Big bore handguns

[gotrocks]

May I please ask a "small bore" opinion on this thread.
Which hits harder LR hollow 22 hollow point or 38 short or 38 special?

Maybe I don't mean "hits harder" but has more immediate stopping power.

I seem to remember being told many years ago that a .45 would knock an average man down.

Just some accurate info is what I would like, Thanks to all.

 

[Dargo]

I have 2 of the .454 Casull pistols and 2 of the .50 Magnum pistols. Although the ballistics don't show it, the .50 Mag pistols seem to have less felt recoil to me. I'm looking at a box of Corbon .50 Mag 440 gr cartridges and it says it pushes the slug at 1625 fps and has is rated at 2580 ft. lbs. (not exactly a mild round). The box of .454 Casull 335 gr cartridges says that it pushes the .454 slug at 1550 fps and is rated at 1708 ft. lbs. (again, not exactly a mild round) I don't know why the .50 seems milder to shoot, but it does despite the superior ballistics. Well, here, does this pistol look like it would be potent?

 

[bigshovel]

I have shot the .50 in all configurations and have not been impressed nor dissapointed. I have a true fondness for the S&W 460 due to one can shoot
.460, .454 and .45LC as well as it's accuracy. Not to start a war but I don't care for Smith's custom shop nor their customer service, IMO all went downhill when they bought T/C. The .454 I will probably buy in a different platform 4" to 5" bbl. As for now I'm thinking .44 Alaskan due to reloading and I conservatively have 1000 empty's on hand and 7 pounds of Winchester 296. I grab for my Ruger 96 lever gun in .44 for just about everthing as it is around the house and camp so I think the Alaskan in .44 will be a nice gun to carry through the brush for bear hunting here in PA and ME.

Brad

 

[RobertN]

I have had and shot a number of Desert Eagle 44's. My favorite was my own, that had been tuned and ported. Tack driver! Have also shot the DE 50's. Very nice, exceptional down range accuracy.

Like a 240gr JHP over some H110.

 

[Soundguy]

I have 2 of the .454 Casull pistols and 2 of the .50 Magnum pistols. Although the ballistics don't show it, the .50 Mag pistols seem to have less felt recoil to me. I'm looking at a box of Corbon .50 Mag 440 gr cartridges and it says it pushes the slug at 1625 fps and has is rated at 2580 ft. lbs. (not exactly a mild round). The box of .454 Casull 335 gr cartridges says that it pushes the .454 slug at 1550 fps and is rated at 1708 ft. lbs. (again, not exactly a mild round) I don't know why the .50 seems milder to shoot, but it does despite the superior ballistics. Well, here, does this pistol look like it would be potent?

Does the .500 weight more? if so.. that may be covering up the recoil.. IE.. inertial absorption.. etc..

soundguy

 

[Dargo]

Does the .500 weight more? if so.. that may be covering up the recoil.. IE.. inertial absorption.. etc..

soundguy

I don't know the actual weights to be honest. None are anything I'd care to carry. I'd have to guess the things weigh about 5 pounds each until you've carried them for a few hours. They then seem to weigh about 25 pounds each.

Now all of my .454 and .50 Mag pistols are ported. The porting on the .50's are of a different design. Perhaps the porting design on them works better. Either way, neither round is uncomfortable to shoot. I've run 60 to 80 rounds through either caliber at times at the range and didn't feel beaten up. I shot a stupid pistol a buddy handed me that was a single shot 7mm Mag pistol. Now that thing was not even remotely fun to shoot. I'm a pretty good sized guy and recoil generally doesn't bother me a bit but that thing knocked the living crap outta me! I have no desire to ever shoot that thing again and felt like clocking him on the head with it for handing it to me to shoot in the first place.

 

[tomd999]

Hiya,

44 mag, 454 Casull, 480 Ruger, 500 Smith all wussy cartridges. Now this is a true big bore pistol.

Airborne Combat Engineer: The Thunder .50 BMG handgun

I have a 7BR and a 308 XP-100 Remington, both of those are a handfull, I can only imagine what kind of pain a 50 BMG inflicts on the shooter.

Tom

 

[the_sandman_454]

I had been kicking around the idea of picking up a hand cannon chambered in .454 casull, but I decided on a single shot T/C Encore pistol instead with a .223Rem and .308 Win barrel.

Some day I may end up picking up a hand cannon of the big bore revolver type. We'll just have to wait and see as it's really low on the list of priorities at this time.

WRT the .22 vs .38 thing, shot placement is going to make the biggest difference. Most pistol rounds (except these big bore cannons) are under powered vs many centerfire rifles. The only thing that is going to stop someone who is determined is to shoot them in the central nervous system or hope you hit and stop the heart thereby eventually causing the brain to stop. Not even rifles or shotguns can "knock people down". You'd have to get into 20mm+ cannons to get the kinetic energy to actually knock someone down or back. It's all about physics.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Not even rifles or shotguns can "knock people down". You'd have to get into 20mm+ cannons to get the kinetic energy to actually knock someone down or back. It's all about physics.

You're right! Too much "Hollywood" makes people think that a .45, .44, .357 magnum or some of the others will knock someone down. A recent episode of "Mythbusters" disproved it, or in their words...BUSTED. The closest thing they could get to knocking down their target was a 12 gauge slug and still, it didn't knock "buster" down.

If any of you guys have some time to kill and want to visit a really cool website which documents ballistics, penetration, etc. check this site out, surf around...you won't be disappointed:
The Box O' Truth - Ammo Penetration Testing

Good day to all,
Podunk

 

[MossRoad]

You're right! Too much "Hollywood" makes people think that a .45, .44, .357 magnum or some of the others will knock someone down. A recent episode of "Mythbusters" disproved it, or in their words...BUSTED. The closest thing they could get to knocking down their target was a 12 gauge slug and still, it didn't knock "buster" down.

If any of you guys have some time to kill and want to visit a really cool website which documents ballistics, penetration, etc. check this site out, surf around...you won't be disappointed:
The Box O' Truth - Ammo Penetration Testing

Good day to all,
Podunk

I think the way they explained it was that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That means that if it had enough force to knock over a man getting shot, it would also have had enough force to knock over the shooter when he shot it.

You ever see them test stuff on pig carcasses? Very interesting that the pig barely moves but the damage to it is huge.