Thread: My new toy: a .500 S&W

Originally Posted by Rich007

A quick update.....

I got the rifle back from Status Guns today. Nelson did a great job installing a rail, hammer extension and suppressor. He also glued up the broken stock. I think I'll still run with the new boyds one, although I'm going to need a proper (non plastic) recoil pad and a new action screw.


I got some 500gr cast projectiles from @shooternz, just need some trailboss and I'll be all set to have a play.

I'll post a picture from my phone later

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Don't use trail boss if you are loading subsonic loads. It gives too wide a velocity spread. What this means is if you do use it your 'average load' velocity will need to be quite low as if not you will be living in the constant fear of one going trans or supersonic and creating a frightening Bang!! I raised this in another thread and one of the other forum members explained that this is because TB was NOT designed to be used as a powder for subs, but for use in cowboy action shooting etc. So use it if you will, but know that if you are not bald now you will be at the end of load development.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

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Don't use trail boss if you are loading subsonic loads. It gives too wide a velocity spread. What this means is if you do use it your 'average load' velocity will need to be quite low as if not you will be living in the constant fear of one going trans or supersonic and creating a frightening Bang!! I raised this in another thread and one of the other forum members explained that this is because TB was NOT designed to be used as a powder for subs, but for use in cowboy action shooting etc. So use it if you will, but know that if you are not bald now you will be at the end of load development.

Thanks for the advice Moa Hunter, what powder would you suggest I use for subs?

unique is popular in the US, AP70 has the same burning finding load data for 500 grain cast is near impossible some one with Quickload could probably
sort out some data,
Trail Boss is usable just don't compress it, That really upsets it,Try 2205 start load with a 500 gr jacket bullet is 25.2 gr for 1000fps cast bullets will go faster
go careful and back off .5 gr steps until it is subsonic.

Originally Posted by Rich007

Thanks for the advice Moa Hunter, what powder would you suggest I use for subs?

I would suggest AS-50N. This works very well in straight walled 44 mag cases, giving a velocity spread of only 1 to 2 fps with a mean velocity of 1020 fps . 7.4 grn x 300grn projectile.

If your case has a similar bore to powder charge capacity / case fill as the 44 it should work otherwise as shooternz suggests.

Thanks @shooternz and @Moahunter

I got hold of some AS-50N and loaded up some test loads to see what velocities I would get with @shooternz 's 500ge cast bullets

Velocities were as follows: 11.5gr:999fps, 11.7gr: 1015fps, 12gr:990fps, 12.3gr: 1043fps

I then loaded up 5X 11.7gr and 5X 12gr to so accuracy and ES testing. This is when things started turning to crap.....

11.7gr Velocities: 1016, 979, 943, 974, 1011 - with a grouping of approx. 1m at 50 yards (not all shots hit the target)

12gr Velocities: 1026, 992, 961, 1033, 1007 - with a similar grouping

Now, there are better shots than me, but WHAT THE HELL!!!

I talked to a mate who used to reload and shoot cast bullets and he thought I might have issues around not filling the case enough and suggested I 'pack' the case with dacron and/or try another powder.


Thoughts ???????...…….

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I would suggest AS-50N. This works very well in straight walled 44 mag cases, giving a velocity spread of only 1 to 2 fps with a mean velocity of 1020 fps . 7.4 grn x 300grn projectile.

If your case has a similar bore to powder charge capacity / case fill as the 44 it should work otherwise as shooternz suggests.

its my understanding trailboss was made/designed for cowboy action shooting and its virtue is that it fills case up nicely with stuff all weight for its volume....yip fellas get knickers in a knot about velocity variation......if you can get it to group and hit what you aim at,the worst you could expect is the odd hotter load going bang instead of phiittt. personally I used LEE spoons to get volume I needed to start with and measured WEIGHT off that and continue to weigh from there onwards,using spoons to get close and trickle remainder. thats not a dig moa hunter,just way I see it....even supersonic loads with trailboss arent that loud in my x39 through a suppressor...waay quieter than a std supersonic higher velocity one anyway.eg more .22lr than a .22mag

In my experience which only goes to 45 cal, the old "std" go to for cast bullets of 10 grains of unique has never failed as somewhere to start.
Ive used dacron and other fillers like rolled oats and found they make no difference.
I have also used trailboss in my 45/70 and martini with sucess as well.
There is no reason to get such shotgun patterns with any powder unless the bullet is either not engraving the rifling (microgroove barrels can be bad at this), is to long for the twist rate and is tumbling, or the bore is a different size than the bullet

missed how bad that was.....a .12ga with solid ball in wad will do better than that....... it WONT be projectiles themself as Robert does an awesome job...... keep us posted.