Almost a horrible Father's Day

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My son came to Maine to spend Father's day with me. And, of course, he wanted to shoot! It's one of the things that he loves to do with me.
He hasn't fired my recent guns, including my .500 S&W Magnum (which I've had for a long time now. He hasn't been here when the weather was good enough to shoot it)...

So, after loading him up with a few cylinders full of lesser power rounds, he asked for the real deal.

I gave him some of the 700 grain full power rounds. We loaded the first couple one at a time. Knowing that a full cylinder full of those will have the bullets jar loose, we kept the round count at 3 in the cylinder. We should have stuck with the one per cylinder!

Here's a video of what can happen if you hold the gun with the wrong grip, and have more than one round in the cylinder. I could have lost my son that day....

 
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So, while recoiling your son's finger pulled the trigger a second time?

I would not have thought that possible, but I guess with the gun whipping up it could happen. Good thing to remember, letting someone who is not experienced fire some big iron--only put one in the cylinder.
 
the karma gods were smiling on both of you that day... let's stick to the ruger mkIII for a while until my cornhole unpuckers from this.... lucky, very lucky.
 
Holy crap Duke. That's a scary video. You guys should stay away from Vegas and the lottery because all your luck got used up.

So, while recoiling your son's finger pulled the trigger a second time?

I would not have thought that possible, but I guess with the gun whipping up it could happen. Good thing to remember, letting someone who is not experienced fire some big iron--only put one in the cylinder.

It's a well-documented fact that the .500 can double-tap under recoil. The bullet comes out of the barrel and not the cylinder because the trigger is pulled twice (with the second pull being unintentional).

I've personally seen it happen three times - once with my gun by an experienced shooter (a member here) and twice with somebody else's gun. That's why I always put only one round in the gun until I actually see how the shooter handles the recoil. (Except that one time).

These X-frames are a different animal, and they require a different shooting technique. They're not like other guns.
 
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Having maybe put 50-75 rounds through .500's, they are easy to double tap if your not experienced (I havent done it yet). I only load one in at a time myself, because of this risk.

I would of NEVER posted that video online. jeeze...
 
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I saw this happen once at Shirley at a shoot. Scared the bejeezus out of me. She put one in the ground 5 feet in front of her and another straight up in the air.
 
I'm still new to .500's and I think I need much more practice. I shoot at HHRG and I don't want that to ever happen.

Thanks for posting. I feel it needs to be seen so others don't have a very bad day.

Thanks

Tom
 
Duke, glad everyone is OK. that's a hell of a video.

Having seen videos like this and read about this before I bought my X frame, I still let people shoot it but 1 round at a time.
 
Let this be a good lesson to all of us who take new shooters to the range. As much fun as we have with our firearms, it still takes skill to handle them properly, and not everyone is cut out to shoot some of the more ridiculous guns out there. Use good judgement and safety first!
 
Great job loading just 1 at a time. +10000 to you for thinking ahead. I'm really glad this came up because thanks to reading this site, I did the same thing with my .45 when I took my wife shooting. When I first shot a 1911 (also the 1st time shooting a .45), after the first shot my hands got a little a shaky and I popped a 2nd one off accidentally.
 
damn dude. the 500 is no joke, i'm probably on par with dench on how much i've shot them. you have to have a lot of respect for that thing because of the sheer power you're holding in your hand. i'm glad your son is ok. video is scary as hell.
 
I am not familiar with the 500, I have only shot a 460, but what exactly are you supposed to do for follow through? Keep your arms rigid or let the muzzle come up a bit?
 
When EC shoots his in the Porsche shoot video, he lets the thing climb, but they don't pivot in his hand.

With this video, you can see the gun just pivots right in his hand. Methinks his grip was too weak. Also his left hand comes completely off the grip.
 
I just watched the P-shoot vid and it looks like EC breaks his elbows, not his wrists, which allows the muzzle to come up, but be controlled.
 
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