To fill in a little background, I have been buying up a bunch of guns recently - forsaking other forms of entertainment in order to purchase all the guns I want before the VCR death knell sounds.

Having got a stock SMG, an upgraded 'sniper' rifle, an assault rifle, a grenade launcher, and a whole ton of pistols (including a mac 11) I pretty much had everything I wanted. Barring winning the lottery and getting the 3P minigun, my collection was complete.

Except for a skirmishable revolver.

Having sought the advice of a few revolver owning friends, the advice was always the same - Get a Tanaka.

I started looking through WGC, and I was tempted by several pistols, but the one that caught my eye was the S&W 500. After fondling one of these hand cannons at airsoft scotland a month or so back, I remembered thinking just how grinworthy it was.

One quick trip to GunsAndGuys and a flurry of e-mails later, and the revolver is winging its way to me.

(Side note here:- Peter Chan at gunsandguys was incredibly helpful, honest, and generally on the ball thoughout the sale. Two thumbs up for customer service. Plus I don't know many other HK retailers that can have a gun ON YOUR DOORSTEP within two working days of ordering it.)

OK, So I feverishly unwrap the box. Christ, I'd forgotten just how big this gun actually is. 8 inches of barrell and a large cast frame make this a true cannon of a revolver. Hardcore actually giggled when she saw it - it WILL lead to smutty comments about wether the owner is compensating for anything. Fortunately I'm comfortable enough in that department to not be concerned with such matters.

Gas it, load it, fire it. Hmm. The range seems awfully short. OH NOES! To the manual. Figure out how to adjust hop up. This makes all the difference - I've never seen bb's increase in range like this before, but tuning the hop on the 500 almost triples the range of the pistol. I know it outranges my m4, so even without a chrono I have no reason to doubt claims that the pistol outputs 400FPS on green.

The only niggle I would have with it is the small ammo capacity - 11 rounds. This makes for a specialised skirmish piece, in my mind - it's not something to go for as a first pistol, or only sidearm. The is the gun you pull out just before a last stand, or to storm a room with pyro and agression - it's a scary thing to have pointed at you.

I shall be testing it in anger as part of 'The London Job', so more reports to come.