.505 Gibbs

[lngrng50]

Does anyone know of an existing plain base, round nose mold made specifically for the .505 Gibbs in the 550 grain weight range?

[Hickory]

Double post

[Hickory]

What is the bore/groove diameter of the rifle?

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=16

[Blackwater]

Mountain Molds will make you a custom designed, one-off mold of your design for a very reasonable fee. He's set up to do that sort of thing, and I don't have one, but I've never heard anyone say anything bad about his molds, and most praise his work. If you're going to heat the loads for them up, you'll need a gas check model. I'm sure regular .50 cal. gas checks would fit, but you'd really need to confirm this before ordering. NOE Molds also might be a good place to ask. I like their molds a lot, and have one, and plan to get at least a couple more.

I'd think it'd be rather easy to load some softer bullets and shoot them without the GC's for very mild loads, so you can get to know the handling of the rifle well. A friend recently had a fellow bring him a .505 to sight in and test fire, but he had to refuse because of health reasons. He was offended he wouldn't do it for him, even though he himself was afraid to shoot it! I've always had a secret desire for one, just for the mystique and headiness of it, but alas, I've waited too late, and now, am in much the same position of my friend, when it comes to that level of recoil now.

Guns like the .505 bite on BOTH ends, which is why it'd be really good to create some milder loads that you can shoot without undue pain.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of gun is your .505. Is it an old British made gun? Those things are SPENDY now!

[lngrng50]

Short answer is I don't know. I don't have the rifle yet. It's on order and I'm just trying to get ahead of the ammo curve so I'll be ready when it is complete. It is a Montana Rifle Company SCR so I'm assuming (I know, I know) that it will be the standard .495/.505. Thanks for the link, I had already looked at that page.

[lngrng50]

Thanks for the reply. I will probably wind up having a mold made. If you have checked my reply to Hickory you've seen that I don't have the gun yet. It's on order from Montana Rifle Company. I'm just a crazy old fart that has a fascination with big bores for my feral pig control. So far I've used my .45-70, .375 Ruger, .416 Rigby, .458 Winchester and .460 Weatherby and they all seem to kill pigs pretty well. Thought I'd get the Gibbs to see if it would do any better.

[elk hunter]

Having shot the Gibbs with factory ammo I can't imagine that it wouldn't kill anything you point it at even with a cast bullet. Fortunately we don't seem to have a pig problem where I live but, it would be fun to hunt them and I too like big bore rifles so I'd probably want to try something big like a 577 with cast on a few of them.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'd ask Montana what their actual "Bore Dimensions" are that way you'd know for sure. They probably know exactly what they are since they are making the rifle..

Probably going to be a pretty nice rifle.

Randy

[lngrng50]

Yeah, that's the next step.















































Yeah, that's the next step. They make their barrels in-house so they have to know the dimensions. If it's as pretty as the pictures, it will be a mighty handsome rifle.


D.C.

[Lloyd Smale]

there are molds for the 500 smith and 500 linebaugh that are that heavy and probably would work in it.

[smoked turkey]

Ingrng50 Good evening: I have been out of town for the holidays and missed this thread on the .505 Gibbs until now. I received my .505 Gibbs from Montana Rifle a few months back. I have been going through several iterations trying to get to where I think you will also want to go. Possibly not, but I think you could benefit from my experiences since I have overcome several hurtles already. I have used the Lyman 515142 which is a plain based RNFP and casts up at 509 gr. and a as cast diameter of about .510, and I size it to .509. My groove-groove diameter is .5048". I had Tom at Accurate Molds make a mold specifically for the Gibbs that is his 51-520GG. It drops from the mold at .509 and is gas checked. I am having Patmarlins make me a Checkmaker specifically for this particular boolit and will use .014 aluminum for the check . Just for your information, I discussed the plain based boolit idea verses a gas checked version with one of the gurus at Accurate Power (I am using 5744) and they convinced me that I would probably get more accuracy with a gas checked boolit. I also had a sizing die opened up to .507. So that gives me a small variety of boolits to try. Meanwhile, I am using the 525 grain Hornady DGX softpoint for my barrel break in procedure. I have given you enough information to chew on for now. If you need any other information you can always send me a PM. Good luck with your endeavor to find the perfect "hog load".

[Wayne Smith]

You have the time. Go over to Mountainmolds and play with his design software. You will learn a lot in the process, Dan is good at answering questions on his forum, and makes good molds - I have one.

[smoked turkey]

.505 Gibbs with a 525 gr. boolit using IMR SR4759? I currently use Accurate 5744, but almost out. I have a good supply of IMR SR 4759 and would like to find a good load using it with the Gibbs. Any and all thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

[paul h]

Fortunately the Gibbs has a nice long neck so you shouldn't have any issues with keeping the base of gas check in the neck.

I tried 600 gr cast in my 500 Jeffrey and accuracy was poor which I believe was partly due to the gas check being below the bottom of the neck. Oh, and 600 gr @ 2200 fps leaves no need to check the primer for dimple to see if the round went off ;)

[smoked turkey]

paul h I can believe that. I have fired several reduced Hornady 525 gr soft nose at about 1500'/s and some of my cast at the same speed. I've only fired one factory .505 Gibbs and it was a Kynoch 525 gr. solid. I do have an opened but full box of Norma 540 gr. solids. They are beautiful to look at but I fear they kill on both ends. One day I will get the nerve to pull the trigger on one. I got the .505 as a cast boolit shooter but I still want a little wop to it. I think my cast generate about 2500 ft-lbs of energy. I think the factory stuff is about 6500 ft-lbs. I can imagine those numbers are similar with the 500 Jeffrey.
I am just in the learning stages of my rifle and have enjoyed it so far. I am getting the necessary mold, sizing die and gas check all together. I can recommend Tom at Accurate molds as a supplier for the mold and Patmarlins for the gas check maker. They made products suitable for the .505 bore. I believe your 500 Jeffrey is something like .510 isn't it? Seems molds, gas checks, and sizing dies are made for that bore diameter. That is all stuff I didn't know when I decided on the .505 Gibbs. It has been slow to come together but I think I am about to get there. Now I need some load information for cast boolits in the Gibbs. I would like to use the IMR SR 4759 powder I have on hand. Thanks Paul and look forward to hearing more from you.
Stan

[paul h]

That was my starting load, 100 gr of RL 15 lit off with a Fed 215 :lol: It's the only gun I've had that I didn't work my way up after a starting load. I figure the gun should be capable of pushing 600 gr 2400 fps, I don't think I'm up for that. Shooting from the bench I was pushed back a good foot.

I'd had two 458 lott's prior to the 500 Jeffrey, and while the lott pushing a 500 gr @ 2200 fps really gets your attention, pushing a 20% heavier bullet the same speed is just a whole other world of recoil.

On the upside, I was shooting 470 gr cast pistol bullets ~1100 fps and those were quite pleasant to shoot. I have to check my load notes as I don't recall how many grains of Unique I was using.

Yes, the 500 Jeffrey uses .510" bullets. The whole reason I got myself into the 500 Jeffrey is I was thinking about a 500 Whisper as a cast bullet rifle and started looking for a barrel blank. Well one buddy had gotten a 0.510" 1-15 douglas barrel and 50 500 Jeffrey cases for a rifle he didn't end up building and offered me a price I couldn't pass up, another buddy offered a P-14 Enfield action at a price I couldn't refuse, and my gunsmith had a 500 Jeffery reamer he'd been dying to use and offered to fit and chamber the barrel at a very reasonable price. He also ran the throater in extra deep so I can single load 50 bmg bullets. I figured 2/3 the velocity of a 50 bmg buring 1/2 the powder seemed like a good idea. But, those loads in a 10+# rifle without a muzzle brake, not such a good idea :mrgreen:

Next thing you know (well maybe close to a year) I find myself behind this thing

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/evefiles/photo_albums/4/8/1/481101382/6861020301_DC4689E96C73BBC6C01464FC9913FBAF.JPG

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/evefiles/photo_albums/4/8/1/481101382/2961020301_5CF1F6329A8C000791B540E9C92F6E22.JPG

One of these days I need to send it off to Duane Wiebe to make custom bottom metal and work the rails to make it a repeater. Then I need to either get a semi decent piece of walnut to make a stock, or try and find a decent synthetic stock but options are limited. At the moment it's just a single shot.

[smoked turkey]

Wow Paul that is a very nice rifle you have under construction there. It probably makes more sense to go with the Jeffrey at .510 instead of .505 since that seems to be the size of most 50 caliber rifles. I didn't understand all that when I started. But all things considered I will be happy with the .505 Gibbs after I get it all sorted out and together. I still am waiting for the gas check and a .505 sizing die. Meanwhile I am shooting it with J words to break in the barrel and gain some rifle time with it. I have posted a picture of it along with a couple of Gibbs rounds with a 30-06 and .223 for comparison. The left cartridge is a Norma 540 Gr. solid, the second one is my handload consisting of an Accurate 51-520 GG at 525 grains. Thanks Paul for the information on the wonderful 500 Jeffrey. Enjoy it and when you can I would be interested in your Unique load as it sounds like I should try to work up something similar for the Gibbs.

[paul h]

While the .510 bore is slightly more practical, it's not like you can find the component bullets on the shelves, so I think there really isn't much practical difference between the rounds and custom molds cost the same whether .507" or .512" If one wanted a "practical" 50 then I'd say one based on the 460 Weatherby i.e. 510 Wells or 500 A square makes the most sense as brass is much less expensive and it has enough case capacity to push 530-600 gr bullets as fast as you'd want. I also think they have longer necks which makes them more cast friendly than the 500 Jeffrey. I'll try and dig up my loading manual. We moved a little over a year ago and I still have boxes of books in storage.

[JimP.]

nei handtools has a .505 480 gr bullet...JimP.

[lngrng50]

Thanks, everyone for the information. I've been out of pocket for a few days, hence the slow reply. I got my dies (finally, they had been on backorder) last Friday and then had to wait for the weather to warm up before I could get in the shop. Got the bushing for my press finished on Tuesday. Made it out of 17-4 stainless. That stuff sure does cut nice. I went ahead and set up the dies with some Barnes 525 gr. TSX over 60.0 grains of 5744. According to QuickLOAD, that should be good for about 1850 fps and 3985 fpme. Now all I need is a rifle to try this stuff out in. Once I get the gun, I'll get serious about the cast boolit project. Thanks, smoked turkey, for your particular insight into the Montana .505.

[smoked turkey]

lngrng50 glad you made it back in the thick of shooting the Gibbs. Sounds like you are on the right track. I am shooting 50 Gr. of 5744 with both my 525 Gr. Hornady DGX, and my Accurate 51-520GG 525 Gr. gas checked RNFP. I got my Gibbs with the intention of only shooting cast boolits. My J words bullets are being used for barrel break-in at the present time. What die set did you get? I also had to get a press with a taller window opening than my old Rockchucker had. It worked, but like a duck on roller skates, it can but didn't want to. Can you give me any good starting load information for IMR SR-4759? Last question for now, when is your new rifle estimated to arrive? I know you are anxious. I will be anxious to hear how it goes with you.
Stan

[lngrng50]

Stan- I got the standard RCBS 3-die set and it came with 2 bullet seating stems. One for round nose and one for spritzers. I have a Lee Classic Cast press that I got several years ago when I got my .416 Rigby and the old Rockchucker became a little bit of a challenge, like your duck on skates. Still use the Rockchucker for some of the more basic stuff like de-priming and pulling bullets but the Lee gets the bulk of the loading chores these days with a Dillon for volume handgun. I just recently got that QuickLOAD program and it is the most recent release but for some reason it has no information for SR-4759. I found information for Accurate 3100 which has been off the market for quite a while and for several of the newer powders but nothing for 4759. Out of curiosity, I entered some of the data from the newest Hornady handbook for the .505 into QuickLOAD and the program indicated a serious overload but there is a prominent warning that QuickLOAD data should not be used in place of actual handbook data. I did the same with some .460 Weatherby data and there was an almost exact match in the results. I am not a dedicated cast bullet shooter in my rifles but wanted to use something less expensive in the Gibbs for familiarization and practice . I will never be confronted with anything more dangerous than a mildly irritated hog but it's still fun to shoot them with one of the big guns. I have never been too keen on reduced loads but I have to admit that 10 or 15 full house .460s is about all I want to enjoy at any one sitting these days so I got a keg of 5744 with the intention of turning over a new leaf. I ordered the rifle the second week of December from Reeds Sports and their website indicated 30-90 day delivery but I talked to a customer service person a couple of days after I placed the order about another matter and he told me that currently Montana Rifle Co. is running 4-5 months behind so I'm looking at May or June. That picture of your gun sure makes me hope it's sooner rather than later. Dennis

[Good Cheer]

Hey there.
Just a thought for you about loading your .505.

My brother lives near Mexia.
He got tired of hogs running off leaving their lungs laying on the ground so he switched to paper patching straight lead. It's loaded up around 1700-1800, shoots sub-MOA in his 1885 and he worries me that he's giving himself shaken baby syndrome.
Now the pigs don't leave. When it's best that they do leave then something else besides straight lead heavies need to be used.
185614