Entry #2 for 08/04/2007 - You know it, you love it: The Smith & Wesson Model 460v
"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"
Harry Callahan was already mistaken when he said that famous line in 1971. The most powerful handgun in the world at the time was the .454 Casull*, which had been around since 1957. However, the .44 magnum was definitely better known and more popular.
Americans don't screw around when it comes to what they like. The semi free market that we have will do its best to fulfill the needs of just about every weird kink we have. When it comes to guns, Americans are no different. We like the biggest and best we can afford. We like showing off what we create for ourselves. Companies fill that gap.
The Smith 460, and its bigger brother, the 500, are the results of an overwhelming desire for people to be able to fight off a bear, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, alien invasion, dinosaur attack, or army of fifty foot women.
The X frame, that S&W bases these guns on, is huge. Depending on the barrel these revolvers can be between four and six
pounds. (An M15 rife weighs around the same amount, to give you an idea.)
The X frames were sort of an apology to the American people for pussying out to Bill Clinton and putting locks on their guns after legal threats in the early nineties. They're big, (again) loud, and powerful. You can't comfortably carry one as a side arm, (Although it
can be done.) and concealing one would be rather silly.
The 460 can shoot 200 grain (Pretty big) rounds at up to 2300 feet per second and has chamber pressures of around 63000 PSI. This isn't really a handgun, it's a rifle that happens to not look like one.
I call mine Mjolnir, named after the hammer of Thor.
*You could basically call it a .45 Magnum. They took a .45 Colt revolver round and magnumized it. The .460 Magnum is the same round, only longer and more potent. It's sort of a .45 Magnum
Magnum.