500 S&W Reduced load?

[steelworker]

Does anyone have a 500 S&W reduced load? I have quite a few 400gr. flat nose lead bullets. Powders that I currently have: 2400, Unique, Lil Gun, Enforcer, and IMR 4227. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Good Cheer]

Hope someone chimes in. I've wondered about this cartridge and how nice it might be loaded at a mid-range level, maybe even with FFg.

[lunicy]

10 gr of unique in a pistol is relatively tame (recoils like a full 45acp).

[O.S.O.K.]

I was reading that a case full of IMR Trail Boss works quite well and gives medium velocities.

I have an NEF in this caliber. I want to work up a load that delivers about 1400 fps. The 1800-1900 fps loads (440 grain boolit) are brutal on my shoulder.

[justingrosche]

Ive used trail boss in the Big 5 , but in the H&R handi.
I don't have the the data in front of me, but i'm sure I got it out of the hodg/ imr powder guide. Recoiled like a light 30-30 with the 440's.

[hicard]

A couple of friends of mine load 13 grs of tightgroup and get great accuracy, manageable recoil and perfect mushrooms in wet sand out of both a revolver and an encore.

[Whiterabbit]

I load 460, not 500. But I started with a full case of trailboss and it shoots GREAT.

The coolest part, is that unlike rifle the TB in my 460 shoots higher than the full house rounds. So now I shoot several grains low on the TB rounds And the point of impact is the same, high power or reduced load.

Now THAT is cool. I wish I could get my rifle to do that.

not useful numbers for you, but for a 200 grain cast bullet, a full case of TB for me comes to 16 grains (compared to 52 grains of H110!), and shoots 3" high at 10 yards and several feet high at 100. I've got it down to 11 grains now and shoots the same POI and groups great under 25 yards. I still need to test if it holds the same POI at 25, 50, and 100 yards. That would be a dream come true.

[steelworker]

It looks like I'm going to have to get some Trail boss!

[TomBulls]

... a full case of TB for me comes to 16 grains (compared to 52 grains of H110!)...

That's gotta be some STOUT recoil with 52gr of H110!

I was shooting the .500 mag with the Hornady 500gr XTP with 32gr of H110 (~1300fps) and the recoil with my HandiRifle was extraordinary... Something like 25 ft/lbs of recoil if I am doing my math correctly...

-thomas

[Whiterabbit]

all based on the bullet, I've found. 52 grains is max for me, but on a 200 grain bullet. So it's screaming out the barrel, but recoil is not bad at all.

Now, somewhere just over 40 grains of H110 with a 340 grain bullet for me gets absurd.

I don't even wanna try a 500 grain bullet! Too stiff for me, that's for sure!

[Whiterabbit]

By the way steelworker, have you considered using A#9 fr reduced loads? According to the Lee reloading manual 2nd edition, A#9 is good to go down to about 50% max loads by weight.

FYI I was advised by someone else whom I trust very much that they tried #7 and didn;t have luck with reduced loads, but great luck with #9. Anyways, taking that I loaded up some rounds (again, this is 460 not 500) with #9 where the max load was supposed to be somewhere around 32 grains, and I had a bunch of various loads starting at 20 grains.

The 20 grain loads were the most accurate, and the recoil seemed near 45acp levels.

I used magnum primers as some insurance against potential ignition problems, and had no fail to fires for 10 rounds (30 rounds all at various loads under "standard" minimum loads). I just loaded up 30 more @ 19.6 grains to confirm accuracy and ignition reliability, but no data yet, need to schedule range time.

---------------------

So along with TB, I'd suggest trying A#9 as low as you are comfy loading, down to 50% of max.





(I'm also starting to like #9 for magnum loads also, much easier on the wrist than H110!)

[steelworker]

I haven't used #9 or trailboss yet, will look into them.

[Doc_Stihl]

I use 10gr of unique with a 440 for a good all around plinking load in the 500.

[frank505]

Try the Lyman swc (380 grains) and a case full of BlackHorn 209. Goes about 1100 fps and really shoots well.

[steelworker]

I just tried 11 gr. of unique, and it was very mild. Will load some more up and test for accuracy.

[olafhardt]

I use the lee modern minie cast in WW with 2% tin. Iis essentially a huge hollow base wad cutter. I load it over 6.4 grains of Unique. I have tried it regular and reversed. Either way it shoots through three gallon jugs of water. I load the boolits flush. I kinda favor reversed as this takes up alot of cartridge volume. There is very little recoil or noise and a lot of fun. My castings weigh 365 grains if IIRC.

[LowPE]

I have shot hundreds of rounds with trail boss. It is a very light recoiling load just don't compress the powder. It is my goto round for guests shooting the 500 for the first time.

[Alan]

Yep, the Miha 440 Keith bullet w/ TB is pretty mild, and SCARY accurate.

[Whiterabbit]

it's funny how trailboss reduces flinch.

[Alan]

Well, even beyond that - the first night I had the mould, I didn't have a lot of time, and didn't get the alloy NEAR hot enough. It was salvaged range scrap, and needed more tin to cast well, or a lot more heat. I knocked out 100 or so bullets just to have something to stuff in cases. And wrinkled and misshapen as some of them were, they still wanted to shoot better than 2 inches at 20 yards. The next batch I added a scootch of tin, and turned the wick up, so to speak. Almost nothing in the way of rejects, and they REALLY like to snuggle up together on the paper.

I did try some 300 gr HP's over a case full of IMR4895, but they didn't seem to kick as bad as the 440's and TB.

Alan