OTish-500 S&W reloading/H&R questions

[WCF3030]

I will be buying a 500 S&W H&R within the next month or so. I can blame John Taffin and his article http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n16866654 for my affliction.

I will not be loading max rounds for this rifle.
In his article Mr. Taffin references H4227 (IMR4227) often for his loads as well as lil'gun. Given his vast experince I'm sure these are good powders for this setup.
Has anyone else used these powders?
Also given the pressures this load can generate should I use a gas check regardless of the vel I plan to use.

Here are some designs for a bullet that I made with the help of Mountain molds software. I want to end up using one bullet and two loads. One with Unique for a "lite" load around 950-1000fps and then a warm load at 1,300-1400fps.
Bullets will be WW and lee lube.
A 500gr GC


A 440gr GC


Anyways this is one of the ideas dancing around in my head. I also plan to loop 4in off the barrel add a past recoil pad and a peep sight.

[AJMD429]

I will watch this thread, as I'm on the verge of ordering a .500 S&W barrel for my Encore. Almost just got the Handi in it, but since I had the Encore receiver, I figured it was a good barrel to get.

[WCF3030]

btt

[Thunder50]

Why not just buy the Lee mould. Quite a bit cheaper. Also, over on Castboolits.gunloads, someone was talking about the 500 and had an attachment. Unique for 1000fps loads and H4227 for the stouter, hunting loads. It was the "Guns Magazine--January 2007 " issue , had the data

[AJMD429]

Quite a thumper!

I do see that ammoguide.com lists a 254 grain bullet over H-4227 at 2271 fps from a 22" barrel - THAT would be a tad flatter shooting than my .44 Mag can spit out that weight bullet, for sure. More like a 444 Marlin could do, but legal for deer in Indiana.

* * * please go to (link) - http://ammoguide.com/ to view the data! * * *

Way more power than really needed for deer, but if you have an area where you can get 200 yard shots, it should fill the bill easily, or better yet down-load it to more reasonable power levels and save your shoulder! The twice-as-heavy ones you're going to load won't launch as flat, but boy they should plow right through whatever you hit.

[O.S.O.K.]

One comment on your bullet designs. Wouldn't a 90 degree sided grease groove be preferable to that beveled design?

I know that Keith used a 90 degree design on his bullts and that Dave Scovill of Wolf Publishing has written on numerous occasions that this is a superior design to rounded bottom types.

Now, your's isn't radiused but it is beveled....

The primary reason for the superiority is the dispersion of lube - and since you're using Lee Liq Alox (my favorit too) this may not be of any consequence - but if you decide to use a hard lube in the future, the square, flat bottom lube grooves would be better....

Just a thought.

And I'd just go with the 500 grain version myself.

And finally, one of these pads would probably help some with the recoil: (from Cabelas - as shown on my 356 Win Marlin)



They come in different sizes to fit the butt of the rifle snuggly - I think the medium fits the H&R butts correctly.

And if you want to feel some recoil from a H&R single shot, try full house 45-70 loads - 400 grain bullet at 1800 fps. That's recoil IMHO. The rifle only weighs 7 pounds with a scope!

[Rusty]

WCF,
Try the pages here on GB outdoors http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php/board,126.0.html

There are some true lovers of the .500 here. Just to let you know some have had problems with that caliber too. you might want to search the back pages for more information on it.

[WCF3030]

Thank you all for your replys.
I was not aware that lee made a 500gr mold.
O.S.O.K ckeck your P.M.