460 S&W Magnum Cartridge (& Social Anthropology):

I heard a radio talk the other day saying that we should always try to start with a joke - maybe something like .. " Capitalism is Gods way to sort the clever from the poor."

 - Or maybe "Our Government is responsible and far-sighted and always spends our taxes wisely."

The 460 S&W Magnum was invented by Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (A Limited Liability Trust Company pursuant to the Act and Banking Law) to take advantage of their five shot  X-Frame revolvers oversized 2.3 inch cylinder length. (The demand for boat anchors being static).

This 460 S&W cartridge is basically a .454" Casull case lengthened to 1.8" - The .454" Casull (1.383" case) is in its turn a lengthened & up-powered  .45"Colt (1.285" long case) cartridge - that itself isn't at all under-powered. - It might perhaps be called a 'Superposed-Magnum'.

460S&W, .454Casull, .44"Magnum, .45"ACP, .22"LR

You might describe this cartridge as a high power handgun hunting cartridge that uses an increased powder charge and very high internal pressures to drive its .452" diameter bullet at a velocity of up to 2,330ft./per sec.

 I wouldn't  - I'd call it an extremely uncomfortable percussion grenade that needs a massive revolver to fire it .. one that no sentient human would choose to shoot more than once for fun.

A cartridge perhaps made for no other reason than that they could. - A bit like climbing up Mt. Everest because it's there (with a 5% Death Rate) - Odds of permanent physical injury from attempting to shoot a couple of boxes of this ammo without protection is likely much worse than 5%.

XVR stands for 'Extreme Velocity Revolver'

Versatile? - Certainly. Available with barrels up to 8.375" long - the XVR revolvers bore is notable for needing 'gain twist' rifling to cope with the pressure & velocity of the 460 S&W Magnum, - one turn in 100 increasing to 1 in 20.

X Frame makes M629 44 Magnum Look Small.

Does My Bum Look Fat In This?

I definitely wouldn't want to stand in front of one - but then again, even with this steel lump weighing up to 72 ounces (that's 4.5lb. - over 2Kg!) I don't want to be behind one either .. or to either side!

We use our unique human 'biped' stance to free our hands - but a heavy kicking two kilos is a massive lump of thunder to hold-out at arms length when shooting standing upright - it would be easier to sit and flinch at a bench with this S&W X Frame eh.

- Did you ever think about why we go on two legs rather than four? - Maxine Sheets-Johnstone from the University of Oregon thinks that long ago we men rose up onto our hind legs as a way to show-off our penises.

Men have those. - In her view females were doing it for the opposite reason - to conceal their genitals - which are otherwise much more on display when on all fours.

Social Anthropology in shooting eh ..

- But on the other hand - to be fair - waving about a revolver with up to 65,000 p.s.i internal pressure??

For Masochistic S&W  X Frame Flashers.

Have a great day,
Marty K.

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/posts/24075745