Thread: 500 BPE load advice

Sharpen the inside of you wad punch.

You can use practically anything to fill the air gap.In the past I have used:

Kaypoc from old life Jackets
Raw Wool (stinky)
Cotton Wool
Rolled Oats
Corn tumbling meda
Newspaper
Felt wads

Best of all is foam backing rod,select the size a little smaller than the inside of your case and about a half inch longer than the distance from the powder level of your load.

When you seat the projectile it will compress and compress your charge too.
It disintegrates upon firing as won't leave residue in the barrel.

@Scout If I can find the direct contact for Bertram brass in Australia I could get some 500 3 1/4" basic brass with the thick rims and turn them myself to the perfect size for my rifle

All the Bertram contacts on line are for USA
The actual guy in Melbourne obviously just makes the brass and doesn't want to deal with emails etc

As I thought. Drank too much with guests so no work on the lathe tonight !
But have the steel and a plan sorted to make a custom sized wad punch tomorrow

I have Bruce's contact some where, ill look see but don't mess him about, that's why he is hard to find lol !


Just remembered, how will you get them to NZ, as no one in Aussie ships now days, last time I picked them up & traveled with them ?

Originally Posted by norsk

Sharpen the inside of you wad punch.

You can use practically anything to fill the air gap.In the past I have used:

Kaypoc from old life Jackets
Raw Wool (stinky)
Cotton Wool
Rolled Oats
Corn tumbling meda
Newspaper
Felt wads

Best of all is foam backing rod,select the size a little smaller than the inside of your case and about a half inch longer than the distance from the powder level of your load.

When you seat the projectile it will compress and compress your charge too.
It disintegrates upon firing as won't leave residue in the barrel.

Foam backing rod sounds good!!

Just deal with Deadeye Dicks and cut the hassles of getting Bertram Brass!!

Originally Posted by norsk

Sharpen the inside of you wad punch.

You can use practically anything to fill the air gap.In the past I have used:

Kaypoc from old life Jackets
Raw Wool (stinky)
Cotton Wool
Rolled Oats
Corn tumbling meda
Newspaper
Felt wads

Best of all is foam backing rod,select the size a little smaller than the inside of your case and about a half inch longer than the distance from the powder level of your load.

When you seat the projectile it will compress and compress your charge too.
It disintegrates upon firing as won't leave residue in the barrel.

@norsk do you mean PEF rod that builders use around Windows?
I have heaps of that I'm a huge range of sizes and sure to have 12mm which would be ideal

Yes I used the 12mm or 12.5mm backer rod in my Nitro loads, works well .

Originally Posted by Scout

I have Bruce's contact some where, ill look see but don't mess him about, that's why he is hard to find lol !


Just remembered, how will you get them to NZ, as no one in Aussie ships now days, last time I picked them up & traveled with them ?

Yes getting them here could be challenging
A friend went and visited him and went throught his workshop and reckons it's worth a trip to Melbourne just to see that

@akaroa1

Yes that's the stuff.You will work out the desired length based on your load.Too much and you can't seat the projectile.

Black powder needs compression to burn evenly,truly loading one cartridge loose,with say cotton wool as a filler and one cartridge hard with foam rod compressed.

Just the sound of the report will tell you all you need to know.

Thanks all you guys
This project has been ripping along and I now feel confident to start some load work once I get in to Gunworks and pick up some FFG

I doubt it's been fired for the best part of a century
My thinking I'd brass would have been a huge challenge in the past.

We are living in a time now where CNC machining and the internet are making these historic firearms usable again

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Thanks all you guys
This project has been ripping along and I now feel confident to start some load work once I get in to Gunworks and pick up some FFG

I doubt it's been fired for the best part of a century
My thinking I'd brass would have been a huge challenge in the past.

We are living in a time now where CNC machining and the internet are making these historic firearms usable again

Don’t tell Nash about the CNC bit, here’s some foam wads I used in my smokeless BP loads on the 500

We will just tell Nash that it's for a spud gun

Neck expanding plugs made
Wad punch made
Have heaps of PEF rod in stock anyway

So powder and its ready to go.
Tie it to a tyre and use a string for the first shots to see how the old girl handles the strain

local gun store here in Canada has Norma 500 nitro express,($149)for 25 also starline in 50-110 win and 50-90 sharps, $90-50 and $110- 50, any of these any good to you, I will be back in NZ in five weeks.