Loading the .500 S&W magnum

[fatelk]

I'm helping a friend set up to load some .500 S&W rounds. He had some loaded before, a few years ago, and has the data from that and a few rounds left. He says they worked fine, no problems at all with them.

The thing I'm wondering about is the load data. They were Lee 440 gr GC bullets over 38 gr H110. My Lyman Cast Bullet manual shows a maximum of 34.5 gr with this bullet. Data I find online seems to be all over, as well as pressure standards for this gun.

We plan on working up some rounds even though we're using the same components (H100 and Lee 440s), but I was just curious if anyone here had experience with this round.

[RIHP]

I load the Lee 440 grain gas check bullet with 32.5 grains of H110 for hot loads and 33.0 grains max for pain.
To save on cost try the Lee 440 grain bullet over 16.0 grains of Unique for a accurate load and 17.0 grains for pain.
Shot these loads out of a S&W 500 8"barrel

[Greg S]

I was loading a Leadheads 440 (429 actually) with a WLR primer and 38 or 39.0 of H110 I believe.