yeah I've handloaded for and shot a 7.5" barrel 500 mag dozens of times now
and several other barrel lengths
and after shooting several barrel lengths I'm beginning to feel that 7.5" barrel is,
about the ideal compromise in ease of carry, accuracy and potential power.
anything longer is a pain in the ass to carry in a shoulder, chest or hip, holster, and anything shorter seems ,
to have excessive recoil and a bit less accuracy.
yeah the 500 mag is a nice handgun hunters gun, and close to useless for anything else.
you certainly don,t need to load to max power levels
that lee 440 grain bullet over 20-21 grains of blue dot powder does impressive work on hogs and deer,
at typical 40-70 yards distances hunters see shots made around here.
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...do-i-need-here-for-a-500-s-w-reloading.11917/
if you can find one used,
a 445 dan wesson revolver can shoot 44 mag ammo, for lower cost practice,
or you can hand load ammo that pushes the same bullets about 250 fps faster in the 445 case,
more than enough power to hunt anything that walks with the correct ammo/bullet choice.
that hard cast gas check 310 grain lee 44 caliber bullet over 30 grains of h110 is lethal on ELK,, and impressive on deer and hogs, I know from personal use!
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/445-dan-wesson-revolvers.1992/#post-102189
https://www.starlinebrass.com/445-super-mag-brass/
helpful linked info
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-hunting-revolver-should-concentrate-on.3744/
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/
look carefully at the link above's results
personal opinion,
based mostly on what I see resulted in hunting with a handgun and results on game
for personal defense , in a handgun cartridge,
USE the link above as a reference,
I want a minimum of 18" of penetration, 125 grains of projectile weight, and 400 ft lbs of impact energy.
this is considerably less than you might use for a hunting handgun,
there MORE bullet weight, bullet diameter and velocity,
as long as you can maintain consistent accuracy is always a plus,
simply because ranges tend to be far longer and projectile pas throughs are desirable.
but for most people the 41 mag, 10mm, 44 mag, and hotter 45 LC is close to max recoil/power many people can easily learn to control,
and use of either in a top quality pistol/revolver very much enough to hunt most big game with at ranges under 100 yards with proper ammo.
of course if your a firearms aficionados, you may learn to handle a bit more over time
the 445 DWSM, 480 ruger 454 cassul, 460 and 500 mag are all very useful if you can learn to handle them effectively
the 357 mag, 10mm and 41 mag are kind of a cross over, in that with proper handloads
they can work very effectively in either area, provided you handload and practice a great deal
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...n-a-defensive-handgun-would-be-and-why.11908/
http://gundata.org/blog/post/best-handgun-caliber-and-round-for-self-defense/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...rtridges-and-how-much-does-power-mater.15400/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-glock-45-acp-consistently-get-the-nod.15978/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...out-my-selection-for-a-dual-use-pistol.15882/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/selecting-a-good-self-defence-handgun.1128/