I was out to Montana last week shooting hiking fishing ect. One of the guys in camp had a 500 in camp with the longer barrel.

I ran a few cly loads threw it. He had hand loads with 350 gr bullets that a freind loads for him unk vel.

With these loads not bad I wouldn't be double tapping a bear with them but didn't have any trouble shooting them. They felt more then then my 44's 320grers at 1300.

Was fun and would have any trouble shooting it again.

I love shooting my 500 Mag, well over 5000 rounds fired in mine. I have had the 500 Mag for a little over 6 years.

Also quite fond of my 500 -- some of the loads can get stout, IMO, but not as pad as a 340PD.

None of the 50 caliber handguns are particularly hard for an experienced handgunner to shoot as long as he stays with 400gr and under bullets -- which in reality are all one needs to adequately handle anything on the planet even at modest velocities.

Shooting 700gr bullets and other such nonesense can be fun, but it's hard on the gun and can be a lot harder on the shooter.

Each to his own, but I'm a handgun hunter first and if the load doesn't help with the hunting, I'm not interested. Other folks have other priorities.

I don't think I would shoot anything under a 450 grain bullet in .50 caliber. You are stepping up in diameter and the weight should coincide IMHO. Probably the best penetrator in the .50 cals I have seen to date is Buffalo Bore's 525 grain .500 Linebaugh load. It lumbers along at about 1,100 fps, kicks less than my .475 Linebaugh shooting 420 grain pills, and will go end-to-end on nearly anything. 700 grain bullets seem to be way too much of a good thing and past the point of diminishing returns. But that's just my opinion.

I've used 440gr hardcast on Cape Buffalo and 325gr from my 500 on a variety of PG in Africa. Never any problems.

440 - 450 grains is the ballpark I was talking about. I just personally don't like light for caliber bullets. For example, I would not dip below 400 grains in .475 caliber as in my penetration testing and the game I have shot, the heavier bullets go deeper all else being equal. Again, a personal preference.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
I don't think I would shoot anything under a 450 grain bullet in .50 caliber. You are stepping up in diameter and the weight should coincide IMHO. Probably the best penetrator in the .50 cals I have seen to date is Buffalo Bore's 525 grain .500 Linebaugh load. It lumbers along at about 1,100 fps, kicks less than my .475 Linebaugh shooting 420 grain
pills, and will go end-to-end on nearly anything. 700 grain bullets seem to be way too much of a good thing and past the point of diminishing returns. But that's just my opinion.

Any disagreement we might have on this subject is in the weeds. I find that 350gr 50 caliber handgun bullets at modest velocities are adequate for even Cape Buff and while I do occasionally shoot 435's, I don't think them any more effective. I do shoot 425gr bullets in my 475 L/B's, but that's primarily because my gun is a tad more accurate with them, not because I think that they're any more effective or penetrate better.

In any case, I don't mean to draw any real distinctions between 400gr and 450gr -- that difference is noise level. My point was basically that bullets in the "range" of 400gr are more than adequate to the job in hunting about anything and are both easy to shoot and easy on the gun. Although, I have been known to wear out the small parts in a 50 caliber handgun even with bullets in that size range -- but that's doing a LOT more shooting than most folks would ever contemplate.

OldHandgunHunter, I agree with you on bullet weights. In my 475 Linebaugh and 480 Ruger loads, I use 400 gr. bullets. In my 500 Mag I use 370 and 440 gr. bullets because they shoot well in my 500 Mags and penetrate very well. In my 510 GNR, I have found 350 gr. bullets to do a great job. I have been shooting some 315 gr. bullets from Andy Rowe from Cartridge Performance Engineering in my Encore barrel in 510 GNR, very accurate and penetrate well. I am sure it will kill any game I shoot with them, short of Brown and Grizzly bear and larger African game animals.

I'm another "heavy for caliber" guy. However, I'm also a "go with what works best" kinda guy.