Getting started with .500 mag

[fatelk]

A friend recently bought a S&W .500 magnum, and I told him I would help him get set up to load for it.

He wants to shoot cheap. I told him he bought the wrong gun. He plans on getting Lee dies and Starline brass. The only cheap mold I see is the Lee 440 GC mold.

He wants to load a few near-max loads, but mostly lighter loads for practice, and would like a bullet lighter than 440gr.

Is the gas check really necessary on this bullet? I regularly push .44 mag plain base slugs to 1400 fps without trouble. My thought is to suggest he buy two of the cheap Lee molds and mill the top off one of them to make it a lighter plain base bullet. I did this before with a .45 mold to get rid of the bevel base, but milling off a gas check shank is a lot more than just a bevel. Anyone tried this?

[44man]

I would get Hornady dies.
I use all PB in my big bores. Lee confuses me, the .475 boolit is a PB but the .500 S&W takes a GC.
Since the Lee mold is cheap, get two and mill one down. You still need the GC on one.

[stubshaft]

I have had no problems with the Lee dies in this caliber and have loaded many thousands of rounds eith them. I have also milled the GC off of a Lee mold (22Bator) and it was uneventful. The only thing you have to do is to deepen the hole for the sprue plate screw. Be advised that light loads in this caliber can cause an elevation shift of over 8" at 25yds. You may need to get or install a different height front sight blade to accomodate the rear sight.

Does the boolit need a GC? I don't know but install it anyway and go on my merry way. I have gotten over 1750fps with this boolit in my Encore with no leading using Felix loob.

I tried some Trail Boss loads on the recommendation of a friend and wasn't impressed with them, as I am not a big fan of downloading it too much. I generally shoot loads near the top of the spectrum for both plinking and hunting.

[5.7 MAN]

John Ross has posted data here on CastBoolits using IMR & Hodgdon rifle powders. I have used some of the data and it works well. I bought 440 Grain GC cast bullets from Montana bullet works and they are damn good bullets. I also have a Lyman 375 Grain SWCPB mould that is pretty nice. I have not tried my Lee mould yet. Once you get past your iniitial set up and supplies it really is not that much more costly to shoot than 45 colt or 44 mag.

Dan

[wellfedirishman]

I use Lee dies and they work great for me.

I have used the Lee 440 grain mold with a reduced Trailboss load and was happy with the results. No gas check.

There is a big elevation difference with the light loads, I had to use my tall sight to bring the point of impact down to where I was happy with it.

Once you have a mold and dies and brass this is a very reasonable price round to load for.

For full power loads I like the Missouri Bullet Company 400 grain 'Crusher' bullets, they cost about 17 cents each last time I check.