Herra Kuulapaa

This site emphasizes importance of firearm safety and proper handling of firearms. Weapons are not toys and they should never be considered neither treated as such. We do not participate in any communication attempts involving suspicious politics, racism or general hate talk. If you agree please continue and enjoy our work!

This is it. The .500S&W Magnum, Fifty cal., 12.7mm - it goes by many names but common to them all is that they represent the ultimate bad assness. It's hard to describe it but .500S&W Magnum makes .44 Magnum look weak and that's a pretty good analogue. Of course .44 Mag isn't weak by any means but when you compare both cartridges in your hand the .500S&W just is the hard core one.

Why did man invent this beast? It's hard to say like it is hard to define whether this is a handgun or a rifle if you know what I mean. One thing is certain though. It was designed to be the most powerful handgun in the world and it's all that matters. Let's look into the numbers and put them in context. In Finland we can hunt moose with 10 g (154 gr) rifle cartridges if they have 2000 Joules of hit energy at 100 meters (110 yards) away. Bullets of this monster weight usually between 20-30 grams (300-500 gr). It means hit energy of 3000 - 3500 Joules at the muzzle. But you can push it over 4000 J if you dare. That is a massive amount of hit energy. It's roughly double the .44 Magnum and ten times the 9mm energy !!! Ok, you need to remember that the .500 S&W Magnum was designed to be primarily a handgun hunting cartridge. But it acts also as a back-up survival handgun cartridge in defense purposes against large carnivores to persuade them not to consider you as a meal again.

How is it to shoot with? If you're experienced shooter it's not too bad. Well, it is bad to be honest and it will hurt your palms but with good grip you're OK as long as you don't plan to shoot full box with it at one stand. It can hurt you if you're not careful though. There is a good selection of videos in Youtube where you can watch people injuring themselves with this gun. They're good examples what not to do so you better learn from them before shooting this beast. Long fingernails are probably not a good idea with this revolver.

Massive amount of flames between cylinder and barrel takes care that I don't need to hide shooters face this time. Luckily we got that picture above with all flame shooting to the left so you can actually see the revolver. It could have been like in picture below. This model has a long compensated barrel and you can see gas shooting up from the vents. Longer barrel also suppresses flame shooting forwards. I know that many of you anticipated huge forward shooting flame but it ain't there. There is still clear amount of unburnt powder though and it surprises me. I thought that we had clean shots with this gun but no. It directs burning powder grains backwards to shooter so you better to keep your eyes shielded. If you're shooting this indoors then you better also take care of you hearing or otherwise you don't need to do that anymore. .500S&W Magnum makes so great pressure blast that you sometimes wish to have double ear protection. Pressure blast in our tests was so great that even though we moved camera back double the distance than in previous shots the camera got blast damage and it cost us $$ to fix it. So be careful with this gun.

This impressive revolver waits your visit at West Shooters. Don't let it wait too long :)

Bonus picture: Is it on fire or is it just me ? :

I have received many emails asking when shall we do "Dirty Harry Magnum". To be honest that would be a bit dull because of long barrel suppressing much of the flame. We give you something better though. A Ruger Super Redhawn Alaskan .44 Magnum with 2 1/2 inch barrel. No, you don't shoot long range with it and it isn't even meant to do so. It's purely intended to save your life in wilderness. Why, you ask? well, there are some hairy animals with sharp teeth, big claws and pointy ears out there and I don't mean rabbits. If you find yourself in situation being charged by big dangerous creature you'd probably wish to have something in your hand than just gloves. But don't do this in Finland because if you do then you end up losing this and every other gun in your collection due to hunting violation, firearm law violation and several other interesting things. And as a bonus you'll pay up to 15.000€ (nearly 20.000$) fine for saving your life. So, you better save your life in Alaska than in Finland. It's cheaper and safer to let bear eat you in here.

Let's talk a bit about .44 Magnum cartridge. Despite of being very close to diameter of .45ACP the .44Mag is totally different beast. Average .45ACP round generates ~650J of hit energy while .44Mag makes easily 1600J and can be pushed much more beyond that. This specific gun however cannot utilize all potential of .44 Magnum cartridge because of very short barrel. It simply cannot burn all powder. As you can see there is huge cone shaped spray of unburnt stuff flying in the air. With longer barrel show would be different.

Ok, you may have noticed the flames. They are something we haven't seen before. Especially when you look picture below and huge left side flame in it. Interesting thing is that major amount of the flame is escaping between cylinder and barrel. That short barrel seems to puff bullet our so fast that powder mass just flies out unignited. Is the bullet wobbling? Hard to say but it looks a bit more tilted than previously shot .50AE. If you look at middle picture you can see burning fragments shooting back towards the shooter. This is visible in all of the revolver shots we have taken so far so be warned. Your eye is pretty sensitive thing to high velocity burning stuff.

Take a trip to West shooters if you live in Finland and wish to try it out

Bonus picture: Flaming like none before!

Magnum Research Inc.designed and Israel Military Industries manufactured it. It is considered the first line "defense" of pistols against high caliber revolvers. Yes, we're talking about Desert Eagle .50AE. With AR rifle type bolt and gas piston operated reload cycle it resembles more of rifle than pistols we're used to. Those design methods make it look big and it does also really feel such. It practically radiates the fact it uses the biggest self loading pistol cartridge there is: .50 Action Express. Small remark should be made though: Even with equally bold diameter with its revolver counterparts .50AE cannot compete in hit energy with longer S&W versions due to lower bullet velocity but we'll come back to that later.

After introduction we can get to interesting part. First of all what pops to eye is the big .50 bullet. It is big, just compare to fingers of shooter if you doubt it. Take a look at those 9mm and .45ACP. Immediately you see big difference in size of the flame. This pistol really lights up. There is impressive amount of hot gas rushing out from barrel and that large visible muzzle flash starts to eat it when it comes to mixed with oxygen of open air. But how much more there could be if all powder was consumed? There is huge spray of unburnt powder and other residue with this pistol. It forms clear expanding cone you difficulties to see. I thought that 9mm and .45ACP below made much powder adn residue spray but I was wrong. They're nothing compared to Desert Eagle .50AE. It is rather short round but pressure maximum is approximately equal to both 9mm and .44Mag while .45 is only half their pressure. It can be that spray is also related used specific Topshot [corrected 9.9.2013] cartridge but that needs to be tested. Gas piston operation makes one characteristic effect. You can see gas bursting out from bolt.

So, what can we wrap up. It is big gun, which shoots big bullet accompanied with big flame. It's not very useful as sports gun due high cost of shots and notorious recoil, which differs from so called single wave revolver recoil due to slide movement. Check this video what I mean. Overall very impressive pistol and biggest self loading one you can get!

If you happen to live in Finland, take a trip to West shooters and try it out.

Time to present you more results and this time we got nothing less than legendary Colt 1911 .45ACP. I’m sure this piece of history needs no introduction but for those who are not familiar with it I can say that it is one if not the most iconic self loading pistol all time. Especially for US guys but elsewhere too. It has long history and yes, 1911 stands for the year. Like previous tests have shown used cartridge makes large effect on muzzle flash and particle cloud.

For 1911 we used Magtech 12,6g (200gr) lead semi wad cutter (LSWC) and like previously there are unburnt particles visible. Theory however says that lead bullet seals barrel better than FMJ and that may reduce spray. Cloud of smoke is very predominant and somewhat thicker than with 9mm. I’d expect this difference to be clear on forensics point of view. There also seems to be a bit more glowing particles than with 9mm. Pistol itself is not much visible behind cloud and you just need to trust on us that it is there. Muzzle flash seems to be, at least with this Magtech, quite mild. I’d estimate that CCI Blazer Brass with 9mm makes bigger visible flash than this .45ACP. Both some and flash characteristics may have something to do pressure difference between 9mm and .45ACP, where latter run roughly half of the pressure of 9mm. Just look the barrel thickness of 1911 and you know what I mean.

Safety first: Remember to wear your safety gear always when shooting. Some pictures show clear burning particles flying backwards to shooter!

Here is second AR-15 rifle muzzle brake picture series. And this time I can really call it series. But why to do second one you may ask? Well, because this ain't .223Rem anymore but Colt 7.62x39. So we're talking about heavier bullet and slower muzzle velocity. Bullet is 128 gr copper jacket full lead core. Actually bullet diameter is .310 rather than .308 so rifles bite it better. Barrel is 1:12 twist and soft copper jacketed .310 bullet functions really nicely with rather gentle rise. Bullets are remaining stock of late Finnish bullet maker Archipelago.

Let's start with gas cloud. Powder used with 7.62x39 was Vihtavuori N130 while .223Rem test had higher energy density Vihtavuori N540. Usually 7.62x39 is reloaded with Vihtavuori N120 type powder but I some reason like N130 better. It has one drawback though and that is visible as particle discharge following bullet. That indicates that whole load is not properly combusted and powder is lost, which can lead to pressure/speed variance. Maybe I need to adjust my load or change to faster burn rate powder.

Muzzle velocity was not measured but according reloading data it was approx 700 m/s or 2300 fps. Comparing these two cases is of course difficult and rather subjective than objective but I'd estimate that 7.62x39 brake is directing more gas forwards. This is however expected due to bigger bullet diameter and different brake structure. I'd guess that higher pressure of .223Rem makes it better suitable for compensator use than 7.62x39. I must make remark though that Colt 7.62x39 high very good to shoot with and practically there is very small difference of feeling to .223Rem.

Enough with small calibers already. Let's switch to bigger, faster and stronger. So here is high speed photography image series of .308. Rifle was Sako Forester with track record 50+ moose. Impressive gun I must say. Ammunition used was Sellier&Bellot 9,55 g (147 grs) FMJ with muzzle velocity 850 m/s (2800 fps). With quick glance pictures look almost same with smaller rifle pictures but then picture scale comes to mind. We're in very different league now.

Series has been taken on different shots and bullet position has been adjusted few centimeters in each shot. Speed of the bullet is approx one centimeter per 10 microseconds. It's one fast son of a gun. When you look pictures you can immediately see amount of gas and pressure released after bullet has left barrel. Bullet is in middle of gas cloud for first 40 cm (1 1/2 feet). Pressure is also so great that I managed to damage my camera and it went to repairs. Word of warning, it may not be wise to photograph high power guns so close.

Below you can see one picture of bullet just leaving the barrel. There is so violent burst of high pressure gas pouring behind that bullet is almost lost in cloud.

During my experiments I have noticed many interesting things on bullets and their behavior but perhaps most fascinating is that human eye is able to see flying bullet in mid air. By this I don’t mean anything like calling shots in long range by pressure distortion trail caused by bullets but actually seeing them stopped while their flight. This of course requires some technical assistance in form of very short burst of light.

What I found out during air gun tests to my surprise was that I could see frame in my eyes before looking at camera screen. Eye is so sensitive and yet so slow that frame stayed in retinal rods long enough for brains to comprehend it. Surely 190 m/s or 620 fps bullet is so slow that it doesn’t mean much right? I though so. But same thing repeated also with .22LR and 9mm. Fastest .22LR shots were over 400 m/s or 1300 fps. Impressive isn’t it? Not yet, because I’m telling you that you can see .308 and .223Rem bullets as well in right conditions. This is impressive! So, who would guessed your eye is so good. Even very high velocity like 970 m/s or 3200 fps isn’t too fast for your eyes and lump of fatty tissue behind them.

I'm happy to present you a .22lr suppressor/silencer comparison to plain barrel. In this test I used cheap suppressor, which uses simple chambers without any clear gas reflecting baffles. For .22lr I've found this adequate structure. With high pressure rifle calibers proper suppressors like BR-reflex are really effective. This is part one and more comparisons will follow. At least it is my intention to do .223Rem suppressor test as well. I've noticed some color fluctuation of pictures, which hopefully aren't warning of coming component failure. At least everything works fine, so far.

Let's get into subject. Instead of trying to explain things verbally it's easier to present findings as images and leave final interpretation and enjoying of images to you. Above is picture series without silencer and below is silenced one. Both series show pre wave gas flowing out in front of the bullet but difference comes after the bullet. Middle picture above shows high pressure gas bubble forming after bullet has left barrel and no longer acts as plug holding back high pressure gas. This creates typical gun shot bang (in addition to supersonic bullet sound).

With suppressor that same high pressure bubble has already formed but inside of the tube, which distributes gas between suppressor chambers and allows gas to expand in controlled manner. When gas finally flows out of the suppressor its speed has decreased. There is no bubble formation with suppressor and typical gun shot bang. Well, to be honest once again I must say that even .22lr makes such loud noise indoors and in defined space that you really want to cover your ears. In open space noise is dispersed and what matters is nature of the bullet (sub- or supersonic).

You may have noticed that bullet seems to be tilted in certain pictures. Barrel angle may be slightly off horizontal axis in some cases but bullets really are tilted. Well, they're not actually tilted in any fixed direction as they rotate and wobbling of the bullet is dynamic during flight. In other words bullets can either stabilize or tumble during their flight. Pistol caliber bullets often tend to wobble when they leave barrel and theory says they stabilize during flight. These images show you how much bullets actually can wobble.