Looking for advice on bulk .500 SW Bullets. Looking for anything jacketed so I don't have to worry about leading, and 450+ grain preferred. Hornady is getting too expensive to be able to enjoy shooting after I reload them!
Best jacketed .500 SW Bullets?
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- .500 bullets recommendations s&w
OP
The price looks nice and I'm happy they are not hollow points! I'll keep them in mind if I can't find anything heavier reliably. Thanks for the input.
OP
Not quite the black bear killer though I don't think. Although 400 gr. in a JHP is mighty impressive. Might have to look into these for deer though! Did you see the bullets sold separately somewhere or just the cartridges? I couldn't find the bullets in a quick Google search.
Sorry, haven’t looked for them since I haven’t needed any. Got mine in a private deal a couple years ago.
Actually if we believe what a seller on gunbroker says, they are no longer available, but he’ll sell you some at about $1 each plus shipping. Awfully expensive for plinking.
OP
That showed up in my Google as well. Discontinued the solo bullet production. Yeah I may just have to load plinking rounds as close as possible to weight as my hunting rounds. Save my Hornady 500 gr. loads for actual hunts.
nbkky71
Well-Known Member
There aren't jacketed, but Missouri Bullet Company makes coated 400gr FP. At $55/200 pills, it's a lot cheaper than jacketed for casual shooting.
http://missouribullet.com/results.php?category=5&secondary=25
http://missouribullet.com/results.php?category=5&secondary=25
OP
I'm worried about leading shooting them out of a rifle. Longer barrel=more time for lead to come off in my mind. Although I'm not well versed on it by any means
If your bullets are the right hardness and your loading is right, leading should not be a problem.
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It guess it depends on how hot you load them. 500 S&W is rated for 60k psi, almost twice that of 44mag. Can lead bullets, even gas checked, stand up to 60k psi?
OP
You're talking a whole lot of science I don't have the financial access to. I just load a grain above minimum for Lil' Gun and everything that's come out of the business end of my rifle goes straight and hits with a hell of a lot of BOOM. I'm a regular redneck scientist.
Well, you don't HAVE to load them to max pressure.
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Cutting Edge
Yes
OP
With that in mind, I should be good shooting 440 gr. Matt's hard cast bullets and have no issue at all with leading? Also I've heard if you just run a JHP every 100 rounds or so it would take care of insignificant leading for you.... do you know if there is any truth to that?
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According to my understanding, the primary cause of leading is not lead being shaved off by sharp edges on the rifling but the base of the bullet failing to expand and fully seal against the barrel. This allows hot gasses to leak past the bullet base and melt lead off the sides of the bullet. The lower power your load is, the softer the bullet has to be to expand and seat properly. A problem I do not think you will have with even medium level 500 magnum loads.
Leading is often caused by people trying to make soft-shooting plinking ammo with very hard lead bullets. There isn't anything wrong with following lead up with jacketed, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as they say.
*Disclaimer: I learned most of this from CFF's own John Travis.
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I think you might be overly concerned about leading.
The issue you may have is that sizing of a lead bullet is important to leading. Just a little too small and you get leading. Too hard and you can also get leading, but really the biggest factor IMHOis sizing. You aren’t casting and sizing your own, but you should still know what the optimal size is, then you can compare commercial to find what is closest to ideal and not undersized.
Slug the barrel, add .001 to 0015 to that, there is your target size.
For the velocity you want I’d get a gas checked bullet.
As for shooting jacketed bullets to clean out lead, I’ve never believed but also never tested.
The issue you may have is that sizing of a lead bullet is important to leading. Just a little too small and you get leading. Too hard and you can also get leading, but really the biggest factor IMHOis sizing. You aren’t casting and sizing your own, but you should still know what the optimal size is, then you can compare commercial to find what is closest to ideal and not undersized.
Slug the barrel, add .001 to 0015 to that, there is your target size.
For the velocity you want I’d get a gas checked bullet.
As for shooting jacketed bullets to clean out lead, I’ve never believed but also never tested.
The reason I asked, Speer has load data for their UCSP bullets and they specifically mention that they are reduced recoil loads, as the UCSP bullets can't take the full pressure that the Deep Curl bullets can take. I don't know what the failure mode would be, though. I tend to err on the side of caution.