.460 S&W Magnum

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The .460 S&W Magnum round is the highest velocity and most powerful .45 caliber handgun cartridge in production today.

The .460 round is a longer, more powerful version of the popular .454 Casull; itself a longer and more powerful version of the .45 Colt. Consequently, weapons that fire .460 are usually capable of firing the less powerful .454 Casull and .45 Colt rounds, but this must be verified with each weapon's manufacturer. The reverse, however, does not apply: .45 Colt and .454 Casull handguns cannot accept .460 rounds. If attempted, explosion and life-threatening injury may occur. The length of the .460 also makes it difficult if not impossible to chamber into smaller handguns.

The Smith and Wesson 460XVR and 460V are two revolvers designed to fire the .460 S&W round. Smith and Wesson boast that the .460 is the highest velocity revolver cartridge in the world, firing bullets at 2330 ft/s (710 m/s). The .460 achieves over 2400 ft·lb_f (3.25 KJ) of energy by driving a 200 gr bullet at 2330 ft/s but this falls short of the title "most powerful commercial handgun cartridge" as the .500 S&W Magnum drives a 350 grain round at 1975fps at over 3032 ft-lbs. (DoubleTap Ammunition Co.)

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