My first 500 S&W Magnum

[boatswainsmate]

Hello All,
What are some of your favorite powders for this round. I've shot 385 & 365 grain bullets so far with BLC2 and AA#9.
Thanks in advance! Boats

[shorty500]

Trail boss for powder puffs, H4227 for healthy but less than max loading and (oh lawdy here comes negativity from some sources) Lil’Gun for heavy duty stuff

[boatswainsmate]

Trail boss for powder puffs, H4227 for healthy but less than max loading and (oh lawdy here comes negativity from some sources) Lil’Gun for heavy duty stuff

Thanks

[Greg S]

H-110, lilgun pushing a 430 WFNGC.

[69daytona]

Lilgun,H110 and 1680, trailboss and unique for light loads.

[boatswainsmate]

H-110, lilgun pushing a 430 WFNGC.

Thanks

[boatswainsmate]

Lilgun,H110 and 1680, trailboss and unique for light loads.

Thanks

[jeepyj]

Two loads that I've been playing with in a 8 3/8" 500 is a combo mould from Al at Noe moulds.Two cavities are GC and two are PB that comes out just about 400 grains with my alloy.
The first is Plain base running 17 grains of unique that has a speed of 1275 fps and the second is a Gas check version the I've been pushing with 29 grains of AA#9 that runs 1572 fps.

[boatswainsmate]

Two loads that I've been playing with in a 8 3/8" 500 is a combo mould from Al at Noe moulds.Two cavities are GC and two are PB that comes out just about 400 grains with my alloy.
The first is Plain base running 17 grains of unique that has a speed of 1275 fps and the second is a Gas check version the I've been pushing with 29 grains of AA#9 that runs 1572 fps.

Thanks

[TMenezes]

Tried Trailboss, it was a let down, made the 500 into a 22.

I did like 4227 as it made nice midrange loads that felt powerful but fun to shoot.

Tried 300 MP for the max loads, its a good powder, but hurt after a few rounds.

[TMenezes]

Nice gun by the way, I desperately wanted one of those and almost pulled the trigger on it but had my second baby on the way and decided not to buy it at the time. Still want it but I already have a BFR 500 so I'll make due for now. Maybe later...

[TMenezes]

You know what powder has me exited about in the 500? CFE Black, if you look at the Hodgdon's Online reloading data, it has good velocities with low pressure, and you can't overfill and it's compressed way before you run into high pressures.

Can't find it locally and didn't want to pay hazardous shipping for a small order. I am fully stocked on powder otherwise so it's not like I could throw in a bunch of other powders to bring down the cost of hazmat.

If one of you other 500 fans get ahold of this powder could you try it out and report your findings I would really much appreciate it.

[boatswainsmate]

Tried Trailboss, it was a let down, made the 500 into a 22.

I did like 4227 as it made nice midrange loads that felt powerful but fun to shoot.

Tried 300 MP for the max loads, its a good powder, but hurt after a few rounds.

Thanks

[boatswainsmate]

You know what powder has me exited about in the 500? CFE Black, if you look at the Hodgdon's Online reloading data, it has good velocities with low pressure, and you can't overfill and it's compressed way before you run into high pressures.

Can't find it locally and didn't want to pay hazardous shipping for a small order. I am fully stocked on powder otherwise so it's not like I could throw in a bunch of other powders to bring down the cost of hazmat.

If one of you other 500 fans get ahold of this powder could you try it out and report your findings I would really much appreciate it.

Thanks

[Texas by God]

Not to hijack but I'd love to have a .500 S&W lever action for pigs and play.

[TMenezes]

Not to hijack but I'd love to have a .500 S&W lever action for pigs and play.

Bighorn armory makes a dandy if you have the money.

[lar45]

The Lee C440RF is a pretty good bullet. I like to load 4227 for it, it's about the same burn rate as 296, but is bulkier.

[boatswainsmate]

The Lee C440RF is a pretty good bullet. I like to load 4227 for it, it's about the same burn rate as 296, but is bulkier.

Thanks

[readr1]

Great choice on your new revolver! I like H110 under this 700g slug.

[Hans Gruber]

www.mattsbullets.com makes a huge variety of .501" hard cast boolits for the .500 S&W round.

For my 4" barrel model I prefer to keep the slugs "light" so I opted for Matt's 380 grain gas-check boolit which I loaded over 41 grains of Hodgdon's Lil'gun. This load chrono-tested to 1,401fps/1,657fpe which is plenty stout from the compact 4-incher. From my 6.5" .500 the same load clocked 1,542fps/2,009fpe.

I know the super-heavy-weights are all the rage but with a hard-cast slug there is very little reason to depart far from S&W/Corbon's original load formula. A 380gr. slug is only 67 grains shy of "one ounce." For a short-barrel .500 I would limit my bullets to 440 grains (approximately an ounce) due to diminishing returns.