In 2003, the industry was rocked with the introduction of the most powerful handgun ever- the 500 S&W XVR revolver and cartridge! Two years later, they followed up with the introduction of the fastest production revolver- 2,300 fps with a .45 caliber 200 grain bullet- enter the .460 S&W Magnum.
The initial factory loads for the 460 S&W will get your attention in a hurry! Offering up a 200-grain bullet- a Barnes XPB or a Hornady SST- at around 2,300 fps, hunters of medium sized game have a powerful new tool at their disposal. The new 460 truly has something to offer to serious hunters and shooters. Not leaving well enough alone, I also gave heavier jacketed bullets a workout, and for really large, big game hunting, wrestled with 335, 360 and even 395-gr WFN cast bullets. It also proved easy to develop a moderate, .44 Magnum equivalent loads for practice, and a moderate 265-gr gas-checked load that would also be great for hunting.
Accuracy of the cartridge in the XVR revolver has proven to be very good. At 25 yards, the CorBon factory load, featuring a new 200-gr Barnes X-Bullet, shot into 0.64” using a Leupold 2.5-8 pistol scope. A moderate weight cast bullet load hit 1,700 fps and put five rounds into 0.50”. Not enough power for you? How about placing five shots into 0.67” with a 360-gr cast bullet… at 1,524 fps? While putting three-hundred rounds through the XVR in only one day proved to be quite a mental and physical challenge to this shooter, I came away very impressed with Smith & Wesson’s new offering.
Chapter 1: The 460 Cartridge
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Wanting to offer shooters a flatter shooting alternative than the 500 S&W in their XVR revolver, S&W choose to challenge CorBon and Hornady to come up with accurate, lighter weight 45 caliber bullets for use in this stretched cartridge. The brass measures 1.800” long and has a water capacity of 60-grains- or 25% greater than the .454 Casull cartridge. This allows for pretty spectacular big-bore velocities.
The CorBon load averaged 2,247 fps while the Hornady hits 2,183 fps, both with newly designed 200-grain bullets. CorBon uses a new 200 Barnes XPB spirepoint; Hornady designed a new plastic-tipped SST that looks fast just sitting still!...
Expansion tests suggest that the hunter would be better off limiting the SST bullet to lighter game and not use it up close where the velocity is still very high. The Barnes XPB would be great for medium to larger game, up close or out to moderate ranges.
Chapter 2: The Handgun
Tim Jansen, R&D Engineer at Barnes, was kind enough to invite me to their plant so these tests could be performed in the shooting lab.
This whole test, performed weeks before the cartridge was even introduced, was only possible because Barnes had also been charged by CorBon with developing a tough bullet for the .460, so of course they had a gun for development work. Tim Jansen, R&D Engineer at Barnes, was kind enough to invite me to their plant so these tests could be performed in the shooting lab. Tim set up all the pressure testing equipment and was right there with me through the whole three-hundred rounds.
Chambered in the Smith & Wesson model XVR revolver, the 460 was given a proper home right from the start. Initially offered in the 8-3/8” barreled, under lug version, uniquely it has gain twist rifling to lower pressures. It starts out having a 1-100” twist rate, and by the muzzle, it has quickened to 1-20”- seems very unusual, but it sure works. It comes with great adjustable open sights featuring a green-glow front dot. The top frame is also drilled and tapped to accept scope mounts. Barnes had a set of Burris rings and base on hand, and I brought along a new Leupold 2.5-8 power extended eye-relief pistol scope in a silver finish. Three-hundred rounds in a very short time proved to be no problem for the rings, base, or the scope. If any of these had not been top-quality, the 460 would have shaken them loose in a real hurry.
At the front of the barrel underlug exists a socket head device that secures the muzzle brake of the shooter’s choice.
The black Hogue finger-groove grips give the shooter a very secure hold on the large, heavy pistol. The design was such that I did not suffer any soreness at all in the web of
my right shooting hand. Also note that my middle finger knuckle on my shooting hand was never even once rapped by the back of the trigger guard- a very pleasant surprise I did not expect at all. Due to the very effective changeable muzzle brake, upward rise of the barrel...
was minimal, and rearward recoil was greatly controlled.
The top of the muzzle has vent holes to both sides of the front sight. One brake has six holes in the top to align with these. The other, longer brake has a solid portion beneath the front sight but is extended a bit longer past the front shroud where three larger ports dispense gas to the top and to both sides. This brake is meant for use with cast bullets- not having the top ports keep the front sight cleaner. The brake is inserted and turned ¼ to engage with the muzzle shroud. At the front of the barrel underlug exists a socket head device that secures the muzzle brake of the shooter’s choice. For all testing, I stayed with the latter style brake and found it to be very effective..
The single action trigger pull was very smooth and crisp, as was the double-action. The entire gun has a pleasing smooth brushed stainless finish, allowing powder fouling to be easily cleaned from all surfaces. There were never any chambering or extraction problems of any kind during 300+ rounds of testing. The barrel/cylinder gap on this early pre-production gun measured 0.007” and did allow for more cylinder flash than I would have liked. It is hoped that this dimension will be reduced on regular production guns.
Pounding hundreds of rounds through the gun in one day resulted in absolutely zero malfunctions. It is not something I was especially aware of until afterwards because all day long the XVR just kept working and working. If there were any design problems, this assault surely would have brought them to surface- but such was not the case.
Chapter 3: Shooting Impressions
Pounding hundreds of rounds through the gun in one day resulted in absolutely zero malfunctions.
Considering the magnitude of the cartridge and the recoil it generates, it would have been so easy for me to just show up, shoot some factory rounds, and leave it up to someone else to work up loads for the new gun. But it is not in my nature to leave it up to others- why should hundreds or thousands of owners each have to figure out some good loads? So I showed up to the Barnes ballistics laboratory with 200 rounds already loaded, and then proceeded to make up another hundred more or so… in addition to the factory CorBon and Hornady loads I had been sent. While it would have been a lot more fun to do this...
shooting over several days, readers now get to benefit from the first published, pressure-tested loads for the new 460.
The Barnes laboratory has an Oehler M-43 ballistics system. It uses a strain gauge attached over the chamber area (we used a 12” Encore barrel for this), to allow for system pressure readings once baseline ammunition has been referenced. Simultaneously, velocities are obtained just in front of the muzzle, and at 100 and 300 yards distant. This also allows for measuring of actual ballistic coefficients, and not just numbers calculated on paper. Group size is also obtained by acoustical microphones, listening for the supersonic crack of the bullets, triangulating their location (and hence, group size) in a manner similar to how GPS can determine a location based on taking measurements from three reference points. For my testing at 25 yards, good old-fashioned paper targets were hung from the indoor shooting tunnel ceiling. The occasional breaks to walk down and post a new target were much appreciated.
You cannot drive 200-grain, 45 caliber bullets to almost 2,300 fps from a pistol barrel, without generating significant sound energy.
All groups reported were the result of shooting a cylinder-full of ammo. Several times I asked Tim if I could please stop at just three rounds- but he always said, “it’s a revolver- shoot all five!” Initially, I found that my shooting grip was causing a lot of side-to-side dispersion on the target. When I placed a large sandbag against the outside of my right hand, things really calmed down on the targets. I rested the barrel underlug on the sandbag of a benchrest and rested my hands on a firm pad laid on the bench top.
While the concussion was intense, indoors in a confined area, as with all firearms, I would be more comfortable firing it outdoors. A word of caution about proper eye and hearing protection: You should always wear ear plugs and muffs when shooting large guns indoors, as well as safety glasses. The 200-grain loads were very intense in regards to muzzle flash and blast. If hunting in the field, always wear some type of hearing protections, especially with these loads. You cannot drive 200-grain, 45 caliber bullets to almost 2,300 fps from a pistol barrel without generating significant sound energy. These loads are no exception. Do note that the heavier bullet loads or the lighter charged cast bullet...
rounds, exhibit considerably less blast and flash than either of the two factory 200-grain loads.
Chapter 4: Reloading and Testing Performance
I knew that the current factory cartridges were loaded with new 200-grain bullets to offer the shooter a truly fast big-bore round. As such, I developed rounds using the following projectiles: a 265-gr Wide Flat Nose gas-checked cast bullet (WFNGC); the 300-gr Hornady XTP; a 335-gr Wide Long Nose (WLNGC); a 360-gr WLNGC; and finally, a big 395-gr WLNGC. All cast bullets came from Cast Performance Bullet in
Riverton, Wyoming (www.grizzlycartridge.com). I have long had great success with their offerings, taking their 525-gr .510 bullet with me to Africa in my .50 Alaskan many years ago..
The 240-gr Hornady XTP Magnum bullet was also requested, but it arrived after I had left for Utah. It would be an excellent bullet to load for duplicating easy-shooting .44 Magnum equivalent loads or up to duplicate the .454 Casull. Tim and I also loaded both the 200 and 250-grain X-Bullets. The 200 is a spire point; the 250 is a large, open hollow point style.
The CorBon factory load can be closely duplicated using Hodgdon’s H110 powder. Recoil, just like the two factory loads, is fairly mild, but the muzzle blast is not. I tried Hornady 240-grain .454 Casull factory loads in the revolver just as a shooter might fire .38s in a .357… or .44 Specials in a Magnum. Velocity was 1,761 fps. While I did not have enough ammo to accuracy test it, it is a safe practice, as dimensionally, the Casull is a shorter version of the 460. Pressures were over 20% less than full house 460s. Most shooters would be better served to just download the 460 and not fire Casulls in the gun.
The Barnes 250-grain XPB shot extremely well with H110 powder. At 25 yards, I put 4 shots into 0.43” but pulled one round just a bit- human error! For hunting within 100 yards, this bullet ,at almost 1,750 fps, would be very effective on light or medium game while being softer spoken and more modest of recoil than either factor load.
I found a good shooting, very low recoil practice load to be 14.0 grains of Accurate Nitro 100 under the 265-grain cast bullet, for 1,404 fps and 0.95” groups. Using a moderate charge of Alliant Blue Dot with the same bullet gave excellent accuracy...
(0.50”) and a speed just short of 1,700 fps. This would be a fine load for hunting light to medium game out to 100 yards or more. The over 0.36” diameter, flat point of this bullet would transfer tremendous shock to game and be a deep penetrator.
The light bullet loads increased by around 300 to 460 fps. The heavy bullets showed an increase of 200 to 300 fps.
Hornady’s 300-grain XTP is a great looking bullet which will also perform on game in an authoritative manner. Not that the game will ever know this, but it also looks really great seated in the long 460 brass. Very good accuracy (0.80 ~ 0.89”) was obtained with either Accurate 5744 or 1680. Hodgdon H110 shot almost as well and provided the highest velocity of 1,589 fps, for almost 1,700 ft. lbs.
If a hunter wants to break big bones and put a golf ball-sized cavity completely through large, heavy game, he need look no further than a hard cast, flat point bullet of great weight. Excellent results were obtained with the 335-grain WLN bullet. Five shot groups of 0.87” were achieved using 1680 powder for 1,490 fps. The top load using H110 gave the highest energy recorded with cast bullets- almost 2,053 ft. lbs. from a speed of 1,661 fps.
For a step up in penetration, the 360-grain bullets at 1,524 fps, using H4227, produced 0.67” groups. A somewhat softer shooting load used 5744 powder for 1,417 fps, at grouping into 0.86”. Hodgdon’s H110 proved to provide the highest energy loads for the 360-grain bullets, as well as the 395-grain slugs. Both bullets generated almost 2,000 ft. lbs. with this classic magnum handgun powder. Again, excellent accuracy of 0.71” came from using H4227 powder, giving the 395-grain bullet 1,442 fps.
From 15 yards, I neatly center-punched the steel plate with a CorBon 200-grain Barnes XPB factory load, at 2,247 fps.
Note that the 12” Encore pressure barrel gave a considerable increase in velocity over the shorter vented barrel of the revolver. The light bullet loads increased by around 300 to 460 fps. The heavy bullets showed an increase of 200 to 300...
fps.
I always like to test my loads on something interestin. It make for good photos and is a lot of fun, too. Intrigued by the great velocity of the CorBon load, and the potential penetration offered by the 200-grain Barnes XPB, I gathered up some 20 lb. blocks of pottery clay. They were about 7”square on end and 12” long. I placed a 1/8 inch thick section of cold rolled steel in front of a sideways block of clay and drew a dot on the plate with a black marker. Behind the clay, Tim and I placed a section from a bulletproof vest as a stop and backed this further with another block of clay to keep the vest material against the first block.
Powerful weapons, and accurate ones, have always fascinated me.
From 15 yards, I neatly center-punched the steel plate with a CorBon 200-grain Barnes XPB factory load, at 2,247 fps. At the shot, a considerable sized cavity appeared behind the plate in the clay. Excitedly, we went up to find the following: the .451” X-Bullet punched a 0.54 caliber hole clean through the plate with the steel displaced plug fusing/welding itself to the copper slug! The recovered weight of the mated projectile was 227.4-grains for almost 114% weight retention- that has to be a record of some kind! This projectile then blasted its way through the clay, penetrating out the back, and was caught by the vest material. It was found lying on the table just in front of the vest. The cavity in the clay block could easily accommodate a large grapefruit. So even if critters take to wearing cold rolled steel, the 460 S&W will still give the hunter a fighting chance!
Summary
While the 500 might be too much of a good thing for many shooters, the more familiar 45 caliber of this new Smith & Wesson cartridge has a lot going for it. Time will tell, but I can see more than a few hunters will take to the field with it, and shooters who just enjoy a “man’s gun”, taking it to the range. If you can shoot a full-house .44 Magnum or .454 Casull, then you can also handle the 460 S&W, choosing suitable loads of course. Powerful weapons, and accurate ones, have always fascinated me. The 460 S&W Magnum has my keen interest on both accounts.