(A feature designed to provide the “Novice” and “Old Hand” with helpful shooting and reloading information).

The Smith & Wesson 460XVR Revolver

Submitted by Bill (Edit)

Having always enjoyed shooting magnum revolvers, I think I was hooked when I shot a friend’s .44 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk back in 1956.  I’ve been shooting them ever since, so I was excited to be given an opportunity to acquire Smith & Wesson (S&W) ’s latest entry into the “Big Revolver” arena.  How this came about is an interesting story in and of its self, but I’ll save that for another time.  Lets just say S&W has an outstanding service/warranty policy.

         This past August I was given my chance to get my hands on one of these big guns, but the State of California was going to delay that event until they approved the revolver for sales in the state.  That happened on October 21 and my revolver was shipped within the week from S&W to a local gun dealer for me.

         The revolver is built on S&W ‘s new X-frame that was introduced a few years ago with their then new S&W 500 Magnum cartridge.  It is designated the Model 460 XVR (X-treme Velocity Revolver) chambered for their new 460 S&W Magnum round.  The revolver measures 15 inches in length with an 8 3/8 inch barrel.  The barrel has a “gain-twist” rifling, for improved accuracy at long ranges.  It weighs in at 72.5 ounces, just over 4 1/2 pounds.  It is a five-shot revolver with lots of meat around each of its chambers.  Trigger pull is heavy in double-action mode, but very respectable in single-action.  It includes two interchangeable compensators, one for jacketed bullet and the other for lead bullets.  The jacketed compensator is ported.  It also has two front sights, a “HI-VIZ” and gold bead style.  Both compensators and sights can easily be changed with the provided wrench.  The revolver is topped off with a very comfortable set of soft rubber grips.  All in all it makes a very pleasing package, but it is BIG.

         The cartridge is also big, measuring 2.25 inches overall.  The case is on the same family of rounds as the old .45 Colt and .454 Casull cartridges, both of which can be fired in this revolver.  The .460 case is just 0.8 longer that the Casull.  The factory load by CorBon is a 200-grain bullet pushed at 2,330 fps, making it the World’s Fastest Revolver cartridge and the World’s Most Powerful .45 Caliber Revolver, with 2,400 ft/lb of energy.  These claims are S&W ’s, not mine.  You may ask what the pressure is to get these velocities?  It is listed at 60,000 PSI, with the revolver rated to 65,000 PSI.  That is greater than most high-powered rifle cartridges.  The manufacture says that with this round sighted at 150 yards, the bullet will be within an 8-inch circle from the muzzle to 250 yards.  That is of course, if the shooter does his part.

         As soon as I learned that the revolver was being shipped I started looking for ammunition to shoot in it.  For those interested, CorBon ’s load retails for $52 per 20 rounds.  I was unable to find any .460 brass, but did order 100 rounds of .454 Casull brass along with a Lyman 325 grain gas check bullet mould to cast up some test ammunition.  Looking in my latest Lyman Reloading Manual, I saw this bullet was listed at 1,400 fps with 20 grains of 2400 and a small rifle primer in the Casull case.  So before the revolver arrived I had already cranked out 100 bullets and loaded them into the Casull cases for testing.

 

 

 

         Within an hour of picking up the revolver at my local gun dealer’s store I was at the range.  For the initial testing I didn’t get out the chronograph, but shot several rounds for  groups off hand.  I was able to keep the bullets in about a 3-inch circle at 25 yards, but the surprising thing to me  was the lack of felt recoil.  I would have guessed that my .44 Magnum kicked more than this revolver, but of course the .44 is 21 ounces lighter than the .460.  Later, after shooting the Casull loads over the chronograph I discovered why it didn’t give that heavy felt recoil, the round was only turning out 1,175 fps for an average of 10 rounds.  So much for those listed velocities in your loading manuals!

         I also shot several rounds of .45 Colt in the revolver and found it grouped well.  I’m wondering if Grant will allow this as a “Service Revolver” in his match next year.

         My long awaited UPS package arrived Friday afternoon and that night I was busy stuffing the Starline .460 S&W Magnum cases.  These cases measure about 1.8 inches long, that’s almost .2 of an inch longer than S&W ’s big 500 Magnum.

         I loaded up four loads for testing.  First, the Barnes 200-grain solid copper bullets with CCI Large Rifle Primers and 53 grains of H-110 was loaded.  This load is reported to give about 2269 fps.  With 5 rounds across my chronograph screens I got an average of 2271 fps and a group of 1.5 inches at 50 yards.  Looking at my Oehler Ballistic Explorer software, I found that this load, sighted at 150 yes, would only be 2.5 inches high at mid-range (79 yes) and 6 inches low at 200 yes.  That is pretty flat shooting for a pistol!

         My other loads, with Lil’Gun were not a spectacular, but still respectable.  The Hornady 300-grain XP bullet, on top of 45 grains of powder and with Federal Large Pistol Primers gave me about 1850 fps for 5 shots, but the group was over 5 inches and the cases were sticking, making ejection difficult.  I’ll need to work on that load.

         Next I tried some 200-grain Hornady full-jacketed semi-wad cutters.  These are for the .45 ACP, but have about the same bearing surface as the Barnes, so I thought they might make good practice bullets.  Again, using 45 grains of Lil’Gun and Federal primers I got groups around 5 inches at velocities of 1950 fps.  I’m going to go back an try the H-110 load with this bullet and see what kind of accuracy it will give.  Both of the 200-grain Loads didn’t show any signs of high pressure, with the cases falling out of the cylinder without the need of the ejection rod.

         My last load was my Lyman cast bullet, the 330-grain flat nose, gas check, sized at .451.  Again, using the Lil’Gun powder at 45 grains, I was getting 1870 fps for 10 rounds, but the leading was also stacking up in the barrel.  These bullets were lubed with Red Rooster’s High Velocity Rifle lube, a lube that I’ve used successfully with my .30-06 at 2250 fps and no leading in my old Springfield 03.  I need to go back to the drawing board with this load, as the groups were over 6 inches at 50 yards.

         All in all, I was very pleased with my new revolver and look forward to lots more shooting over the next few months in preparation for a pig hunt this next spring.  Wish me luck!

 

 

Foothills Friends of the NRA Annual Dinner

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Gold Country Fairgrounds Auburn

                 The Foothills Friends of the NRA Annual Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, March 4, 2006 at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn.  Please mark your calendars!!

                 The Foothills Friends of the NRA is a charitable fundraising group for the greater Auburn area.  This committee of volunteers raises funds to support various Northern California and local Auburn area projects associated with shooting sports, gun safety, youth training programs, wildlife conservation, public shooting range facilities, and other public service activities.  The LRC has received several large grants from the proceeds of these dinners over the past years.  Last years’ dinner raised almost $50,000!!

                 For more information on the dinner or to help with the Committee please call Jim (Edit) at (916) (Edit)