I ordered one today, 8 3/8" model. I have a leupold 2x8x32 to mount on it. Just wondering if anyone had any feedback on one?

I have the 10 1/2 Barrel
funnest handgun I own

I stopped liking shooting handguns until I purchased this one. It brought the fun back

Hitting a 12" sq. plate at a hundred yards with s double free hand hold is where it is at .No Scope

I can not do that with any of my other handguns.
Not a good enough shooter like other on the fire.

You'll be happier moving 300+ grain bullets at decent velocities than trying to warp-speed 250gr bullets for a "flatter trajectory." With heavier bullets the 460 has an almost pleasant muzzle blast, although recoil goes up. They're good guns and almost always quite accurate. If you're a handloader, you'll be able to take advantage of the gun's versatility. A good place to start would be 360gr Oregon Trail Tru-Shot cast bullets over AA1680 powder. I've used those bullets in my 45 Colt and they've been quite accurate; AA1680 powder is an excellent powder for longer pistol cases like the 460 S&W. I've used it in my .357 Maximum to good effect.

Don't have one, but shot a buds a couple cylinders full, plugs and muffs please, LOUD!

I have to add
My girl friend can not even hold it up so she bags it and shoots 45 long colt out of it and people at the range that do not know better thinks she it a beast of a shooter to be able to handle the hand canon.

I just laugh inside as I watch them watch her shoot it then I pick it up with full loads and bang away.

I love mine. It too is an 8 3/8" barrel. I mainly bought it for a recreational shooter. I have not hunted with it. I use my 45 Colts for that.

Thanks for the replies. I will hand load for it eventually. The Federal Fusion ammo is about the cheapest factory ammo I can find right now it is a 260gr bullet

That's just good advice with most hunting handguns.

Herb Belin was the Product Manager (Revolvers) at S&W and the man who designed the 460XVR. Him and I hit it off at a social event at the 2003 (or was it 2004?) SHOT show, and he decided to take me out to shoot several S&W revolvers**, but mostly to shoot and discuss the 460XVR. I was going to do a piece on the 460 for American Handgunner, but the editor really preferred to have John Taffin do all the big revolver reviews…and that really is his Bailiwick, so it didn’t bother me at all.

Anyhow, I put probably 100 rounds of .460 through Herb’s .460 in one sitting, and a few .45 Colts and .454’s just for good measure. The high velocity 200gr loads showed impressive accuracy, flat trajectory, and very manageable recoil. But the blast from the compensator was wicked, so I didn’t care much for the light bullets. Herb provided gloves for me, and that was a good idea. Even with the gloves, the palm of my right hand was rather red after the shooting session. I did shoot a few rounds without the gloves, and I could see that you wouldn't want to do that for too many rounds; that rubber on the Hogues really grabs. For me at least, hearing protection had to be doubled up, especially with the light bullet / high velocity loads. My favorite load was the 300 gr...and while it did produce noticeably more recoil, I didn't find it objectionable at all, and it was wicked accurate, and didn't seem nearly as loud as the 200gr Hornady.

Herb said the 460XVR was the most difficult project he had ever worked on, and it’s one that he was VERY proud of, because he solved every problem that was presented. Much has been written about the gain twist barrel and why the 460 has it. I’ve heard various stories, but the TRUTH is this:

Herb said that immediately they experienced problems with barrels un-screwing. After the barrel had un-screwed a few times, Herb took it to the machine shop, drilled and pinned the barrel. It lasted a little longer, then sheared the pin and un-screwed the barrel. They tried reverse threading it, that cracked the frame after a few shots. So Herb came up with the idea of the gain twist barrel, and Herb said that one solution actually solved several problems. Accuracy was better, recoil was noticeably lighter, and of course, barrels don’t come un-screwed anymore.

The barrel is a two piece, similar to a Dan Wesson, just minus the removable feature. The inner barrel is stainless and the rifling is cut via EDM, which Herb says is “THE only way to do rifling in these modern days”.

Herb Belin has since retired, and I’m not sure if that was his idea or S&W’s management. Herb was the last of the true “gun guys” working at S&W. I actually had lunch with the CEO of S&W, we were talking about me coming to work at S&W, and while he didn’t come out and say it point blank, he made it clear they don’t much like “gun people” at S&W. He gave some good reasons for that, and I could certainly agree with some of them because they made a lot of sense. But the problem as I see it, they really don’t have any real “gun people” working for them anymore, and there is some real baggage that goes along with that. So I decided S&W was most certainly not the place for me, so they decided to hire a pharmaceutical salesman out of Los Angeles…Good luck with that.

Anyhow, I digressed a bit. The 460 is a serious piece of engineering for serious handgun hunters. It’s not my personal cup of tea, but I can most certainly appreciate what it is, and the love that Herb poured into that revolver…it’s freaking awesome!

*Other revolvers we shot that day were: S&W 431PD(I bought it on the spot), 340PD, 617, 357 (scandium .41 mag…should have bought that one), and a few others that I don’t remember. I told Herb I had a 617 and that it was my favorite handgun, but his 617 was more accurate than mine. He insisted that I send him my 617 because 1.5” at 25 yards with only two loads was unacceptable in his book. Still, mine shot sub-2” with all but a couple of loads, and I bought it as a plinking revolver, not as a target revolver, so I told him I was very happy with my 617 and I was going to keep it as is. Besides mine, Herb’s 617 is the only other 10 shot K-22 I’ve ever shot, so I’ve always kinda wondered what “average” accuracy is…being that mine is “inaccurate” at 1.5” at 25 yards. Now I know the old 6 shot K-22’s would nearly cut my groups in half…but again, mine wasn’t intended to be a match winner (although I did end up winning 3-4 matches with it), but a fun DA plinker.

Lots of neat information. Thanks for sharing.

I love my 460 XVR Bigly!

I agree with you guys that the heavier bullets are more fun. The lightweights are just too blasty. I have been loading various weights of the Cast Performance brand and they are accurate and well made, but spendy.

It ALWAYS gets attention at the range.

I have the 8 3/8", with Burris FastFire3 ( struggling with irons - old age). Running 300 grain cast at around 1100 fps for plinking, and 400 grain wide metplat for "work"! Put together a pretty good shot shell load which uses a full 1/2 oz. of #8, that keeps a decent pattern out to around 25 feet. memtb

Mine is a 6" Performance Center gun. The long 460 case opens up some interesting possibilities for different loads; like memtb I came up with a great shotshell load that patterns well even at 10-15 yards. (I'm using cut down 444 Marlin brass for that and a RCBS 45 Auto shotshell die set.)
Another interesting load I came up with is with 80gr stackable wadcutters; up to 7 of them will fit in the 460 case but it works better with 6 at ~1,000 fps. Multi-ball loads are interesting too.
For ~300gr loads I've been happy with the Lee 300gr WFN bullet (mine drop at 315gr), heat treated and powder coated.

Sounds like you're having fun at the loading bench

Yondering, PM sent! memtb

Got your pm, figured I'd reply here since others might be interested too.

I may have mixed up my facts about the 444 brass - I think I was using cut down 444 for regular loads but don't remember if I had to cut the 444 brass down much or at all for shotshells; my RCBS shotshell die does neck the front of the case down but the neck is sized for the 45 Auto so it isn't very long.
No gas check though; the 45 Auto shotshell dies crimp the case over a thin card wad, which gives better patterns than a gas check over the shot. It works the brass a lot though so I've found it helpful to over-anneal them as you see in the pic. I also use a .410 shot cup like you; I found that to give the best patterns.



This is at 10 yards:

Yondering, I need to get some 410 overshot wads.... that's better patterning than I'm getting. I wanted a good grouse or snake gun. My shells would work, only yours better! I actually wanted to go with the wads, but didn't want a thousand of them. So, went with what I had! Thanks Again, memtb

Someone should point out to you that asking for feedback is more useful BEFORE you buy.

Tom

I actually make mine from card stock, usually from primer boxes. I just sharpened a 45 case with a deburring tool and use that with a plastic mallet to punch out my overshot wads. I tried several sizes of "real" overshot wads but results weren't as good, I think since those wads were thicker than the card stock I'm using. You do need a heavy rounded crimp like my pic shows though to keep them in place; just a simple roll crimp isn't enough. That's where the special shotshell dies come in, but I don't know if those are even still available; my set is at least 20 years old.

Thanks Yondering, Sometimes I "overlook" the easiest most obvious answer. memtb

Yessir,
I got that one a lil backward.

BKS, Inspite of "the cart before the horse", you still got lots of feedback! memtb

And I appreciate every one of them.
Picking it up today hopefully

Then go out and have some fun with it.

Well I was able to pick it up today. Couldn't stand it and had to squeeze a few off in the backyard (I live in the county, haha) Lots of fire and blast but really mild recoil. It vaporized a brick laying in the yard.

Excellent! You will love it.

"really mild recoil"

LOL are you sure you were shooting full power 460 loads? These aren't terrible to shoot, but I've never heard anyone (who's really shot them) describe it as mild. Although the 200gr Hornady ammo is definitely a lot more blast than recoil, but the heavier bullet loads change that balance a lot more towards the recoil side.

Yondering, When I first got mine... my wife ran a cylinder full of factory loads (Hornady 200 gr. I think) off of shooting sticks. Her comment, "Not bad...I thought it would be a lot worse"! Of course she's hunted with a .338 WM since the mid-'90's. I'll have her shoot some "hot-load" 400's, and report back! memtb

Yup big difference between those 200's and 300-400gr loads. The Hornady 200's are a lot like using 125gr loads in 308.

I was shooting the Federal Fusion which I was told is a medium load for it. It didn't seem that bad, as far as what I was expecting.

Well I shot it with the Hornady SST ammo yesterday. Best group of the day was right at an inch at 50 yards kneeling behind a picnic table with a caldwell rest. I also shot my 8 3/8" 357, 8 3/8" 44 Mag, and a Ruger Super Redhawk in 480. Of all of them the 480 had the most felt recoil, with 325gr Hornady factory ammo. The 460 was the muzzle blast king for sure.

I got a NOE 240 bullet mold and the 460 is grouping in the 2.5" range @ 100 yards. Very accurate and not expensive shooting. Good luck with yours.

Well the 460 made meat on an early season doe hunt in Arkansas. 100 yards with Hornady SST ammo, which did the job but I can see where there is room for better bullets. Hit her about an inch behind right shoulder and bullet exited just in front of her left hip. She went about 20 yards. [/img]