Why all the fuss about big bore handguns

[BigGunsMoreFun]

I keep getting an email with a video attached about some gunsmith that built a handgun that shoots the .600 Nitro Express Elephant rounds. They show some guy shooting it and it flies up and slaps him between they eyes and then continues to fly over his head and lands somewhere behind him.

First, let me say that I know there is not useful purpose for a handgun of this caliber. Having said that, I see that many people make fun of and generally cut down people that own and shoot any very large caliber handgun. I wonder why all the bias and bad mouthing against these guns and people that own and shoot them?

I personally love to shoot guns like this just for the fun of it. Yes, they are sometimes quite painful to shoot but I get a thrill out of shooting and owning these kind of guns.

I own several of the biggest bore factory made handguns around and I love taking them to the range and shooting them at 50 yards. I won't shoot one farther than that without a good handgun scope on it that has been properly zeroed in at 100 yards.

I see no reason for all the bias and negative comments I see and hear when someone sees a person shooting a gun like this.

I don't hunt. I just target and competition shoot. I love my big handguns.

Right now my favorite handguns that I own are the following

Magnum Research Desert Eagle .50AE
Magnum Research BFR .50 Beowulf
Magnum Research BFR .45-70
Magnum Research BFR .30-30
Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum
Smith & Wesson .460 XVR
Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum

I generally take two of these to the range with me along with a rifle, shotgun and my concealed carry gun. I shoot about 20 rounds out of each big bore handgun. I always have spectators. These guns are great conversation pieces. Most folks have good comments but wonder about the condition of my hands after shooting these guns. I usually get one old wise ass that has some negative or derogatory comments about me compensating for something by buying big guns. I just laugh at him and tell him I rarely need compensation in that area and most of my women have been completely satisfied. The ones that aren't I'd say need to visit the produce stand and look in the large zuchinni section.

Once I finish with the big bores, I relax and put a few hundred rounds through whatever else I brought. Believe me a .45 ACP feels like a .22 once you have shot the big guns for an hour or so.

Anyway, back to my original question. What's the big deal about these guns and why do you think so many people have a low opinion of the guns and the people that shoot them. I generally see these low opinions and derogatory comments on different blogs, gunboards and sometimes some of the popular gun magazines as well.

I think a person ought to be able to shoot what they darn well please as long as they are safe about it and can handle the gun okay. I think that they are just fun to shoot and that derogatory comments and saying a person is compensating is just plain old foolishness. Maybe the people that make such comments are compensating themselves.

Before I go, I don't know if anyone has seen the video I am talking about as far as the .600 Nitro Express pistol is concerned but I think anyone with any decent shooting experience can do a much better job that this guy did. This guy is just some poor Bubba that got setup.

What do you people think? Big guns, more fun? Or are folks with big guns just idiots that are compensating for a lack of something else?

By they way if you have a handgun in .600 Nitro Express for sale, I am interested. Let me know.

Joe

 

[DougDubya]

I say - big guns are fun!

As for compensation for inadequacies, then that doesn't explain my love for J-frame Smiths, Kahr 9mm's, and Walther PPK's.

 

[hnk45acp]

I think there's definitely a niche market for those types of weapons but most people who shoot quite frequently would balk at shooting large caliber guns. The physical toll would add up pretty quick not to mention the cost of the ammo.
Is it worth it to you to spend upwards of $1000 for a gun that you probably won't shoot all that often?
Will the cost become prohibitive?
Maybe serious handgun hunters would say yes but I doubt people of limited means and self-defense/competition shooters would say no.

 

[Gator]

Magnum Research Desert Eagle .50AE
Magnum Research BFR .50 Beowulf
Magnum Research BFR .45-70
Magnum Research BFR .30-30
Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum
Smith & Wesson .460 XVR
Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum

I feel so inadequate.............

 

[Nomad101bc]

For casual shooting id consider some of them very useless and too expensive. If you can afford the ammo and like larger calibers more power to you. However for pistol hunting or protection against grizzlies you might be able to convince me I need one.

 

[bhtkevin]

Honestly, I generally leave the range when someone pulls out a huge pistol. Its not fun for me to take the punishment of the sound and the concussion. Its even worse when you are bringing new shooters to the range and you have a hand cannon blowing pieces of the ceiling off and making them jump every time it goes off. I am not saying there is anything wrong with it, but it generally ends my time at the range if they are staying for a while.

 

[Cosmoline]

I don't mind them in theory, but in practice I find anything much more potent than a .44 loaded hot will bang up my hands too much. I like to shoot en masse and I just don't enjoy 200 rounds of Casull.

 

[Troutman]

When it comes to indoor ranges, there is no difference if you shoot a big bore handgun or a rifle. If that indoor range is designed for rifles as well, that is.
I have been at ranges, where the .44 Mag. was the largest allowed. Great for my .44, but I also have a 460/500 as well, besides a “Bogart Special”.
I ask for a rifle lane when I shoot my 500/460.
I have seen people (shooting rim-fire) complain about magnum shooters at the range too.
Public Ranges! What is one to do?
Don’t go to public ranges? Join a Private Club? Go to an outdoor range?
If one has private property and your local ordnance allows it. Shoot out the back door. That’s what’s good about Gods’ Country.
Just kick open the door (I have to make my back-door open outward, instead of inward) and take aim.

 

[biscuitninja]

Psshh... only manly handguns come in .50 BMG

Just kidding... I say to each their own. I can't say crap having worked on big guns for a few years (4", 5", 6", 16" and 20"). I LOVE the big boom though.
-bix

 

[RyanM]

Yeah, I had a real desire for a hand cannon, awhile back. I was really torn between getting a Colt Walker (the original hand cannon), some kinda big-bore revolver, T/C Contender in some ridiculous caliber like .45-70, or a Serbu Super Shorty. The Serbu won out. Hard to beat a .729 caliber bore. Still waiting on paperwork, though.

 

[Okiecruffler]

My favorite contender for a long time was my .444 Marlin. Recoil wasn't really that bad, a step up from a 44mag for sure, but nothing brutal. However the cost of feeding it was nasty, even with reloads. So I got rid of it. Funny thing is, I really miss the old flame thrower.

 

[arctictom]

Just what you like, I supose, I have a 460 smith , 44mag and a couple 357s. For me its what ever tool fits the job.
And I think some day I am going to need a BFR in 45-70.

 

[Cosmoline]

I actually found the BFR in .45-70 to be pretty mild. No worse than a blackhawk firing hot .44 mags. The recoil is rolling and the handgun is so huge it absorbs much of it. Plus the PSI on standard .45-70 isn't too high and I suspect that plays a roll in how "sharp" the recoil is. I wouldn't want to shoot bufbore out of one, though.

 

[98C5]

I like my 500. I would like to hunt bear next year with it. No practical purpose, but I just wanted it.

My question is to the OP: What is with your handle name?

 

[gbran]

I'm a handgun hunting nut and have taken all manner of game with my 454SRH, but I can assure you, I don't use it much for target practice. It just isn't fun. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Shadow1198]

Why does anyone put a 600+ cubic inch big block in their Camaro. Why does anyone put an industrial-size 3 billion horsepower turbo on their Supra, why do people upgrade and race lawn mowers.......Because it's fun, and we're in America so we can do it if we feel like it I say! If things in this country were always about being realistic and reasonable, we would all drive the same colored Smart car and eat tofu or soylent green. I like being "unreasonable", it's more FUN!

 

[DougDubya]

I'm a handgun hunting nut and have taken all manner of game with my 454SRH, but I can assure you, I don't use it much for target practice. It just isn't fun. Your mileage may vary.

Try it with .45 Colt. Then it's fun!

+1 to Shadow - seek the joys of life inherent in making big boomie noises with objects. Personally, I'd love to try out a .444 Marlin Contender.

(Wonder if they'd ever try a .444 Marline BFR?)

 

[davepool]

Most of the guys i've met at the range that make derisive comments about my big bore hand guns can barely handle their .44mag, so maybe it's envy that i can handle a gun that they can't and it's their feelings of inadequacy that makes them rationalize the usefulness of large caliber handguns. This is America and you are welcome to your opinions and so am I. I see no difference between the people who say my .500 S&W has no practical purpose and the people who say all guns have no practical purpose. I have put a lot of meat in the freezer with the big smith

 

[aka108]

I remember seeing a vid on some smith in Hawaii firing a handgun he cobbled up for 50 BMG. Had his hand and arm wrapped up in towels. Fired it once and said never again. Maybe not insane but close to it.

 

[robert garner]

then that doesn't explain my love for J-frame

then that doesn't explain my love for J-frame Smiths, Kahr 9mm's, and Walther PPK's.
Its all relative, I'm sure that j frame is HUGE to some?
OR
Why do you carry a 60 nitro express? 'Couse they don't make a 65!
key 'twilight zone" theme
robert

 

[Rampant_Colt]

a .600 Nitro. ? Pfffft kid stuff... There's a .700 Nitro out now

 

[alaskagunner]

Every man, women, and child over 5 years old needs a big bore up here!! Taking out the trash this morning I had to end the life of a small 10 foot brownie right here in Anchorage. Last year alone I dispatched 12-15 while doing various outdoor activities.

If you don't carry at least a 44 mag you're not a real man, real woman, or real child.

Truthfully when I'm about to torch off a round from my 500 I'll say something to the shooters right next to me first. Kind of a polite warning. Last week I said something to the guy next to me and he smiled a almost toothless grin and yelled " I don't give a " While reajusting his earplugs after the shot he simplily said, "Wow!"

I tend to practice with fairly lightly loaded 425 grain bullets. I can even shoot it one handed fairly easily. The gun is fun to shoot. I'm glad I reload for it, otherwise the ammo cost would be prohibitive.

 

[Ceemack]

This is actually a question?

I'll tell you what you do: go to the indoor range and try to get some serious practice in when a bunch of gang-banger wannabes who rented a .500 S&W have been assigned the lane right next to you.

And yes, this has happened to me.

These guns were built for applications that really need that kind of power--like big-game hunting and silhouette shooting. Anybody who buys one of these guns and is involved in neither of those pursuits gets lumped into the same category as guys who buy BMWs and then drive 65 in the fast lane.

Now, I would never be openly derisive of somebody who owns one of these guns and clearly is neither a hunter nor a silhouette competitor; that would be rude. I'll just laugh on the inside. But I don't plan on changing my opinion, and I doubt your detractors will either.

 

[BigGunsMoreFun]

About my user name

I guess I've told this a thousand times but people always have to ask. The name Assrot came from when I was a boy. I am from Georgia and I had that good old southern drawl when I spoke back in those days.

When I said "That's right" my buddies said it sounded like I was saying Assrot so the nicknamed me Assrot. I had to live with that for a long time. It made me tough and I learned how to fight with the best of them because of that name.

Today, it does not bother me and I figure it's as good a name as any for using on the Internet.

As for the big handguns shooting, I am a gentleman everywhere I go unless you treat me otherwise. I almost always shoot my big handguns outdoors at a private range. I am a member of several. If I shoot them at an indoor range I always ask for permission first and I always pay the extra and shoot them on the rifle range rather than the peashooter pistol range.

I have even put the big guns away if asked in a civil tone when someone brings their kids, wives, girlfriends or other beginning shooters to the private range.

As far as the gang bangers and other idiots, the private ranges I shoot at don't allow such riff-raff. When the knuckle draggers show up at a public or indoor range, I usually leave too.

I want the general public to have a good impression of "People of the Gun" and know that we are safe, law abiding citizens that shoot for sport. I don't want to be associated with any of the gang bangers or outlaw bikers and other such asses.

 

[32winspl]

I don't make fun of the folks that can shoot the big guns (well). I took a dare and shot one hot-loaded 45-70 round in a TC Contender (I think). To me, it was stupidly brutal. So call me a wuss; you won't be the first. I regularly shoot 450 Marlin in a 7 1/2 lb rifle and can't for the life of me understand why someone would want to subject their hand/wrist to that in a handgun.
454Cassul, 500Smith... glad they make 'em, glad folks buy them. They're just too much for me. I KNOW that even having not shot them. I have no business at the helm of a 500+ horse Vette either. 'Course, with the Vette, I don't have to mash it to the firewall.