A .50 caliber handgun is a handgun firing a bullet measuring approximately in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

intended with the task of penetration. Historically, many

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

pistols fired bullets with diameters well above a half inch. However, following the development of

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

, the focus shifted to smaller-diameter bullets propelled at higher velocities, and the development of .50 and larger calibers in handguns became uncommon. In the twentieth century, several new cartridges of half-inch diameter were developed, the first by

John Linebaugh John Linebaugh (November 15, 1955 – March 19, 2023) was an American gunsmith from Cody, Wyoming, known for creating custom firearms. He was the inventor of the .500 Linebaugh (1986) and .475 Linebaugh (1988) cartridges. Gunwriter John Taffin ...

Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in and the county seat of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Buffalo Bill Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,028 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, making Cod ...

, in 1986 with the development of the .500 Linebaugh, and then later with the .50 Action Express (1988), which was the first to achieve wide popularity. The .500 Linebaugh utilizes a bore diameter of .500" with the corresponding bullet diameter of .510", the same as the .50 BMG and other .50 caliber rifles, while the .50 Action Express, .500 S&W Magnum, and .500 S&W Special use .490" bore diameters and correspondingly smaller .500" bullet diameters. The smaller .500" diameter was further popularized by the development of the .500 S&W Magnum in 2003. There are semi-automatic,

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

, and

single-shot In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...

.50 caliber handgun designs. Handguns of this caliber tend to be larger and heavier than most others of their type with the exception of the Linebaugh line of revolvers. The Linebaugh revolvers are based on the standard

Ruger Blackhawk The Ruger Blackhawk is a six-shot, single-action revolver manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It is produced in a variety of finishes, calibers, and barrel lengths. History In the early 1950s, Western (genre), Westerns were popular in movies and te ...

with Ruger Bisley grip frames, although the cylinders have been enlarged for both structural integrity and absorbing the

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

associated with firing these rounds as have the previously mentioned .500 handguns. Despite being featured in many

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s and

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

s as the weapon of choice for some members of elite military and law enforcement units, these guns in reality are used primarily for

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

target shooting Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

, and silhouette shooting. Such military usage would be limited as a low-level

anti-materiel An anti-materiel rifle (AMR) is a rifle designed for use against military equipment, structures, and other hardware (materiel) targets. Anti-materiel rifles are chambered in significantly larger calibers than conventional rifles and are employed ...

weapon tasked with

door breaching Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., ...

, shooting padlocks, or explosive ordinance disposal of

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

, rather than combat.

Examples

.50 Action Express

* Magnum Research Inc. Desert Eagle *

Magnum Research BFR 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 . ...

* Arcadia Machine & Tool AutoMag V * LAR Manufacturing Grizzly Mark V * Freedom Arms Model 555 * Bond Arms Cyclops

.50 GI

*Conversions for the Glock 20/Glock 21 * Guncrafter Industries Model Nos. 1, 2, 3

500 GNR

* Gary Reeder Custom Guns Ultimate 500

.500 S&W Magnum

Smith & Wesson Model 500 The Smith & Wesson Model 500 is a five-shot, double/single action large-caliber revolver produced by Smith & Wesson, firing the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge. Design The Model 500 was built on the entirely new X-Frame, which was developed exclusiv ...

* Taurus Raging Bull Model 500 *

* JTL-E .500 S&W Magnum 12" * Gary Reeder Custom Guns Ultimate 500

Other

* Ruger Bisley ( .500 Linebaugh) *Maadi-Griffin ( .50 BMG) *

( .50 Beowulf) *Magnum Research BFR ( .500 Bushwhacker) *

Freedom Arms Model 83 .500 WE Model 83 .500 WE is a single action revolver manufactured by Freedom Arms chambered for the .500 Wyoming Express round. In the 1986 film '' Armed and Dangerous'', John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canad ...

( .500 Wyoming Express) * Triple Action Thunder ( .50 BMG) *

RSh-12 The RSh-12 () is a Russian-made revolver chamber (firearms), chambered in 12.7×55mm STs-130. It fires from the bottom chamber of the cylinder (like the Chiappa Rhino and Mateba Autorevolver) rather than the more common top chamber, and is chambere ...

(

12.7×55mm STs-130 The 12.7×55mm cartridge is used in some Russian firearms such as the VKS bullpup sniper rifle, the ShAK-12 bullpup battle rifle and the RSh-12 revolver. The cartridge can carry a projectile weighing between 108 grains and 1173 grains and i ...

) * WTS .50 ( .50 BMG)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:50 Caliber Handguns