Big Horn Armory Takedown M89 .500S&W—Powerful Innovation

If you were to put together a “wanted ad” for a lever action rifle it could very well go like this…” Looking for a rifle with great handling characteristics, near perfect balance, sights unerringly aligned as soon as the buttstock touches your shoulder. A large extractor mated to a rimmed cartridge for reliability.  Over five round capacity. Powerful enough for any game animal on the planet while still avoiding retina detaching recoil.”  What mental picture have I conjured up? It should be of the Big Horn Armory (BHA) M89 chambered in .500S&W responding to the ad.

BHA chose M89 nomenclature in respect to the Browning designed M86 and M92 lever actions. The M89 is larger in scale than Browning’s legendary levers to accommodate the sausage sized .500S&W. The M89 is Big Horn Armory’s proprietary design made in Wyoming using modern CNC-machining techniques then hand assembled. There are no cast parts in the rifle. BHA components are cut from stainless steel bar stock. Black walnut furniture accentuates the dark metal finish applied.

Big Horn Armory owner Greg Buchel has upped the ante even further with the M89 platform by offering a Take Down version!  With this, the BHA M89 is connected even further to Mr. Browning. In 1905 John Browning received patent #781765 for the only purpose-built take down long gun he designed. It was characterized by splines in the receiver to mate the firearm together.  Big Horn Armory uses an adaptation of this design making use of modern 17-4PH stainless steel for strength along salt bath nitriding for hardness, durability and high quality finish in a way Mr. Browning would surely appreciate.

With the BHA M89 Take Down a row of splines runs the full height of the receiver for the barrel section to interacts with.  This design resists movement in all directions almost as if it were a single piece of steel.  This is different than most other take down levers which use interrupted thread for securing rifle sections together. BHA has tested M89 Take Down prototypes with over pressured proof loads.  The M89 Take Down is simple to breakdown and reassemble. Just mate the splines of the connecting barrel forend to the receiver by pushing upward into alignment and screw the ring nut counterclockwise for assembly and clockwise for break down via knurled knob at the end of the magazine tube.

This ability to reduce by half the size of a Model 89 for transport is much appreciated. This allows the powerful M89 lever rifle to be placed under the seat of a bush plane, inside a backpack, tucked in a corner of a truck or any place to keep the gun close at hand until assembling.

SIZE MATTERS

The BHA M89 Take Down further stands out thanks to its .500S&W chambering. The .500S&W is a straight walled handgun cartridge that creates dangerous game worthy terminal ballistic performance from a revolver; magnified even more when fired from a rifle length barrel.  The .500S&W is an anomaly.  Here is a cartridge designed for handgun use that also offers superior bone crushing performance in a rifle.  This can be said of few cartridges.

 

Smith & Wesson (S&W) does not make any bones about the impetuous for creating the .500S&W cartridge in 2003–recapturing the throne for most powerful production handgun cartridge that was lost when their 44Magnum was usurped by the likes of the .454Casull etc.  In terms of marketing, the mantra of “bigger is better” should never be underestimated; especially when it comes to American shooting public.   

S&W collaborated with Corbon/Peter Pi to create the .500S&W cartridge.  Initial .500S&W loads included 325 grain @ 1,800 ft/s, 400 grain @ 1,625 ft/s and 440 grain @ 1,625 ft/s.  Load availability has expanded greatly with most of the major ammunition manufacturers offering .500S&W such as Hornady, Winchester, Federal etc.  Custom ammunition makers such Buffalo Bore Ammunition quickly realized the potential of the .500S&W jumping on board with a myriad of load options further exploiting the potency of the round.  The .500S&W Magnum comes into its own when used with heavier bullets, particularly those weighing 500 grains or more.

Handloading takes full advantage of the .500S&W, not only in terms of economics, supply, power and accuracy, but also in creating loads that are not at the edge of the power tilt meter. This facilitates practice, which leads to increased proficiency. Bullet selection for the .500 S&W is a handloaders dream ranging from 200 grain to 700 grain with an equally impressive array of bullet types available from hard cast, FMJ, SP, JHP, FMJ, mono, and copper solids etc.  This leads to great versatility when hunting, allowing specific loads for animals from small antelopes to elephants with the same gun.  

500 S&W AS A CARTRIDGE – Editor Notes

One of the benefits of the 500 S&W is the ability to be augmented for a wide range of ballistic needs. In a firearms like the M89, materials and pressures can be increased or reduced based on need. This makes handloading for lighter loads, training, or relevant projectiles easy. The M89 carries a heritage that can transition beyond the standard ‘one size fits all’ and handloaders are the first groups to exploit this advantage.
While brass is pricey from companies like Starline, reusing brass in factory loads and adjusting the powder, projectiles, and loads with available data from Hornady or Lyman, the M89 moved beyond heritage or hunting alone. Now, a user can modify their cartridge for softer shooting with lighter grain projectiles. They can increase the powers appropriately for faster and harder projectiles with lighter grain weights. They could even prepare for the return of the T-Rex and build the load that would be best suited for taking down dinosaurs.
In short, a reloader can use the M89 as a catch all firearm perfect for whatever game or danger presents itself.

HARNESSED HORSEPOWER

Conversations with Big Horn Armory’s CEO Greg Buchel sealed the deal for me in terms of the M89 Take Down chambered in .500S&W versus other calibers.  Greg highlighted the .500S&W strong points even over its fire breathing .460S&W brethren. The .500S&W’s has 23% greater sectional area over .45 caliber rounds.  Size matters!  Energy transfer with a .500S&W is decisive on game animals.  The M89 chambered .500S&W offers Taylor Knock Out (TKO) values in mid-60’s vs mid-40’s for the stoutest .45 caliber cartridges. .500S&W TKO values rival venerable dangerous game calibers such as the .458WinMag and 475 Nitro Express territory.

The BHA M89 Take Down features a stout 18-inch barrel.  It takes a lot of metal to allow for a ½-inch hole to be bored out.  Weight is 8-pounds and measures 37-inches long.  A Skinner rear aperture peep sight mated with enhanced visibility front post.  Installing a scope rail in front of the receiver is an option from BHA.

The M89’s open-top design ejects fired cartridges straight up; the BHA M89 has a bolt that reciprocates on rails machined into the inner walls of the receiver. When the action is closed, locking blocks at both sides of the receiver engage mortise cuts in the bolt as well as matching recesses in the receiver walls for strength.   In this system, the blocks serve to lock the bolt firmly in place against the rearward thrust of a fired cartridge. When the shooter strokes the lever downward and forward, the first bit of motion pulls those blocks downward and out of contact with the bolt. Further movement of the lever retracts the bolt to the rear to extract the fired case from the chamber and eject it.  It takes more time to read description than it does to perform in the field.

It only takes a hunt in thick or steep terrain to be reminded why lever action rifles remain so popular with sportsmen. A few million lever action rifles sold should be proof enough. While the 30-30 would no doubt win any popularity contest of calibers sold, there is a sizable minority who insist using a more substantial cartridge with greater terminal punch.  Muzzle energy criteria so dependent of velocity often does not impress game the size of elk or larger.  Game needs to be anchored quickly.  I can assure you a wounded animal will inevitably head the wrong way in terms of recovery and removal from the field.  The BHA M89’s upsurge in terminal power provides much appreciated terminal punch in these types of situations.

 

RANGE TIME

Sight verification and familiarization of the Big Horn Armory M89 Take Down was done with Hornady 300 grain FTX, Winchester 375 grain Dual Bond, and variety of Buffalo Bore loads ranging from 440 grain Hard Cast and 400 grain Mono-Metal. Buffalo Bore’s 400 grain Mono-Metal is specifically designed for use in the Big Horn Armory M89.  The BHA M89 Take Down was capable of single jagged hole at 25 yards.  My eyes let it down at 100 yards somewhat, though there is no doubt it is well below “minute of any animal” you are pursuing. For me, the BHA forward rail option would be automatic either for mounting a red dot or intermediate eye relief optic i.e. scout scope.

My evaluation focused on the M89 Take Down’s out of the box reliability.  Echo Valley Training Center’s (EVTC) Jungle Walk range was utilized for testing.  The ability to move through its varied terrain and engage randomly placed targets hidden within cover suited the BHA M89 Take Down .500S&W perfectly. Ranges involved were 35-90 yards with multiple shots fired at most of the targets with the tube magazine topped off before moving further down the lane. The Skinner peep aperture offered a clear intuitive sight picture. The emphasis was on accurate shot placement and working the M89’s lever without removing the rifle from the shoulder.  It is a best practice to work a lever action briskly and smoothly to get the empty extracted and ejected cleanly, so the next round is clear to enter the chamber.  Recoil proved manageable. Firing .500S&W with the BHA M89 is a much better experience than out of any .500S&W hand cannon.  The takedown feature of the M89 was explored via taking it apart and put back together numerous times during the T&E.  The stout M89 Take Down lever action stayed sighted in, and no reliability issues were encountered. 100 plus rounds of .500S&W were fired combining Hornady and Buffalo Bore loads.

 

READY FOR ANYTHING

With the Big Horn Armory M89 Take Down .500S&W you skip the line and go straight to the front of the line in ballistic potency.  No excuses are needed for using a straight wall pistol cartridge as the power is there. Few would argue against the lever action being a classic, especially on this side of the Atlantic where the lever symbolizes so much in the American psyche. The Big Horn Armory M89 Take Down lever action is an ideal candidates to push the .500S&W to its full potential.   

SPECIFICATIONS: Big Horn Armory M89 Take Down

CALIBER: .500S&W

BARREL: 18 inch 1:24

OA LENGTH: 37 inches

WEIGHT: 8 pounds

SIGHTS: Skinner Aperture sight (scout scope optic mount available)

ACTION: Big Horn Armory M89 Lever

PRICE: $3999 MSRP

Performance: BHA M89 Take Down

LOAD                                                   VELOCITY AVG.               AVG@50yd                   Best                

Hornady 300gr FTX                               2167fps                              2.25”                         1.75”                        

Buffalo Bore DG 400gr Mono             1878fps                                2.5”                           2.33”

Buffalo Bore 440gr HCLFGC               1798fps                                 2”                             1.5”

Winchester 375gr Dual Bond             1919fps                               2.66”                          2”