Watch: How Far Will a 500 S&W Fly if Nobody Holds it?

Ever wonder how far recoil would throw a Smith & Wesson 500 revolver? Me neither… but someone did, and that started this ball a-rolling. Demolition Ranch decided to pull the trigger with a string and record the aftermath for our viewing pleasure.

The first chunk of video is mainly filled with people shooting the 500 and whining about how much it hurts, followed by a bunch of outtakes from other stupid things DR has done on video. So unless you have a ton of extra time, skip ahead to about 4:22. Then, mute it until 5:03 unless you enjoy crappy pop music.

The ammo? A whopping 700-grain wadcutter! Holy cow. That means the bullet (projectile) weighs 1.6 ounces. For comparison, a 12-gauge shotgun slug commonly weighs in at one ounce… so, yeah. Big.

When the bang occurs, the gun flies. And it goes a pretty good ways, too.

Naturally, he does it again.

There’s a bunch of nonsense at the end, which is kinda the reason I stopped paying attention to DR’s videos. But the in-between is okay.

Here ya go:

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.