S&W 500 Magnum bullet mold choices

[imdamnedifido]

has anyone experimented with different bullet molds for the 500? looking for reduced recoil without losing accuracy

[Wayne Smith]

Reduced recoil = lighter boolit.

[44man]

Yes and it is easier to get accuracy with a lower velocity.

[475/480]

PM me your email addy .I will send you a ton of data from the SW 500 's I have or have had.
I am down to 5 -500 moulds now but years ago I had 20+ different bullets weight moulds.
So I have plenty of data.

Sean

[imdamnedifido]

Thanks for your response Wayne...my concern is if one goes too light/too short will the bullet tend to tumble/keyhole

[imdamnedifido]

maybe there's a problem with my email but it didn't come through Thanks Brad

[tygar]

You didn't say what barrel length. In my 7.5" 375-385 are easier to shoot & the most accurate. I have several from 375-450, & have tried heavier. The various 300grs shoot better for me. Have jacketed from 300-500 & again the 350-385 range shoot better. The brass turned bullets Dave at C&H Tool & Die makes & uses for Cape Buffalo in Africa at 340 & 375 are extremely accurate. NOE has a couple in that range that I use & even the Lee 440 in a light Unique load is accurate & easy to shoot.

[Motor]

Thanks for your response Wayne...my concern is if one goes too light/too short will the bullet tend to tumble/keyhole

I started shooting the 440gr Lee with the start load using Unique that is in The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition. Recoil is very tolerable and accuracy from a scoped 8 3/8" S&W is nothing short of amazing.

Here is even a lighter but as accurate load:

12gr Unique with a Lee 250gr REAL muzzleloader boolit. Sized to .501" this load has a whitetail deer kill to it's record. You can't get much more pleasant shooting than this. Again this is from a S&W 500 with 8 3/8" barrel which is a pretty heavy revolver.

I have also shot the 340gr? Lee mini ball muzzleloader boolit with the same 12gr Unique load. It looks like a huge wadd cutter in the 500's case. It also proved to be very accurate.

All of these shoot perfectly round 1/2" holes at 50 yards.

I currently use the 440gr Lee with 13gr Unique. This load is as accurate as the others and still cuts perfectly round 1/2" holes at 100 yards. It's also a hoot on water filled milk jugs. :)

All of these Unique loads are used with standard large pistol primers. Which btw work perfectly in "R" stamped Starline brass in three different 500's.

Motor

[snuffy]

imdamnedifido , I too wanted a light boolit for screamin velocity, but that could also be loaded down to tame the fierce recoil of my 8-3/8 BBL. 500. I got a single cav RCBS 375 gain SWC mold. It casts a nice boolit that at first I sized and lubed to .501 and carnuba red. Now I'm powder coating them.


Max charges of longshot powder makes it snappy and sub 1" groups @ 25 yds. Top loads with unique are just plain fun and also quite accurate. I haven't gone full power with them yet, I finally found a red-dot sight that won't self destruct after a few shots. A vortex spitfire has held up well so now I can get some chronograph readings and shoot further than 25 yards.

I also have used the Lee 440 boolit with various powders, again longshot is the best. I've heard horror stories about lil-gun destroying barrel faces and cylinder gaps via flame cutting erosion. Anybody remember WW-630 powder? It too caused a lot of erosion of the barrel faces. It caused my first 44 mag to need a new barrel

[Motor]

snuffy. I'm using 27.5gr Lil Gun which is .1gr over the start charge in the Lyman manual with the 440gr in my brother's 500. He's a little younger and wanted more powder.

Do you think this low level charge will cause problems in the big Smith?

BTW: I have also switched to powder coating. I was very happy that all my existing loads still worked great with the PC.

Motor

[snuffy]

snuffy. I'm using 27.5gr Lil Gun which is .1gr over the start charge in the Lyman manual with the 440gr in my brother's 500. He's a little younger and wanted more powder.

Do you think this low level charge will cause problems in the big Smith?

BTW: I have also switched to powder coating. I was very happy that all my existing loads still worked great with the PC.

Motor

Motor, I don't know how well founded the gas cutting of the barrel/cylinder gap is with regards to lil-gun. Don't even remember where I saw it mentioned. But I do know for a fact what WW-630 did to my SBH 44.

The problem starts with the burn rate of the powder being exactly right for the powder granules to be burning right at the cylinder gap. They act like tiny cutting torches on the barrel face. At first I noticed excessive blast from the cyl. gap. Shooting the Creedmore position alongside my pants leg for handgun sillywet, destroyed the denim jeans in a hurry. My gunsmith checked the cyl. gap it was .018! Under a 30X loop it looked like tiny canyons across the back of the barrel. The cylinder face was undamaged. I sent it in to Ruger, requesting one of the then new 10.5 inch barrels be installed to repair it.

I used some lil-gun to push some of those 700 grainers from the MP mold I got in the group buy some years back. Those huge chunks of lead kick so bad and I believe they stress the whole gun so much that I seldom shoot them now. So far that beast hasn't caused any trouble for my wrists, but at 69 why push my luck. I know for a fact that top 44 magnum loads in the M-29 would eventually shoot-it-loose. I love my beasty too much to over stress it, anyway it's not fun at top loads.

I doubt the damage from flame-cutting would get too bad on the big smith because 20-25 loads is all most can tolerate in a days shooting. The damage to my SBH took 1,000's of rounds over 2 years of practicing for matches and the matches themselves back in the early seventies.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

has anyone experimented with different bullet molds for the 500? looking for reduced recoil without losing accuracy
I use a Ballisti-cast 1436, which is a PB 385gr RF.
For my 4" revolver, I worked up a load using Unique, starting at 12gr. When I got to 17.5gr, I started seeing some signs of high pressure, so I settled on 17.0gr.

[imdamnedifido]

My gun is the 4"
thank you for all the responses I read through them briefly but need to sit down when I have more time and reread them again thank you all!
I've heard some sizing their lead bullets at point 500 and some at .501.just curious where you guys are on sizing diameter. Thank you Brad

[Motor]

.501" for me. :)

Motor

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I size to .501

[imdamnedifido]

OK tks. That's what I was thinking since fmjs are .500. Just wanted to verify

[imdamnedifido]

Any tips for someone roll crimping for the first time? using RCBS

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'd recommend a strong crimp, in a separate function from seating. The RCBS did a better job than the Lee...then I got the Lee FCD, it's better yet, which isn't a stock item, I had to order it direct from Lee. I believe it's listed in custom over runs or something like that, on their website.

[Motor]

I won't use a FCD for cast boolits. I don't want the post sizing ring swaging my boolits inside the case. Although at .501" it probably won't but I'm not willing to take that chance especially when I don't need it.

I use RCBS dies and except for the 440gr Lee my boolits are not even for a cartridge yet I have absolutely zero problems seating and crimping in one step and usually get it set up on the very first round.

I like nice "noticeable" crimp on my 500's ammo even though most of it is on the mild side.

Motor

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Collet style Lee FCD, there is no post sizing ring.

http://leeprecision.com/custom-500-s-w-collet-style-crimp-die.html

[Motor]

Collet style Lee FCD, there is no post sizing ring.

http://leeprecision.com/custom-500-s-w-collet-style-crimp-die.html

Thanks for the clarification. More options are always better. :)

I knew they made the collet type for 45-70 but didn't know they did for the 500.

Kinda strange don't you think considering the 500 was developed as a pistol cartridge. Not strange at all for the 45-70 though which was a rifle cartridge from the start.

Motor

[olafhardt]

7 grains of unique will get a Lee improved modern minie out of the bore of my 500 S&W Handirifle and to a target at 25 yards. It hits a paper plate and curs a nice round hole. You can shoot them backwards to. I did get an oblong hole with a reversed one in a gallon water jug. This load shoots right through 2 gallon jugs of water. My rifle shoots 1/2 " one shot groups.

[Motor]

7 grains of unique will get a Lee improved modern minie out of the bore of my 500 S&W Handirifle and to a target at 25 yards. It hits a paper plate and curs a nice round hole. You can shoot them backwards to. I did get an oblong hole with a reversed one in a gallon water jug. This load shoots right through 2 gallon jugs of water. My rifle shoots 1/2 " one shot groups.

What is the weight of that boolit? As stated above I tried one of their mini balls it's a 320 or 340gr I can't remember. If 7gr will work in a rifle I'm sure it will in the pistol. My older brother likes the 250gr REAL I'll have to ask him if he'd like to try something even lighter in the recoil department.

Motor

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Thanks for the clarification. More options are always better. :)

I knew they made the collet type for 45-70 but didn't know they did for the 500.

Kinda strange don't you think considering the 500 was developed as a pistol cartridge. Not strange at all for the 45-70 though which was a rifle cartridge from the start.

Motor
Lee makes the collet style FCD for all revolver cartridges. I believe we can thank the Ranch Dog for that.

My "kinda strange" ...regarding the 500, I didn't see a "auto pistol" style FCD for the 500 on Lee's website, in a random search on another forum, it was stated that someone contacted Lee as to why one isn't available, Lee said they don't because the carbide post sizing ring would be too thin in that die body...but it was also said, "isn't the carbide FL size die about the same?"...no answer to that?

[Motor]

Yes that is strange but consider this. A carbide size die should only have to withstand enough force to size a casing. The post sizing ring in certain situations like a big old thick jacketed hunk of a bullet seated cockeyed could apply a lot more force to the walls of the ring. I have used the pistol FCD with j-word bullets and you can feel the resistance when you get one that "bumps" through the post sizing ring.

They are probably just playing it safe.

Motor

[snuffy]

http://www.titanreloading.com/pistol-reloading-dies/lee-collet-style-crimp-dies

149807

I gotta get me one of these!

I now use the supplied lee crimpintegral with the seating die. While it attempts to roll crimp, I'd like the collet style crimp like the rifle factory crimp.
(http://www.titanreloading.com/pistol-reloading-dies/lee-collet-style-crimp-dies)
The carbide ring in the sizer die needs help in the form of some lubricant. I CAN size without it, but it flexes my very solid bench and the Lee mounting system, and I hate to subject the brass to all that drag. I give the cases a light spritz of Midway spray lube on one side, then roll the shells between my fingers before sizing.

[tygar]

[QUOTE=snuffy;3387751]http://www.titanreloading.com/pistol-reloading-dies/lee-collet-style-crimp-dies
(http://www.titanreloading.com/pistol-reloading-dies/lee-collet-style-crimp-dies)
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

No truer words ever spoken!

[olafhardt]

What is the weight of that boolit? As stated above I tried one of their mini balls it's a 320 or 340gr I can't remember. If 7gr will work in a rifle I'm sure it will in the pistol. My older brother likes the 250gr REAL I'll have to ask him if he'd like to try something even lighter in the recoil department.

Motor
The data says that mini weighs 354 grains. Mine drop at 365. If you really want light projectiles get 1/2 aluminum, brass, or copper rod and cut off pieces. I haven't done this but one of the African hunters (Buhlmiller?) Wrote that he was pining for a true 500 bore so he could shoot pure copper slugs cut out out of copper rod. I think 7 grains of any fast pistol powder will push the cast slugs out of a revolver. I use 16 grains as a max. You might be able to beagle a 50 cal musket ball.

[imdamnedifido]

Mine is a 4 inch barrel. I am very interested in the Lee 250gr REAL muzzleloader bullet you mentioned. How tight were your groups with this bullet? Im not familiar with muzzleloader bullets...Did you lube size them like any other bullet?

Dies finally came today and I was able to shoot some hornaday 300 FTXs one with less than their minimum charge at 40 gr. Not unbearable kick but more than I want to shoot often. I loaded some up with 16 gr of trailboss and they were better.

[olafhardt]

I just tumble mine in mule snot. Many of the M/L projectiles can be seated very deeply in the 500 S/W case. I seat that hollow base wadcutter even with the case mouth foward or reversed. This helps deal with excess powder space. I add some tin to wheel weights rather than use pure lead just because I do. By using up to 8 grains of fast pistol powder I have a cushion agianst double loading because even if I do double up to 16 grains, this is only the max load I have seen for the big Smith. I don't worry about hanging up a CAST boolit. Heck, 7grains of fast powder is a 357 mag load.

[S.B.]

Although I've owned my 500 for some time now, I have only experimented with 500 grains, 440 grains, 300 grains, and recently I bought a 725 grain mold. I've yet to find any that aren't accurate? Or should I say for me in my gun.
Steve