The mighty S&W 500
I recently bought a S&W 500 that I would like to start reloading for. I'm a little confused on the primers to use. The lastest edition of the Hornady manual contradicts itself by listing the primer componet as being a Winchester large RIFLE but at the end of the text in big bold letters it says that all the load data listed was done using large PISTOL primers. Which primers is everyone using? So far I've only been shooting commerical ammo and all the brass have been Starline marked. The head stamp is marked 500 S&W Mag-R. I'm assuming the R stands for rifle primer. A load that I'm considering would be 35.0 gr of H110, large rifle primer, and a 350 gr bullet. Does this sound like a good place to start?
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I asked this same question a while back , and the best guide line is , if the casing has an " R " on it you use a large RIFLE primer .
If it DOES NOT have an " R " on it you use a large PISTOL primer .
Also , I load the 350 gr Sierra JHP bullet using the same load you mentioned with either a CCI 250 or CCI 350 primer depending on the cases I,m using , and shoot them out of 4" & 8 " smith revolvers and out of my H&R single shot rifle . I also use Win 296 powder with a 35 gr charge and both loads work well for me .
I have loaded some 440 gr cast bullets with gas checks , but found them to be down right unpleasent to shoot [xx(]
Hope this info helps .0 -
quote:Originally posted by 375H&H
I asked this same question a while back , and the best guide line is , if the casing has an " R " on it you use a large RIFLE primer .
Well that would be the logical thing to think but to bad it's not absolutely correct. There's still some brass out there that takes large rifle primers that don't have the R on it. I believe it is Remington if I'm not mistaken.
Anyway all I use is Starline brass. It's also worth noting that not all the different manuafactures cases have the same volume either. There's actually a pretty big difference.
In Hodgdon's 2007 Annual Reloading Manual, they mentioned something that I hadn't thought about that I thought I would pass on to those here that reload the 500 Mag.
They said "Different makes and generations of 500 Mag cases also differ measurably in case capacity. In fact, the average difference in grains-of-water capacity between a dozen trimmed-to-length current sample Hornady 500 cases (averaged 67.5 grains) and a dozen current sample Starline "R" 500 Mag cases (averaged 63.1 grains). That's 4.4 grains difference. That's pushing a seven-percent difference in total capacity. Other iterations of 500 Mag cases fall in between these extremes." They go on to say it doesn't take much handloading experience or imagination to realize what the consequences might be should you work up a max-level 500 Mag load in one set of cases and then for whatever reason later decide to reproduce that same load in a set of cases with seven percent less capacity.
Of course the obvious answer is don't mix brands of cases.
Just in case some of you all mix brands of cases I thought I'd past that along.
I use Hodgdon's web site for all my 500 Loads http://www.hodgdon.com/data/pistol/500swmag.php
The max. load that I use is 45.3 grains of H110 using Starline Brass with large rifle primers and Speer 325 Gr. Unicore bullets. Of course a person should always start with the min. load and work up to the max.
Here's another site that has quite a few 500 Mag loads.
http://www.handloads.org/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=500+SqqqW+Magnum&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=
Smitty0
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