Smith & Wesson has assembled an “Emergency Survival Tool Kit” that revolves around their 460PD or 500PD revolvers, it is available with either. S&W’s Herb Belin, who developed this kit, emphasizes the short and very powerful .460 S&W and .500 S&W Magnum handguns as defense against bears. The idea of the snub nose is that it allows easy use even if attacked while in your sleeping bag in a tent, according to Herb. A longer barrel would make it more difficult to use in such a confined place and at point blank range, accuracy isn’t that much of an issue. That’s not an unheard of occurence, so he has a point.
The revolvers is equipped with a 2.75 inch unported barrel and a bright yellow Hogue Recoil Reducing Grip. Unless they are truly magic, best be prepared for a very sore hand after firing this one on the range. Anyone with a weak grip need not apply.
S&W Survival Kit
The remainder of the kit includes: an Ultimate Survival Blastmatch firestarter and four packages of WetFire tinder, Ultimate Survival Saber Saw, Jet Scream whistle and 2 x 3 StarFlash signal mirror, a Silva Polaris baseplate compass, two MPI Mylar Space Emergency Blankets (Note to Herb, see above article) and a Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops liner lock folding knife. Also included is the book, “Bear Attacks of the Century – True Stories of Courage and Survival” by Larry Mueller and Marguerite Reiss; just in case you weren’t paranoid enough about bears. All this is packed into a fitted bright yellow Harddig Storm Case. A ballistic nylon holster for the revolver is included. MSRP is $1150.






