A Half-Century With Sixguns: Part 3

The year was 1935. In the midst of the 6th year of the Great Depression Smith & Wesson introduced the world’s most powerful handgun: the .357 Magnum. It sprang from experiments by Phil Sharpe in conjunction with Col. Doug Wesson of Smith & Wesson in the early 1930s. On a hunting trip together they shot Sharpe’s heavy .38 Special loads through several Smith & Wesson .38/44 Outdoorsman sixguns.

Sharpe admits to modifying Keith’s 358429 SWC bullet to come up with the Sharpe bullet weighing approximately 150 grains and having 40 percent less bearing surface, enabling it to operate at higher speeds with less pressure. This was the bullet used in the original .357 Magnum loads, which eclipsed 1,500 fps in an 8-3/4″-barreled Smith & Wesson sixgun. In those pre-model number days, it was simply called the .357 Magnum.

Col. Wesson publicized “The World’s Most Powerful Revolver” by taking antelope, elk and grizzly bear with it. To put the .357 Magnum of the 1930s in the proper perspective, we have to realize the .45 Colt and .45 ACP with muzzle velocities around 850 fps were the most powerful big-bore handguns available, and the .44 Special was still factory loaded at around 750 fps. With the .357 Magnum the zenith of sixgun power had been achieved. Sharpe warned against handloaders trying to duplicate factory loads. We had reached the top, and there was simply no way we could ever have a more powerful sixgun. That idea lasted for about two decades. Of course, all during this time, those who handloaded the .44 Special felt they had the real most powerful sixgun.

The Top?

The .357 Magnum used a bullet of approximately 158 grains with a muzzle velocity of approximately 1,500 fps. In late 1955 the .44 Magnum arrived using a 240-grain bullet at the same muzzle velocity. Surely we had now reached the ultimate apex of sixgun power? The NRA’s Major Hatcher likened shooting the .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson to being hit in the palm of the hand with a baseball bat. I was 17 when I shot the .44 Magnum S&W for the first time, and I was totally intimidated by it as well as Ruger’s .44 Magnum. It would be a long time with a lot of learning before I felt I could say I had conquered the big .44. Along the way I learned this time we had really reached the top. It would be impossible to physically handle anything more powerful even if it could be built.

In the early 1980s, I met three men who would change my mind about sixgun power, and in fact would have a tremendous effect on sixgunning. Those three men were John Linebaugh, Dick Casull, and Lew Schafer. Long-range silhouetting was extremely popular in the early 1980s. We started out using .357 and .44 Magnums, however Dan Wesson soon brought out the first of their SuperMags, the .357 with a case approximately .3″ longer than the standard .357 Magnum.

Now At The Top?

As soon as the first .357 SuperMag revolver was available, Schafer acquired one which he re-chambered and re-barreled to his .44 Schafer Ultramag using .444 Marlin brass trimmed to 1.6″. With this cartridge, velocities of 200 to 300 fps higher than the standard .44 Magnum could be achieved. Recoil, of course, was substantial even in a 4-pound Dan Wesson. My article on the Schafer Ultramag appeared in the January 1986 issue of this very magazine. It was titled “Is This The Ultimate Magnum?” That article was actually written in late 1983 or early 1984 and the answer was certainly yes! We were wrong about the .44 Magnum being the most powerful, but surely we had now arrived at the top. (This was before I met John Linebaugh and Dick Casull.)

Ruger also offered a version of the .357 SuperMag sixgun, which was their .357 Maximum revolver. Both sixguns used the same ammunition and both sixguns were also superbly accurate at long range. Ruger’s version, which was built on a Super Blackhawk with a longer cylinder, would be short-lived. Some writers at the time, who did not understand the concept, tried to make it into a revolver version of the .220 Swift. Instead of using 180- or 200-grain bullets at the muzzle velocities possible with 158-grain bullets in the .357 Magnum, they used lighter bullets at high velocities, which began to erode the topstrap of the Ruger and it was dropped from production. Dan Wesson would go on to offer other Super Mags, .375, .414 and .445. I’ve shot them all and, in fact, still have my original SuperMag DWs. They are powerful but certainly not very portable. Linebaugh and Casull insisted on both factors in their sixguns.

In the January/February 1985 issue of our sister publication, American Handgunner, is the first article I did on John Linebaugh and what he was doing with the .45 Colt in standard-sized sixguns. John proved the .45 Colt could easily outdistance the .44 Magnum in the proper revolver. He did not stop there. First came his .500 Linebaugh using .348 Winchester brass trimmed to approximately 1.4″ followed up by his .475 Linebaugh giving .45-70 brass the same treatment. These big sixguns used bullets in the 370- to 440-grain range at .44 Magnum velocities. Recoil, of course, was substantial. John chambered converted Rugers using 5-shot cylinders and a Bisley Model grip frame was virtually required to handle recoil. Surely, we had reached the top now! I was wrong before, but there is no way to be mistaken this time. Or so I thought.

Handgun Power’s Pinnacle

Using Ruger .357 Maximum sixguns as the base gun and the same brass as used for his .500 and .475 Linebaughs, Linebaugh increased the cartridge length to approximately 1.6″ and his truly big bore versions of the SuperMags arrived. These were chambered in custom Ruger .357 Maximums with 5-shot cylinders. Recoil of these sixguns can’t be described, it can only be experienced. I will tell you both of these sixguns made me physically ill. It required so much strength and concentration I would fire substantial quantities through both sixguns in the morning and then go to bed for awhile.

I would no longer talk about being at the top of sixgun power, as we had gone way over the top. Several gunsmiths offered custom conversions using John’s Linebaugh Longs. Most, if not all, no longer build them as they do not want to test fire them. Smith & Wesson’s .500 S&W Magnum is only slightly longer and uses a .500″ instead of a .512″ bullet, but the result is the same: tremendous power. Even with 40 percent added weight of the Smith & Wesson revolver compared to Linebaugh’s sixguns, recoil is still brutal. Smith & Wesson backed up somewhat to give us a .45 SuperMag—the .460 Smith & Wesson Magnum. In a 4-1/2-pound S&W X-Frame recoil is at least manageable.

Dick Casull’s experiments with the .45 Colt in the 1950s and 1960s led to the .454 Casull produced by Wayne Baker and Freedom Arms beginning in 1983. I have more experience with the .454 than all the other cartridges above the .44 Magnum combined. I have shot it extensively enough to know it is a magnificent cartridge in the finest single-action revolver to ever exit a factory. It is capable of driving 340-grain bullets at 1,800 fps, however, 260- or 300-grain bullets at 1,500 to 1,600 fps are a whole lot more manageable. Freedom Arms now also offers the .475 Linebaugh and the .500 Wyoming Express, with the latter basically a slightly different version of the .500 Linebaugh. All three of these cartridges are packed into very portable sixguns.

Doesn’t Hurt?

Many writers seem to think they have to say recoil is not bad whenever they write about any of these cartridges. I will tell you recoil with full-house loads is very, very serious. My wrists have paid the penalty over the years with the result being crooked bones with no cartilage. I just received a phone call this week from a fellow who has shot a lot of the really big-bore stuff, and he had so much pain he went to the doctor who discovered he had broken a bone in his thumb.

When the .44 Magnum arrived Elmer Keith only shot 600 rounds the first year. The man was smarter than we even realized. The key to most of life is moderation in all things (I should have heeded this advice more!) and that definitely includes the truly big-bore sixguns. They do not have to be run at top speed at all times. In fact, they are a whole lot more fun loaded down. Relax and enjoy!

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