looked at some holsters but haven’t seen one that accommodates a scope
The 12 inch ones I see don’t have a muzzle brake. Are you seriously shooting this thing without one? I’ve shot the freedom arms casual with hot loads and it’s too much for more than a half a dozen rounds for me
I know guys who still hunt elk in dark timber and are very successful (not my preferred technique), and they use heavy caliber lever guns with ghost ring or open sights. I’ve asked them about using a pistol, but no one had much to say except they like their rifles.
Seems like a pistol in the dark timber would be effective and easier to carry. Maybe the downside is the additional noise of the muzzle blast bouncing of the tress, but seems like you could mitigate this with hearing protection. I don’t know.... just curious why you don’t hear about more guys hunting like this.