460 S&W Ballistics Charts:
This 460 S&W ballistic chart shows 300 grain Federal Premium Swift A-Frame:
| Muzzle | 50 YDS | 100 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 1750 | 1506 | 1300 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2040 | 1510 | 1125 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | +.1 | -2.8 |
This 460 S&W ballistics chart shows 200 grain Hornady Monoflex:
| Muzzle | 50 YDS | 100 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 2150 | 1917 | 1701 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2053 | 1632 | 1286 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | +.4 | -.8 |
460 S&W History
The 460 S&W is a powerful, big bore revolver cartridge designed to bring big game animals down quickly. It delivers a tremendous amount of energy to target and is capable of cruising at speeds in excess of 2500 feet per second with certain loadings.
In order to learn more about the 460, technically a 45 caliber cartridge, we need to know the “why” behind its existence. S&W had already created the most powerful handgun cartridge available with their 500 S&W Magnum.
But Smith’s product manager, Herb Belin, also wanted to build the fastest revolver cartridge ever made and set out to do just that. This was no easy feat, however, because certain loadings of factory 454 Casull were already exceeding 1700 feet per second.
On tap for this project, Smith & Wesson brought on Hornady and Cor-Bon for load testing and development.
The result from the team of ammo makers used the 454 Casull as the parent case. It was lengthened to hold more powder. Oddly enough, the 454 Casull had a parent case which was the 45 Colt.
As a bonus, a revolver chambered in 460 S&W will also be able to fire 454 Casull and 45 Colt.
The new cartridge was released in 2005 and to my knowledge remains one of the fastest handgun cartridges in the world.
