Smith & Wesson 500 vs Pork Shoulder
[su_heading size=”30″]This simple test displays the devastating power of the S&W 500.[/su_heading]
The Smith & Wesson 500 is well known as one of the most powerful handguns on teh planet! These 500-grain bullets can bring down pretty much any animal on earth.
Youtube user GY6vids put together this short video in which he puts one of these gigantic pistols up against a couple of pork shoulders. The results are about what you may expect!
This is a simple test, but an effective one. The huge holes and ridiculous penetration of this round should stop just about anything on earth. Talk about some devastating power! It’s little wonder this handgun has such a reputation and is so popular with the world’s most serious handgun hunters. If you’re going after the biggest of big game with a handgun, you’d want it to be the S&W 500.
It’s easy to see why this handgun is so popular in Alaska as a backup where bear roams throughout the state. If you’re going to need to put down a charging, angry bear in a hurry, you definitely want one of these on your hip! (or maybe two)
[su_heading size=”30″]Video Transcription[/su_heading]
So moving into the video, we are shooting the Smith & Wesson 500 using the 500-grain projectile from Hornady. This is an open lead-tipped round, so it will expand slightly, almost like a mushrooming look when it impacts, not to mention a fireball coming out of this short little barrel of this tank of a pistol. It’s a lot to hang onto, it kicks like a mule. So, let’s have some fun. This video was requested by a friend of mine and a great company, you guys may know ’em on Facebook and Instagram as Grip Key, they are a great company, great people over there making these custom kydex key holders, I have a ton of keys and I’m always in need of something that’s gonna hold all my keys in one spot without jangling around in my pocket, y’know, pretty much a pocket knife: In your pocket, but it has all your keys in it. Holds fobs as well as housekeys and other keys, they have, y’know, extensions in there to hold more keys if you need to, so big shout out to Grip-key.com or instagram.com/gripkey, great people, and their official custom Kydex keyholder. And if it wasn’t for your request, I probably wouldn’t be doing this video, because I was like ‘this is basic, this is easy, why the heck not?’
Let’s get ready for a fireball.
Alright! So, I’m excited. Ballistic gels, glasses on, ears on, it’s time to blast this thing. I can’t state it enough: 500-grain projectile is huge. My guess: Straight through the gel. But I want to see what the temporary wound cavity looks like, to compare it to what it looks like when it hits meat. Here we go!
[BANG]
[laughter]
It’s a flat-nose, open-tipped projectile, but I’m not sure what it looks like, because it’s way, way out there. When we do a more heads-up test between projectiles, in seeing overall penetration mixed with expansion, we’ll have two of these gel blocks in order to capture everything no matter what. But today we just want to see temporary wound cavity with the expansion, and what it does through just bare gel, compared to shooting through two pork shoulders.
Alright. Stabilize that. There’s no gaps or anything in-between, it’s just all one solid chunk of fat, meat, and bone, all the way into the gel. I’m excited.
[BANG]
Well, I think I need to adjust my sights! I have a shot that’s almost identical to the first shot, so at least I know I’m not flinching. It is hitting exactly in the same spot. Well at least we know it went through the meat. It’s stopping back at about seventeen inches or so, in the very backside of the gel block, and it’s perfectly expanded, doesn’t look to be deformed at all. So let’s put this meat in front again.
So I’m aiming here, and I’m hitting here, my sights are slightly off, I gotta adjust ’em a little bit. Now I’m gonna aim up here, that way, kentucky windage, it’ll hit right here. Let’s take a peek.
[Bang]
That’s better!
Wow.
These rounds are just ripping right through the gel block. I hit it dead center. First shot was down here, next shot was, well, higher up if it wasn’t for that sagging skin. It feels to be right through the bone, no problem there, but it’s doing what it’s supposed to, which is holding its mass, and pushing all the way through, and getting good penetration and causing mayhem very far into a target, so if you’re shooting a grizzly bear, or in its head,
or anything else like that, you can actually… ugh. You can imagine it’s gonna do the job and take care of business. We didn’t even capture that round, the first round went down, looks like it bounced off the table a little bit, then stopped just before the end of the block. This round went in, went out, and see ya. So.
Let’s put this meat back up, we’re gonna line it up just like we did, now we’re gonna use a slightly smaller round, a little bit lighter grain weight, but it is a hollowpoint so it should get that ‘shock and awe’ factor we love seeing when we shoot ballistics gel with meat in front of it.
[laugh]
Let’s take a peek.
Now we’re gonna do the HSM hollowpoint round. This is a jacketed hollowpoint, it is 350 grains, it is meant to expand, this should give us more ‘shock and awe’ and… y’know, *OOMPH* when it impacts the meat.
[laugh]
[BANG]
Dangit.
Expanded out and stopped just past half a block, leaving a big freaking hole. If this doesn’t tell ‘ya -the hole it’s producing on the way out-, I don’t know what does.
Alright, so I wanted to show you up close the damage being caused, because in high-speed, it doesn’t look all that impressive, you know. It’s being hit, obviously it doesn’t look horrible either, but these rounds– I mean, it’s the size of a lipstick tube! [laughs] You’re looking at two massive projectiles!
You know what, let’s get out one of my favorite little knives– this is from Tactical Pterodactyl- this knife is too cool, I take it with me in a lot of trips I do, I especially like using it for ballistics gel.
Look at the size of this thing! That is huge! It’s like a Ringpop!
[laughter]
And, uh, yeah. There is your hollowpoint. These are both Smith and Wesson 500 rounds, they’re both gigantic, one’s 350, one’s 500, giant open wound, just wanna show you, get some of that… ugh there you go. This is bone. It’s all pulverized. [laughter] You’ve got the same issue with this. Straight through bone, it’s broken, so you have two broken bones all the way through. The sun is setting, that’s always fun.
So if you guys want more Smith & Wesson 500 videos, maybe a comparison to another Smith and Wesson 500 round, to say, Smith and Wesson 460, or the 454 Casull, or 58E Desert Eagle, let me know. We’ll be able to provide that.
That’ll qualify through a thick pork shoulder –two of ’em– and penetrate still. Smith & Wesson 500 gets the job done. This is Andrew with GY6 vids, I hope you appreciate this video, hope it was a little eye-opener for you, let you know that Smith and Wesson 500, whether it be a short barrel or a long barrel is gonna get the job done.
Also, huge shout-out to Miller Tactical, they’re the ones who made the drop-leg holster for me as you can see in the video, this drop-leg holster is awesome.
Also, big shout-out to Derek over at Battleground Firearms in Houston Texas, great local gunshop, if you’re in Houston or anywhere around the area, go say hi to those guys. Description has the links, go say hi to those people.
If you notice some of the newer shirts, they are at GY6vids.com/GY6gear
Look at all that bone! Oooh my goood. Oh! Let’s get this socket joint out of there. There is the top socket of the shoulder joint. Ew. Internals of a Smith & Wesson 500 round.
I gotta put this blade away, this is too much fun, getting my Ginsu on. [laughter] See you guys next time!
Source: GY6vids Youtube
About Author
