Hunting load development in .500 S&W Magnum

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Morne
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Hunting load development in .500 S&W Magnum

Post by Morne »

So...if you're gonna have a big old .500 S&W Magnum you might as well create some hunting loads for it, right?

***CHRONY DATA***

77 F, 29.81" Hg, 40%RH

.500 S&W Magnum 300-gr Hornady FTX 2.220-2.241" COAL
S&W 500 with 6.5" barrel

41.0-gr Lil' Gun powder WLR - AVERAGE = 1622 fps - ES = 148

I'm not sure what I was expecting but this is without a doubt the fastest I have ever launched a bullet from this X-Frame Monstrosity. The blast and recoil was impressive...like re-arrange your eyelashes impressive. I have already loaded the rest of a ladder for this powder/primer/bullet combination (43, 45, 47, & 48-grains of Lil' Gun) but now I don't want to shoot them. Considering pulling these down to recycle components for other things (I like this bullet in .50Beo as well).

In the past I took chrony data on a 500-gr FP-XTP load with 29-ish grains of Lil'Gun that ran about 1200-ish fps. Also intimidating to shoot.

I have no doubt that this will kill an Ohio Whitetail in very rapid fashion.
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Javelin Man
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Re: Hunting load development in .500 S&W Magnum

Post by Javelin Man »

I use 'lil Gun for my .480 Ruger. The Taurus rather stings my hand and my loads aren't anywhere near your recipe. I think I use 21 grains. It is far softer than factory loads and I'm not getting them ready for any whitetail.
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Morne
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Re: Hunting load development in .500 S&W Magnum

Post by Morne »

Javelin Man wrote:I use 'lil Gun for my .480 Ruger. The Taurus rather stings my hand and my loads aren't anywhere near your recipe. I think I use 21 grains. It is far softer than factory loads and I'm not getting them ready for any whitetail.
I have some .44 Mag loads that use up to 19.6-grains. Still, the 41-grains for this .500 S&W recipe is a good 10% below even the conservative max from Hodgdon. The .500 S&W is a VERY high-pressure round.
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