Well I just finished firing the 500 A2 and have some interesting observations. First, it is wonderfully accurate. One hole group at 75 yrds. First case fire-forming load tried was 113 grs of Rl-15 over a 570 gr Woodleigh SP. Hit 2410fps( note the 27 inch barrel worked very well,but a bit muzzel-heavy). Recoil was substantially greater than a 460wby we shot for comparison, but far from unpleasant or un manageable. following case forming,(note substantial increase in case volume occured as the shoulder was moved foreward, I went to 118 grs of RL-15 and the horsepower went up significantly. Hit nearly 2600 fps with the 570 gr woodleigh. recoil got fiercer but still not a problem in the 13lb rifle. Interestingly the weaver grand-slam scope-very low mounted held together and there was plenty of eye-relief(no problems there).
The interesting issue was we had some wet 30-40 lb oak logs at the ranch and fired some rounds from both guns into them at about 15yrds. A 460WBY Woodleigh, 550 grs SP with a hefty load of IMR4350 (115grs) would jar the log on impact but not move it off its stand. The full bore 500A2 twice knocked ( read threw) the log off its stand. Penetration was somewhat less with the 500A2 vs the 460WBY but wood damage appeared much much greater. The oak appeared pulverized( read powdered). Recovered bullets and the apparant volume of the disrupted wood indicated in this crude test that the 500A2 was hitting one heck of alot harder than the 460WBY.
For ha-ha's I also made up some Plinking rounds out of 647gr military .50BMG bullets over 55 grs of XMP5744. Because of the long throat I could seat these bullets to the cannelure. Hit 1650fps. These were great fun as the recoil was low and accuracy pretty good. Shot at some big rocks about 300 yrds out and was able to hit them consistently after figuring out the hold-over.
The gun performed beautifully and the CZ stock actually held-up to the pounding extremely well with the additional cross-bolts and steel-bedding giving no sign of cracking.
This rifle is a blast, but I could not talk my friend into trying it. A pity!-Rob

Bravo, and congratulations! You don't have a digital camcorder so we could view the action, a la Saeed's videos, do you?

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Rob,

I am glad you like your new toy. It is as I have always said, once you shoot a 50 you won't go back!

Todd E

Rob could you get some sort of pictures up of the destruction it caused to that oak. I love these scientific tests people conduct. And any recovered bullets, could you do a wet newspaper test as I just want to see what a 570 gr woodleigh expanded looks like.

Regards PC

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PC,

If they look anything like the 570 gr Woodleighs I have dug out of buffalo and bison they will be rather shrapnel looking with a total width of between 1.1" and 1.5".

Rob,
Please if possible give us pics.

Todd E

I'll try and take some digital pictures next weekend.The 570gr Woodleigh's I recovered were totally mushroomed and weighed about 450grs. They were about 1.125-1.345 inches. They looked Like a big oblong lead ball. There was alot of small fragments and powdered lead in the oak. The second one I dug out was still warm to the touch! I still can't get over the impact this thing had on the log. I've never seen anything like it before. I do keep a lot of old phone books and stuff up at the ranch and perhaps I'll wet some up and see what kind of comparative penetration I can get. I just hope I have enough Phone books!-Rob

Rob,

I think a lot of us wish we had a ranch to test on!! My 500 A2 is built on a 30-378 with factory wby stock. Recoil is similar to 460 which is also Mark V w/ factory stock. Maybe the heavier brake on the 500 makes up for the difference.

does the barrel have a barrel lug, or is all you have is the lug on the action?

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NRA Life member

Bear Claw- I made a second barrel recoil lug by lathe turning some 1 inch long, 1.2 inch steel rod to just over barrel diameter and internal tappering it to match the barrel contour. I then Tig welded on a remington recoil lug, followed by cutting off the upper 3/4 of the Barrel/lug band. I then dramatically reduced the size of the recoil lug to fit the stock. I just drilled and tapped the barrel and band/lug section and inletted it into the CZ stock. I steel bedded the second recoil lug as well as the whole action.
Frankly, I'm not really sure that just steel-bedding the action would not have solved the problem completely anyway. Hard to say. Nevertheless, using this method you can't even see the second lug and so far no cracks and the gun has shot a few max loads. I'm sure you follow all of this and maybe have a better solution as I know you are a real gunsmith rather than just an experimenter like me.-Rob