The 20th century saw some of the greatest gains in cartridge design and velocity increases, from the magnum-mania that began with the 1912 release of the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum … to the century closing out with the behemoth .300 Remington Ultra Magnum. But it wasn’t just rifle cartridges that saw the speed and power bumped up; the 3½-inch 12-gauge shotshell became a normal occurrence in the turkey woods and goose blinds, and our handgun cartridges went from mild to wild over the course of the century.
Smith & Wesson’s .357 Magnum—designed by Douglas B. Wesson and Philip B. Sharpe in 1934, inspired by the labors of Elmer Keith with his high-pressure .38 Special loads—was at the forefront of magnum handgun cartridges. The “magnum” treatment would extend to the .44 and .41 calibers, with the 1954 release of the .44 Remington Magnum and, a decade later, Big Green would bring the .41 Remington Magnum to the masses.
The pinnacle of handgun magnum design, it could be argued, is the pair of Smith & Wesson cartridges released in the first years of the 21st century—the .460 S&W Magnum and .500 S&W Magnum. Add to that the cartridges without the magnum moniker, like the beefy .45 Colt loads that can be handled by stronger revolvers and the derivative .454 Casull, and you have some serious hunting medicine in your hands.
