.500 S&W Handi

[jumbeaux]

I have been kicking around a .500 Handi but I would really like to load with cast and FFG BP. I was thinking the case would possibly hold 65 grains and I was gonna try to duplicate the 50-70 BP load.....anyone played with this and what would the recommended cast bullet be ?? Would love to hear your ideas.....

rick

[Cbenc1]

Ive been using 50-70 smokeless loads from the lyman cast bullet handbook in my .500 handi with the Lee .500dia-460 grain flat point.
Packing as much BP in the case as you can get with one of these boolits I think would be an excellent combination.

[Clark]

I was going to work up a load in a 45/70 handi rifle I got for $100 10 years ago.
I did the math on calculating how strong the rifle is [with help from my gun designer father and a mechanical engineering professor]. It penciled out to be much stronger than the brass.
There were 3 levels:
1) Trapdoor
2) Lever action
3) Ruger #1

I worked up to double the powder charges of Ruger #1 to verify my calculations. The brass flowed into the extractor, but the primer never pierced.

Then I fired a single shot of trapdoor loads with the butt of the stock against my shoulder.
It kicked me back several feet, made a stinging pain in the shoulder, and punched me in the face harder than either of my brothers ever did.

I did not shoot the rifle again for a year.

Then Marlin bought Handi rifle and made a public statement that the handi rifle was only good for the lever action level hand loads.

What does it all mean?
1) The handi rifle is made of thick steel, and can take a lot of pressure, but the human shoulder can't keep up.
2) There are some errors in the gun culture.

[Good Cheer]

Been wondering if I can use a bore riding design in the 45Colt Handy and seat it into the rifling using the case full of black with a lube wad in the case mouth.

[MBTcustom]

I've got two words for you.
Want one!!!!!!!!!

[obxdude]

loading the 500Smith to match the 50/70 loads is easily done with AA5744 smokless loads and or 65 grains of FFFg black powder, both loads shoot very accurately in my Handi Rifle. Have fun. JimP.

[jhrosier]

Rick, here is some data that I posted about my .500 Handi rifle a year or so ago...

...
The ammo was the same load of a Lee 440gr boolit and a 1/32" poly wad over 50grs vol. of Hogdons Triple 7 powder. BTW, the Corbon cases use a LR primer and I used the same WW LR primers from an older (white box) lot.

I have, so far, not been weighing the boolits and have used any without obvious flaws.
The boolits are cast from 4-4-92 alloy and water dropped. I dip the boolits in melted Lars Carnauba Red and then push them through a Lee 0.501 sizer. Although the boolit shank is rebated for the use of a gas check, I chose to not waste a nickle on a check when I can punch out poly wads for free. The boolits are seated over a 1/2" diameter wad that I punch out of .030" polypropylene. I seat to the lower crimp groove which gives light compression to the powder charge. A light crimp removes the case mouth belling, plus just a bit more. The powder is measured with a Lee 3.1cc dipper.
......
I fired 5 rounds on each of 4 targets at fifty yards.
The groups averaged about 2", but each target would have a tight cluster fo three or four shots inside an inch, with one or two fliers doubling the group size. My best two targets of the day were each four shots well inside an inch, each with a flier opening the group to about 1-1/2".
...

These loads were a lot of fun to shoot. The cases clean up easy with dish soap and hot water.
There was little fouling and the rifle cleaned up with a couple of wet patches. The Lars Carnauba Red seems well suited for either black or smokeless powder.

Jack

ETA: the T7 that is mentioned above is the ffg grade. Never use the fffg grade in cartridge guns as it will produce very high pressures!

[JIMinPHX]

I think that onondaga has done a fair amount of fooling around with a .500 Handi. You might want to search out some of his old posts.

[jumbeaux]

Dug this backup...gonna start playing with the Remington Navy Carbine Rolling Block Load...50-45-400...old age and joint disease are slowing me way down. Anyone have experience with this load ?

rick

[curator]

Been there, done that, not great results. You can do a search on cast boolits and find my original post. Accuracy was good for the first 2 or 3 shots and down hill from there. The Lee 440 grain boolit does not hold enough lube for black powder. My experiments with Pyrocr@p RS and Triple seven were about the same. The 55 grain FFg load does have mild recoil, but accuracy suffers. On the other hand, a load of 23 grains of SR4759, and dacron "filler" turns the Lee 440 grain slug into a real tack driver. Clover-leafs at 50 yards, and 2 " 5-shot groups at 100 yards off the bench rest.

[Good Cheer]

Muzzleloading it with a paper patched over greater charges of FFg might work better.
I'm eventually going to get around to doing that with the .45 Colt.

Loading as for an 1860's type breech loader lets you get more black behind the boolit than putting the slug into the case but muzzleloading will provide for a much broader range during load development.

[Gunslinger1911]

Wonder what it would be like to light off some of those BP loads in a Smith revolver ? haha

[Wagnerwerks]

Wonder what it would be like to light off some of those BP loads in a Smith revolver ? haha

Bright!

[Mgderf]

I bought a Handi-Rifle in .500S&W a couple of years ago because it came up for sale, and my friendly neighborhood FFL KNEW where he could sell it...

I bought the rifle, about 250 factory rounds of different flavors, 300 bright shiny new Hornady cases, and a set of Hornady New Dimension Custom dies, all for under $300.

It's more or less been a safe queen, but it will see use, eventually.