.500

[BT Sniper]

Dies are availble for order.

Incredible .500 bullets are possible with my dies using scrap 45 ACP brass and 45 cal 255 grain cast boolits for a core. This will give you a perfect 340 grain .500 JHP bullet. Imagine shooting the big 500 for only the cost of a primer and a bit of powder!

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1060603.jpg

[lup]

How much are these and what is the wait right now?

[BT Sniper]

$495 for the .500 die set

$75 for universal die with case prep expanding mandrel to expand and prep 45 ACP for use as .500 val jackets.

$150 Optional BTX notch die to make perfect XTP copies.


I have 8 point form dies made and sending off for nitride processing. I still need to make the core seat dies, get them heat treated and nitride processed. Wait for new orders will be about 6-8 weeks. I have some exisiting orders that need to be filled first.

Brian

[DukeInFlorida]

BT Sniper has sent me some samples of these for testing, and I can attest that they are awesome!!!
My order is one of the orders in line, ahead of you. Can't wait.....

Here's the thread with the details from the samples I got:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?134219-500-bullet-from-45-ACP

My assembed rounds:
http://sebagosales.com/boolits/500-magnum-5.jpg

[JShort]

Dies are availble for order.

Incredible .500 bullets are possible with my dies using scrap 45 ACP brass and 45 cal 255 grain cast boolits for a core. This will give you a perfect 340 grain .500 JHP bullet. Imagine shooting the big 500 for only the cost of a primer and a bit of powder!

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1060603.jpg

New to the forum and I am currently pricing material to build my own swaging press and eventually would love some of your dies aswell but for the time being is there a significantly cheaper route to make some for temporary use on a lee classic? Good Idea or not?

[BT Sniper]

The best swage press for big bullets IMOP was/is the RCE Sea Girt. I do not know if Richard Corbin still offers this press but at $275 it was/is a heck of a bagin on a great press.

The 500 is a big bullet. Yes I can make the same bullets you see pictured above on a Lee Classic cast press, matter of fact I probably did but the lee CC press will benifit greatly from relocating the support linkages to increase the availble leverage and power produced from the press. Dead soft lead cores will also help aid in the ability for lesser powered presses to make this great bullet.

BT

[DukeInFlorida]

I'll be making mine on a RockChucker press. Can't wait!

[Curlymaple42]

Ooh man that would be sweet for the 50 Beowulf!

[tiger762]

Hello!

I see this is an older thread. Do you have this die set in stock?

[BT Sniper]

Yes! I expect to have extras in stock as soon as I get my latest batch of dies back from Nitride processing.

BT

[tiger762]

Awesome! I have an RCECO Walmut Hill. Are your dies compatible with that press?


Yes! I expect to have extras in stock as soon as I get my latest batch of dies back from Nitride processing.

BT

[BT Sniper]

Yes I can adapt my dies to the RCE WH press.

[tiger762]

Roger that. Put me down for a set to make notched hollowpoints. These will be used in a Desert Eagle. Thanks!

[bbailey7821]

I'm anxiously awaiting my set from BT. Any idea when these might start heading out? I've got about 1200 cases and slugs ready to go!

[BT Sniper]

Nitride shop said they where packing everything up. I just talked with them yesterday. As soon as I receive the dies I'll get them out in order to all customers as quickly as I can.

Thanks

Brian

[tiger762]

Has anyone used 40S&W with this die set? I have one on order and have some scrap 12mm diameter brass I would use, but with tons of 40cal on hand, wondering if the 0.425" diameter can be expanded out to something suitable for 500?

[tiger762]

Is it some sort of secret? I can't believe I'm the only one who has wondered about using 40S&W. When I get my 500 set, I'll try it out. Would anyone be curious of the results?

[BT Sniper]

That's a long way to go from .425 up to .500. Anything is possible with enough leverage. A Corbin or RCE press could do it (but why!), a standard reloading press would have trouble. Why stress your equipment though? You spent a lot on a set of dies, save them from abuse and simply use 45 ACP is my suggestion. Going up from .475 to .500 of the 45acp is much easier.

BT

[tiger762]

I hear ya. What do you think about using 45 GAP brass for 500's? I just hate using valuable brass like 45ACP and besides, the 0.75" length of the GAP might be just perfect so as to not need any trimming to length.


That's a long way to go from .425 up to .500. Anything is possible with enough leverage. A Corbin or RCE press could do it (but why!), a standard reloading press would have trouble. Why stress your equipment though? You spent a lot on a set of dies, save them from abuse and simply use 45 ACP is my suggestion. Going up from .475 to .500 of the 45acp is much easier.

BT

[BT Sniper]

45 gap would work just fine for 500 cal bullets

BT

[tiger762]

Sounds good. The only thing I was worried about was the little bit thicker web in the GAP. Wasn't sure if the expander would be able to swell it out or if the result would be egg shaped. I used to swage 40S&W into 44mag with my C&H dies. Was using a reloading press. Those definitely were coming out egg shaped, but still shot OK.


45 gap would work just fine for 500 cal bullets

BT

[tiger762]

Also, can someone with a machinist's straight edge look at how cylindrical the finished product is? When the expanding mandrel does its magic, it starts to encounter thicker brass near the inside bottom of the case.

Does the case rim need to be preserved to pull the expanded case out of the die? I'd like to make up a vise jig to hold 10-12 cases at a time and endmill the rim off, to make the jacket shorter and maybe make the brass easier to swell out to 0.500". The fear of gas cutting on the barrel is what concerns me with having a bullet that is a truncated ellipsoid.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

127161



127162

Notice about 1/2 down the bearing surface there is a tiny wasp waist (pic #1..look real hard). I have tried a harder lead in the core seat die to try to push it out...and tried point forming it a bit harder and can't seem to get it to go away. It is so small it shouldn't affect the performance at all. Plus, think about cast bullets with lube grooves...

And please disregard the jacket that was not cut squarely...

Here is how you square it up....

127163

[BT Sniper]

Looks good. I see you figured out how to square the meplat! Since our bullets still have the rim we can mount them in a standard case trimmer and remove/square the meplat as much as we like.


Good shooting

BT

[tiger762]

Excellent! Thank you! That's what I've wanted to see. I've always been concerned about having a very narrow angle between bearing surface and bore. Not talking about boat tail or the usual small radius that most jacketed pistol bullets will have but rather a wedge shaped void that gas pressure can get in and wreak havoc with. Seems like that would really fry the rifling just forward of the chamber...



Notice about 1/2 down the bearing surface there is a tiny wasp waist (pic #1..look real hard). I have tried a harder lead in the core seat die to try to push it out...and tried point forming it a bit harder and can't seem to get it to go away. It is so small it shouldn't affect the performance at all. Plus, think about cast bullets with lube grooves...

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Are you talking about the wedge that the rim creates?

[tiger762]

More like, from how the brass gets thicker towards the bottom and the core seat process just can't generate enough pressure to expand it out. Not just the rim, but forward of the extractor groove. There will be some transition from base diameter of the original case to the diameter of the finished bullet. I've thought about milling off the rim and extractor groove part of the brass to make the core seat process more effective. But then, that's a lot of extra work. I have a CH #101 in 0.429 that I used to use 40S&W in. Only thing that helps is annealing the heck out of the brass and using the softest lead possible.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I am hoping that with higher pressure loads the heavily annelaed brass and dead soft lead will seal the bore better instead of having gas cutting.