.500 Bushwhacker

Last updated
.500 Bushwhacker
500bw-swcomp.jpg
Comparison of the .500 Bushwhacker (L) to the .500 S&W cartridge (R)
TypeHandgun
Place of originUnited States
Production history
Designer James Tow and Keith Tow
Designed2021
ManufacturerTII Armory
Produced2022–present
Specifications
Parent case .375 Ruger
Case typeSemi-rimmed, straight
Bullet diameter.500 in (12.7 mm)
Neck diameter.525 in (13.3 mm)
Base diameter.530 in (13.5 mm)
Rim diameter.560 in (14.2 mm)
Rim thickness.059 in (1.5 mm)
Case length2.45 in (62 mm)
Overall length2.95 in (75 mm)
Rifling twist1 in 15 in (380 mm)
Primer typeLarge rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/typeVelocityEnergy
275 gr (18 g) TII Barnes XPB2550 - 10in 2700 -14in3970 - 10in 4451 - 14in
310 gr (20 g) TII Bengal WFNGC2550 - 10in 2700 - 14in4476 - 10in 5018 - 14in
340 gr (22 g) TII CEB Handgun Raptor2350 - 10in 2450 - 14in4169 - 10in 4531 - 14in
400 gr (26 g) TII Bengal WLFNGC2250 - 10in 2350 - 14in4496 - 10in 4905 - 14in
Test barrel length: 10 in to 14 in
Source(s): TII Armory (275 gr), [1] (310 gr), [2] (340 gr) [3] (400 gr), [4] (510 gr), [5]

The .500 Bushwhacker is a .50 caliber semi-rimmed revolver cartridge developed by TII Armory for the Magnum Research BFR revolvers. It is currently the most powerful revolver cartridge in the world, offering a similar level of ballistic performance to African stopping rifles, such as the .416 Rigby and .470 Nitro Express. Given comparable barrel lengths, it is nearly twice as powerful as the .500 S&W Magnum. [6] A 10-inch barrel revolver chambered for the cartridge is capable of penetrating 103 inches of 10% Clear Ballistics gel. A 24-inch barrel rifle chambered for the round can penetrate 127 inches of the same medium. [7] A 14-inch .500 Bushwhacker revolver can exceed 3,000 ft/s (914.4 m/s) with select loads. [7]

Contents

Cartridge history

Brothers James Tow and Keith Tow of Halsey, Oregon developed the .500 Bushwhacker in 2021 to produce a repeating handgun capable of ethically harvesting dangerous game. They initially used the .375 Ruger for a parent case, fireforming the brass cylindrical and threading the bases for rims. The result was a cartridge that is essentially a lengthened .500 S&W Magnum. New manufactured brass is now produced by the Bertram Bullet Company. [8]

Design, specifications, and use

The .500 Bushwhacker is designed to operate at comparable chamber pressures to the .500 S&W Magnum. Since the case is simply a lengthened version of the .500 S&W Magnum, the cylinder wall thickness remains the same on a firearm converted to the larger cartridge. Accordingly, the same pressure level can safely be maintained in firearms capable of accommodating the additional cartridge length. Firearms converted to the .500 Bushwhacker are also capable of firing .500 S&W Magnum, .500 JRH, and .500 S&W Special ammunition. [9]

To ensure manageable recoil in converted revolvers, all .500 Bushwhacker conversions produced by TII Armory include the installation of a rifle-style muzzle brake. [6]

Since the .500 Bushwhacker is capable of firing equivalent weight bullets at nearly twice the velocity of other large bore handgun cartridges, such as the .480 Ruger and .500 Linebaugh, it is advisable that monometal bullets be used for dangerous game hunting, so as to guard against bullet failures. [9] Commercial loadings of the .500 Bushwhacker outperform all rifle loadings of .45-70 Government, making the cartridge not only the most powerful revolver round but also very powerful by rifle standards.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ".500 Bushwhacker – 275 Grain Barnes XPB-500BW275". TII Machine.
  2. ".500 Bushwhacker – 310 Grain WFNGC-500BW310". TII Machine.
  3. ".500 Bushwhacker – 340 Grain CEB Handgun Raptor-500BW340". TII Machine.
  4. ".500 Bushwhacker – 400 Grain WLFNGC-500BW400". TII Machine.
  5. "Making Harry's Day: The .500 Bushwhacker Story". TII Machine.
  6. 1 2 Lawson, William (October 12, 2022). "The .500 Bushwhacker: Do You Feel Lucky?". GunMag Warehouse. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Testing the World's Most Powerful Pistol Caliber Carbine , retrieved 2024-11-23
  8. Hayrapetyan, Hrachya (October 5, 2022). "Wheelgun Wednesday: New .500 Bushwhacker Cartridge for BFR Revolvers by TII Armory". The Firearm Blog. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  9. 1 2 Tow, James (September 10, 2022). "Making Harry's Day: The .500 Bushwhacker Story". TII Armory. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halsey, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Halsey is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. The population was 904 at the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.50 Action Express</span> Pistol cartridge designed by Evan Whildin

The .50 Action Express (AE) (12.7×33mmRB) is a large-caliber handgun cartridge, best known for its usage in the Desert Eagle. Developed in 1988 by American Evan Whildin of Action Arms, the .50 AE is one of the most powerful pistol cartridges in production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.454 Casull</span> High power firearm cartridge

The .454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed as a wildcat cartridge in 1958 by Dick Casull, Duane Marsh and Jack Fullmer. It was announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine. The design is a lengthened and structurally improved .45 Colt case. The wildcat cartridge went mainstream when Freedom Arms brought a single action five-shot revolver chambered in .454 Casull to the retail firearms market in 1983. Ruger followed in 1997, chambering its Super Redhawk in this caliber. Taurus followed with the Raging Bull model in 1998 and the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum in 2010. The .45 Schofield and .45 Colt cartridges can fit into the .454's chambers, but not the other way around because of the lengthened case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.45 Colt</span> Revolver cartridge designed by the U.S. Army

The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), often called the .45 Long Colt, is a rimmed straight-walled handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as an official US military handgun cartridge for 19 years, before being replaced by the .38 Long Colt in 1892. Although there has never been a ".45 Short Colt" cartridge, the .45 Colt is frequently called the ".45 Long Colt" to better distinguish it from the shorter and less powerful .45 Schofield cartridge, which was also in use around the same time as the .45 Colt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.44 Magnum</span> Revolver cartridge designed by Elmer Keith and Smith & Wesson (S&W)

The .44 Remington Magnum, also known as .44 Magnum or 10.9x33mmR, is a rimmed, large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers and quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, guns chambered for the .44 Magnum round, its parent case, the .44 Special, and the .44 Special's parent case, the .44 Russian all use 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter bullets. The .44 Magnum is based on the .44 Special case but lengthened and loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity and energy.

The .256 Winchester Magnum is a firearms cartridge developed by Winchester, and was produced by necking-down a .357 Magnum cartridge to .257 diameter. It was designed for shooting small game and varmints.

The .475 Linebaugh (12.1x36mmR) is a rimmed revolver cartridge developed by John Linebaugh in the late 1980s in response to the scarcity of the .348 Winchester brass required to form his .500 Linebaugh cartridge. The cartridge is based on the .45-70 Government case trimmed to 1.4 inches and loaded with .475-inch-diameter (12.1 mm) bullets. While dimensionally similar to the older .45 Silhouette cartridge, the .475 Linebaugh is loaded to considerably higher pressures, resulting in significantly different ballistic performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.50 caliber handguns</span> Heavy handgun bullet/handgun

A .50 caliber handgun is a handgun firing a bullet measuring approximately 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) in diameter intended with the task of penetration. Historically, many black powder pistols fired bullets with diameters well above a half inch. However, following the development of smokeless powder, the focus shifted to smaller-diameter bullets propelled at higher velocities, and the development of .50 and larger calibers in handguns became uncommon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.45-70</span> Rifle cartridge designed by the U.S. Army

The .45-70 (11.6x53mmR), also known as the .45-70 Government, .45-70 Springfield, and .45-2110" Sharps, is a .45 caliber rifle cartridge originally holding 70 grains of black powder that was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873. It was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge, which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War, and is known by collectors as the "Trapdoor Springfield".

The .204 Ruger is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger. At the time of its introduction in 2004, the .204 Ruger was the second-highest velocity commercially produced ammunition and the only centerfire cartridge produced commercially for bullets of .204 inch/5 mm caliber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.460 S&W Magnum</span> Revolver cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson (S&W)

The .460 S&W Magnum round is a powerful revolver cartridge designed for long-range handgun hunting in the Smith & Wesson Model 460 revolver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnum Research BFR</span> Revolver

The Magnum Research BFR is a single-action revolver manufactured by Magnum Research. Modeled after the Ruger Blackhawk, it is constructed of stainless steel and chambered for a number of powerful handgun cartridges, such as .460 S&W Magnum and .500 S&W Magnum; popular rifle chamberings, including .30–30 WCF, .444 Marlin, and .45-70 Government; and even .410 bore shotshells. Notably, the BFR platform has also served as the basis for custom caliber conversions to 19th century big game cartridges such as the .50–110 WCF and .50-90 Sharps, as well as the .500 Bushwhacker, which is currently considered to be the most powerful handgun cartridge in the world in terms of muzzle energy. The name "BFR" originally stood for "Brainerd’s First Revolver", in reference to Brainerd, Minnesota, where the early BFRs were manufactured. Officially the acronym now stands for "Biggest, Finest Revolver", though it was rebranded for a time as the "Big Frame Revolver" after Magnum Research's 2010 acquisition by Kahr Arms.

The .500 Wyoming Express or .500 WE is a "big bore" handgun cartridge. Freedom Arms introduced the cartridge in 2005 for their Model 83 .500 WE revolver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.32 H&R Magnum</span> US rimmed revolver cartridge

The .32 H&R Magnum, also known as the .32 Magnum, is a rimmed cartridge designed for use in revolvers. It was developed and introduced in 1984 as a joint venture between Harrington & Richardson and Federal Premium Ammunition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overpressure ammunition</span> Type of small arms ammunition

Overpressure ammunition, commonly designated as +P or +P+, is small arms ammunition that has been loaded to produce a higher internal pressure when fired than is standard for ammunition of its caliber, but less than the pressures generated by a proof round. This is done typically to produce ammunition with higher muzzle velocity, muzzle energy, and stopping power, such as ammunition used for security, defensive, or hunting purposes. Because of this, +P ammunition is typically found in handgun calibers which might be used for paramilitary forces, armed security, and defensive purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super magnum</span> Type of firearm cartridge

A super magnum is a longer and/or more powerful version of a "magnum" cartridge. Although the term "super magnum" typically refers to a handgun cartridge, created by lengthening an existing straight-case design, it can also refer to rifle and shotgun cartridges, such as the .17 Winchester Super Magnum and the 312" 12 Gauge Super Magnum. In this case, it simply denotes that it is of greater power than existing "magnums" of a similar caliber or gauge, this is comparable to other designations, such as the "Remington Ultra Magnum". The most widespread of these cartridges are the "SuperMag" family of super-magnum handgun cartridges that were proposed and tested by Elgin Gates in the 1970s.

The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for hunting large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge within the context of a standard-length rifle action. The cartridge was designed in partnership by Hornady and Ruger. In 2007, it was released commercially and chambered in the Ruger Hawkeye African and the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.500 Linebaugh</span> Revolver cartridge

The .500 Linebaugh (13x35mmR) is a .50 caliber handgun cartridge designed for use in handguns. It is considered one of the most powerful handgun cartridges designed in terms of kinetic energy and power factor (momentum).

The .500 S&W Magnum or 12.7×41mmSR is a .50 caliber semi-rimmed revolver cartridge developed by Cor-Bon in partnership with the Smith & Wesson "X-Gun" engineering team for use in the Smith & Wesson Model 500 X-frame revolver and introduced in February 2003 at the SHOT Show. From its inception, it was intended to be the most powerful handgun cartridge to date, with the capacity to harvest all North American game species. While more powerful handgun cartridges, such as the .500 Bushwhacker, have emerged since, they are only available in custom firearms, and the .500 S&W remains the most powerful production handgun cartridge.

References