Casting experiment #1 for the 500 Magnum was a success! Ordered up a Lee 501-440-RF mold, push through sizer and some gas checks last week and had a little time the past couple days to get some boolits cast up, powder coated and GC'ed. They dropped out of the mold spot on a .501" with reclaimed range lead and powder coated very nice--finished weight with powder coat and gas check is 460 grains on the money.
A little 40 grain vs 440 grain comparison...
Sent 100 rounds down range, all with TrailBoss. Tried some seated/crimped at the first and second crimp grooves and in .5 grain increments from max loads (powder right at the bottom of the boolit) to a couple grains below that. It really seems to favor being seated/crimped in the bottom crimp groove. I shot the shorter OAL loads first and was pretty disappointed in the groups--all 10 shot groups were 3-ish inches @ 25 yards off a rest. However, the loads REALLY started to shine seated/crimped in the lower groove with a longer OAL.
Best group/load of the day was by FAR 13 grains of TrailBoss seated in the bottom groove. Good for about 880 FPS, good ES @ 25 FPS and wicked accurate!
Second best was 14 grains of TrailBoss, also seated in the bottom groove--this was a max load for the boolit seated in the bottom groove. Picked up a few FPS at around 920 but the ES numbers were more than double of the 13 grain load. I thought it was interesting that despite it being the same load, each cylinder full grouped in two distinct spots about an inch or so apart...
Dug around in the backstop and recovered a few of the 1+ ounce chunks--definitely looks like the powder coat is doing its job and happy to report the bore was nearly spotlessly clean. I'd sure hate to be on the receiving end of one of those monsters!
I'm going to play around with the 13 grain load a little more... I think there's still a tad bit more I can do to tighten up that group even further and I'd also like to try it without gas checks to see how it compares accuracy wise. Also planning on getting some H110 loads developed--say a little prayer for my palms!
Will update later...
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