I have been lurking for awhile but had to share the fact that I have a new Merkle 470 NE double Rifle. Does anyone reload 470?

A bunch of us reload the .470 NE. What do you need to know?

Geronimo

Yup Welcome aboard. You will love the double, can't be beat for work up close and personal.

Lots of options. I use Bell Brass, Federal 215 primers, 88 grains of Rel 15, Kynoch Nitro Express Wads, 500 grain Woodleigh Soft Points.

When loading Woodleigh solids I load 88.5 grains of Rel 15.

Others use 4831SC powder to avoid using filler (wad).

Check out the Double Forum, lots of information their.

Where does one get their brass from. Buying Federal cape shocks at 260 a box is a high price to pay for brass. Is the 470 a slow or fast powder cartridge? The bullets I found so far (for target work) are a buck apiece, is there a more economical way to shoot this behemoth?

I love the 6 rounds I have fired so far, You can't help but laugh when the trigger breaks.

Welcome, RE. I too have a Merkel 470...as do some others here...and I love it. I took a nice buff recently in Zim with it and handloads I loaded...a nice touch.
I'm partial to Norma brass...you can get it a Grafs...www.grafs.com...or Midway...www.midwayusa.com. They don't give it away, but it lasts at least 5-6 reloads.
I have also used the Woodleigh bullets, softs and solids, with between 88 and 90 gr of RL15 with a Kynoch foam filler. Additionally, I loaded up some North Fork cup points and solids with similar amounts of RL15. All loads I settled on regulate as good or better than the Federal solids that Merkel used to factory regulate it.
You can also save some $$ by using some cast bullets...I haven't...or pistol bullets meant for the 480 Ruger round...I have. These are lighter loads using 5744 powder and no filler. They make great practice loads and some have used them on whitetails and/or piggies.
Use the search button as some stated earlier and have fun. Doubles are fun...but a bit more work to make work properly....but most will admit...it's a labor of love.
Good luck.


Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer

Rine
Welcome to AR. Congratulations on youe double.
Try Huntingtons www.huntingtons.com
and Midway www.midwayusa.com

Midway is usually cheaper on Woodleigh bullets than Huntingtons, but Huntingtons has things like reloading blocks, a bigger case de-burrer, the dies etc. I use a RCBS file trim die for my doubles as I do n ot have to modify a regular case trimmer.

Once you get a load for your 500 gr bullets, order some 350 gr bullets frown Hawk www.hawkbullets.com with the .035 jacket. These should regulate with the same or with in a grain or two of the same powder charge you use for the 500 grainers.
They work great for deer and pigs, black bear etc, and have less recoil.

Cast bullets with Nitro for Black loads are fun to shoot too.

I prefer RL 15 in my Nitro Doubles, with filler of course, for full power loads.

Be sure and get Graeme Wrights book "Shooting the British Double Rifle," second edition.
I think you can still get it from Huntingtons.
What part of the world are you in?

Lots of great info here. Thanks for the replys.
I am in the Austin area but hit the Houston area pretty regularly as well as West Texas, San Angelo Odessa yada yada.

Rine
Why not bring yourself and your 470 up to the Dallas Safari Show.
You can meet fellow DRSS members and think about going to the shoot after the DSC with us.
There are several DRSS members in the Houston/Austin area.

When/ where is the show in Dallas? I would love to go.

My inlaws are in Magnollia, Texas and I am around there every 3 weeks or so.

Hey Rine,

Here is an article from an expert on reloading the .470 Nitro Express. One Saturday at the San Gabriel Gun Club, just outside of LA, I put 68 of these loads into a heavy iron pig. No ricochet problem as the soft lead just splattered when it hit. The exercise was to swing the pig back with the right barrel and then stop it with the left. Easier said than done!

Lead bullets in a .470 Nitro

The real value of using these loads is that they are inexpensive once you have the brass, and as a bonus, anyone can shoot them extensively without any pain. This enables you to become very familar with your rifle as you can literally shoot it all day without any adverse after effects. You can become a hell of a shot with your double rifle practicing like this.

Another thing is that it quickly works the stiffness out of a new gun's action. All new guns are going to be tight until they get shot a lot, and with the price of ammo and the recoil factor, this may take quite a while for the average shooter. We were shooting a Presidential grade Searcy that was as smooth as butter and dropped open like an L.C. Smith on a Georgia bird hunt.

This made rapid reloading a breeze, and I practiced quick reloads holding two extra shells in the web of the fingers on my left hand. The gun had ejectors so it was easy to flip the top tang lever with my right thumb and let the weight of the barrel eject the empty cases as it dropped down. Then, quickly reload with my left hand and snap the barrels back up into battery.

Again, like all fancy manuevers with guns, this was easier said than done as well. However, by the end of the day I had become reasonably proficient. I'm sure that if I went to the range every Saturday and blew 75-100 rounds off, it would only take a month for quick reloading like this to become effortless and automatic. A valuble skill to acquire for any dangerous game situation.

Finally, after shooting the reduced loads all day, I rapid fired 4 full power hunting loads and it was like shooting a pellet gun. I had become so used to mounting the gun correctly and apparently I had overcome the mental dread of the recoil as well. I think it is a good thing to get warmed up before firing full power loads. It shows you how much of recoil is in your own mind.

And one final point, with moderate loads like this, the brass will last a long, long time before you have to discard it. There really are a lot of good practical reasons to follow the advice in this article.

Cheers,

Alan

Rine
The show is at Market Hall in Dallas Jan 12,13,14, 2007.
Check out www.biggame.org

Rine,
I've loaded for the .470 Nitro, since sold, and for the .500/.450. Used IMR 4831 for both and have used Bell and Norma brass. Dies are from RCBS. Heads are universally 500 gr. (480 gr. for the 500/450) Woodleigh solids and softs alike with good regulation. Except... the 500/450 is also regulated for a 350 grain head, likely dating to when it was a black powder cartridge. But I'll bet your .470 will also regulate a 350 or 360 grain head with roughly the same charge of powder as the 500 grainer. (All appropriate warning understood here on reloading!). I use Barnes 350 grain heads (never use any monolithic bullets in a double).
Regards, Tim

quote:

(All appropriate warning understood here on reloading!). I use Barnes 350 grain heads (never use any monolithic bullets in a double).

What do you mean by not using monolithic solids in a double?

quote:

Originally posted by Rine Everett:

What do you mean by not using monolithic solids in a double?

Solid metallic bullets (bronze, copper). Some would say that driving band bullets with reduced bearing surface are okay, but that is between you and the rifle manufacturer. Do not void your warranty!

Rine,

Conventional wisdom has it that the monolithic solids do not compress the way jacketed, even steel jacketed, bullets around lead cores do. Failure to compress puts your barrels at risk of either expanding the rifling out; or of stressing to cause the solder holding the two barrels together to fail. An argument against Barnes-X bullets in doubles is more based in the reality that they are longer because they are monometallic with no lead, and the extra bearing surface adds to pressure. Hence the comment about banded bullets possibly being OK in the earlier post.

One more thing: do NOT use reduced loads of IMR4831SC or of IMR4831. Risk of flashover is said to exist if you do not have very high loading density, and flashover is believed to cause the (very) occasional detonation known in double guns.

Normal RL15 loads at sufficient weight to give best performance in your big bore double ALWAYS have a filler because they are of relatively low loading density. You could presumably add a filler to reduced loads of IMR4831 or to reduced RL15 loads to plink, but that is beyond my experience and I cannot speak with any authority on it.

Regards, Tim

Rine:

Your double is of modern manufacture.....mono solids such as North Fork will be fine. I would not, however, use Barnes or other mono metal bullets other than the NF's....not that they'll damage your gun immediately, but they ARE harder on the gun due to the stresses they put on the barrel/solder connection.

Good luck.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer

Ditto on the 88-90 gr. RL 15 loads with Kynoch wads and Federal 215M primers. I would add that you can get Jamison brass(same as the old BeLL/Mast Technology)from Buffalo Arms Co.

Geronimo