.500 S&W Magnum

.500 S&W Magnum
Comparison of the popular .44 Magnum (left) to the .500 S&W cartridge (right)
Type	Centerfire (.50 caliber)
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Cor-Bon / Smith & Wesson
Designed	2003
Manufacturer	Smith & Wesson
Produced	2003 - present
Specifications
Bullet diameter	.500 in (12.7 mm)
Neck diameter	.526 in (13.4 mm)
Base diameter	.526 in (13.4 mm)
Rim diameter	.556 in (14.1 mm)
Rim thickness	.056 in (1.4 mm)
Case length	1.625 in (41.3 mm)
Overall length	2.300 in (58.4 mm)
Rifling twist	1:18.75 in (476.25 mm)
Primer type	Large pistol originally, now Large rifle
Maximum pressure	60,000 psi (410 MPa)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 300 gr (19 g) FTX Hornady 2,075 ft/s (632 m/s) 2,868 ft·lbf (3,888 J) 350 gr (23 g) XTP HP Underwood 1,912 ft/s (583 m/s) 2,842 ft·lbf (3,853 J) 400 gr (26 g) PTHP Winchester 1,800 ft/s (550 m/s) 2,877 ft·lbf (3,901 J) 440 gr (29 g) LFN-GC Buffalo Bore Heavy 1,625 ft/s (495 m/s) 2,579 ft·lbf (3,497 J) 500 gr (32 g) FP XTP Hornady 1,425 ft/s (434 m/s) 2,254 ft·lbf (3,056 J)
Test barrel length: 8.375 in Source(s): Hornady (300 gr), Winchester (400 gr), Double Tap, and Ballistic Supply,

The .500 S&W Magnum (12.7×41mmSR) is a fifty-caliber semi-rimmed handgun cartridge developed by Cor-Bon in partnership with the Smith & Wesson "X-Gun" engineering team for use in the Smith & Wesson Model 500 X-frame revolver and introduced in February 2003 at the SHOT show. Its primary design purpose was as a hunting handgun cartridge capable of taking all North American game species.

Smith & Wesson had been at the forefront when developing powerful handgun cartridges such as the .357 S&W Magnum and the .44 Remington Magnum. However, since 1960 the company’s .44 Remington Magnum, which it had developed in partnership with Remington, was eclipsed by the .454 Casull. Since then, several other more powerful cartridges had been developed by Action Arms,Linebaugh, Ruger, Wildey, and Winchester for repeating handguns.

In 1971 Smith & Wesson had experienced a dramatic surge in orders for their Model 29 revolver in the .44 Magnum cartridge with which S&W production was not able to keep up. Available Model 29 revolvers were being sold for two to three times the suggested retail price, due to the low supply and high demand for the revolver. This surge in demand was due to the Dirty Harry movie, where the Model 29 revolver was billed as the most powerful revolver (The .454 Casull designed in 1955 was not in commercial production until 1997). With the entry of the .500 S&W Magnum and the Model 500 revolver, Smith & Wesson recaptured the title of the most powerful handgun, and with it an increase in sales.

The .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum was designed from the outset to be the most powerful production handgun cartridge. S&W product manager Herb Belin proposed the idea of developing the revolver and cartridge to the S&W sales team. With the backing of the sales team, the project was approved by S&W President Bob Scott. The ammunition would be developed by Cor-Bon and Peter Pi in partnership with the S&W X-Gun engineering team of Brett Curry Lead Design Engineer, Rich Mikuta, and Tom Oakley. Eleven months later on January 9, 2003, the team unveiled the S&W Model 500 revolver and the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge. According to Belin, the cartridge was designed from its inception to be substantially more powerful than any other production handgun cartridge before it. Cor-Bon would later go on to develop the .500 S&W Special cartridge.