how many here wood like a S&W500 levergun for cast boolits?

[propwashp47]

a bud at the gun store was selling a handy rifle in s&w 500.it got me to thinking, I know there I go again. THAT THE S&W500 with cast boolits wood be a real dandy lever . a quick search and I found the big horn armoryS&W500 lever. next I found this http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=394689968 too big money for me , so I started to think maybe a ROSSI 454 might be converted , the ROSSI has special heat treated receiver for the high pressure of the 454 55,000 I believe vs the S&W500 60,000 . for me I wood be happy with a cast boolit only . with 440- to 500 grain boolits and reasonable powder loads and maybe a shorter case to keep factory load from chambering. I don't know if this wood work but I an very interested to learn more. what do yall think? I go ahead and get this out of the way now (YOU WILL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!)

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Sure why not !
But... will it feed through the short 92 action ? When I built my 414 Supermag levergun I ruled out the 92 Winchester and 94 Marlin actions beacause COL was not going to fit with the 265 grain plus boolits I wanted to load without deep seating. The Marlin 336 action has all the room we could ever need and the strength to hold together. Other than that you would have to get into those very expensive Winchester actions.
Mike in Peru

[wch]

Base it on a Henry Big Boy?

[missionary5155]

The Henry is one I have no experience with.
Another factor you are faced with is barrel diameter... will the receiver take that large diameter need to house a caliber .500 S&W ? There is a real reason no one uses even the Marlin 336 action for very large diameters past caliber .45.
May end up having to use a Win model 71 as the 500 Alaskan does work there.
Mike in Peru

[bigted]

I also have wondered about this conversion. it seems likely that the 500 S&W would just be a modern 50-70 variation.

I also think that I would give marlin the nod as it is already setup for pretty high pressure and some one like "JESS Reboring"... http://www.35caliber.com/8.html ... would be the authority to ask of the possibility of such a conversion. I for one would be interested in the answer of this question as well.

just to think ... a 50 cal ... in a modern lever ... shooting 450 grain boolits ... loaded with black powder ... my the possibility's are endless.

[Dan Cash]

If I wanted to get kicked as hard as a .500 would kick, I would find a real gun in .45 or 50 cal. There are so many extant RIFLE cartridges that will work in a Marlin 336/95 or Winchester/Browning 86/71 action that the cost of building something to support the S&W cartridge seems pointless.

[Doc_Stihl]

Having shot a bunch of heavy 500 S&W loads in an Encore rifle, My answer would be. "No Thanks".
Same would go for the 460.
If I wanted a barn burner high velocity big bore I'd probably go with another 454.
If I want to throw big weight I grab my 45/70.
As it is, for everything I do, my 44 mag rossi is more than enough.

[starmac]

You might talk to WWG in anchorage. They do a lot of marlin conversions, but it seems like I read that the 500 smith will not work, I forget the reason. I'm thinking by the time a guy bought a rifle and had it converted, he would probably be getting into the price range of the big horn armory rifle.

[wlc]

That big horn armory rifle is a beaut. Just too much $$$$ for me.

[starmac]

I have never seen one in person, but the pictures of them sure look good. I haven't had the bug for a 500 smith, pistol or rifle, but they are out of my price range anyway.

I did for a while have a want for a 50 Alaskan, but have about gotten over it. lol

[Bullshop Junior]

a bud at the gun store was selling a handy rifle in s&w 500.it got me to thinking, I know there I go again. THAT THE S&W500 with cast boolits wood be a real dandy lever . a quick search and I found the big horn armoryS&W500 lever. next I found this http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=394689968 too big money for me , so I started to think maybe a ROSSI 454 might be converted , the ROSSI has special heat treated receiver for the high pressure of the 454 55,000 I believe vs the S&W500 60,000 . for me I wood be happy with a cast boolit only . with 440- to 500 grain boolits and reasonable powder loads and maybe a shorter case to keep factory load from chambering. I don't know if this wood work but I an very interested to learn more. what do yall think? I go ahead and get this out of the way now (YOU WILL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!)

The 500 is quite a bit longer then a 454, and once you bore the barrel out that much it will be getting pretty thin. You would have to modify the tube as well, although the outer tube would be just about the right size.

[Bullshop Junior]

Having shot a bunch of heavy 500 S&W loads in an Encore rifle, My answer would be. "No Thanks".
Same would go for the 460.
If I wanted a barn burner high velocity big bore I'd probably go with another 454.
If I want to throw big weight I grab my 45/70.
As it is, for everything I do, my 44 mag rossi is more than enough.

I have a Rossi 454, and it is MORE then enough.

[propwashp47]

hello to all and thank you for your insight and thoughts on this dream lever. sometimes a dream is best left a dream and other times a dream can bring new and wonderful new things to our lives. so I say hats off to those that dream and the ones that follow them to the end. I think what I had in mind was closer to a 50-70 lever with a heavy 24 in octagon barrel. and I know that one wood still kick like bad water bills mule gurty. a lot to ponder on and perhaps to dream. thanks to all . Donald

[Ken TN]

NO desire for a 500 but a 357 Maximum could get me all excited!

[Nobade]

hello to all and thank you for your insight and thoughts on this dream lever. sometimes a dream is best left a dream and other times a dream can bring new and wonderful new things to our lives. so I say hats off to those that dream and the ones that follow them to the end. I think what I had in mind was closer to a 50-70 lever with a heavy 24 in octagon barrel. and I know that one wood still kick like bad water bills mule gurty. a lot to ponder on and perhaps to dream. thanks to all . Donald

So why not find a Browning 1886, and have it rebarreled to 50-90? (I think you'd have feeding problems with 50-70 being too short) Not too terribly much money, and that would be one really nice rifle to own. Enough weight to make it shootable and could be loaded to duplicate a 458 win mag if you really wanted to do so. Run it with black powder or smokeless at the same speeds and it would be a wonderful all-round rifle.

-Nobade

[lar45]

I was talking with Jack Huntington the other day and he told me about converting the Marlin 1894 to 500 JRH.
That would give you a 500 S&W x 1.4". I didn't ask how much the conversion would run, but it does sound interesting.
http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/

[Ibgreen]

Spencer leavers were 56-50 (.512-.52 depending on vintage). The 50-70 was a continuation of this chamber.

[propwashp47]

well back to the gun store and looked thru many books and found the UBERTI 1876 CENTENNIAL RIFLE 50-95 28 IN OCT BBL $1609.00 http://www.uberti.com/1876-centennial-rifle. I all so found out where I got that dream from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jToQAbH58 the TOM HORN MOVIE . I love that movie and song and the rifle and killing limbs on a dead tree , check out the base for the Lyman peep sight . now I know it is real i need to save the coins to get one , it will be less hard to save the money than to find one I am sure. has anyone seen or shot either one of the centennials in 50-95? dang I missed the cowboy breakfast this morning for the rodeo kick off , i was going to showoff my hand made down in Mexico double buscadero rig hand carved and dripping with spots. I carry ruger bisley blakhawk 45 convertibles 5.5 bbl in them.

[Doc_Stihl]

I have a Rossi 454, and it is MORE then enough.

I think I sold that 454 Rossi to your father a few years back.
I had that and a 44 Rossi. For me the 44 Mag Rossi is MORE than enough. :)

They don't make critters in my parts that a 310gr WFN @ 1500 fps can't poke a hole clean through.

[helice]

I really enjoy this forum. Its full of dreams, experience, common sense and fun.

[John Allen]

I wish there was an affordable lever in 500sw I would buy one in a heart beat.

[hickstick_10]

a bud at the gun store was selling a handy rifle in s&w 500.it got me to thinking, I know there I go again. THAT THE S&W500 with cast boolits wood be a real dandy lever . a quick search and I found the big horn armoryS&W500 lever. next I found this http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=394689968 too big money for me , so I started to think maybe a ROSSI 454 might be converted , the ROSSI has special heat treated receiver for the high pressure of the 454 55,000 I believe vs the S&W500 60,000 . for me I wood be happy with a cast boolit only . with 440- to 500 grain boolits and reasonable powder loads and maybe a shorter case to keep factory load from chambering. I don't know if this wood work but I an very interested to learn more. what do yall think? I go ahead and get this out of the way now (YOU WILL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!)

You need to try a 45-70 with some heavy loads, it will cure you of this fantasy right away. Theres a big difference between heavy 350-405 grain loads to the 500+ grain loads.

I tried some 500-535 grain loads (reloader 7 smokeless) that I loaded for my 1874 sharps (mild trapdoor loads) out of my 1886 winchester extra light weight. They were VERY unpleasant to shoot out of an 8 pound rifle, I imagine one shot would be all a man would want out of a 6 pound carbine.

[dverna]

The "inexpensive" route, provided that the .454 isn't "enough" is to buy a 45-70 and load it with heavy boolits. IIRC, the RCBS 45-405-GC weighed ~440gr. Recoil will knock you senseless before you exceed the pressure limitations of the action.

Having shot Marlins in 44mag with 240gr, I wouldn't even want to try a Rossi 92 in .454 with 300gr.

I have to agree with that. I can not imagine ever needing more gun than a .45/70 and they are not too expensive. Lots of good molds too.

Don Verna

[kens]

I built a Siamese Mauser in .45/70 some years ago. We put together loads out of the books for Trapdoor, Marlin, and Ruger #1. and we shot them all.
By the time you get up to the Ruger loads, you are at the entry level of .458 Win mag.
Isn't .45/70 enough??????

I got a 1895 Marlin and that is quite enough.!!!!