A short article some may find interesting on the history of woodleigh bullets and one of the owner Geoff Mcdonalds early creations http://www.woodleighbullets.co...ce/woodleigh-history

Am getting the second ever made now and was considering load data and also powder choice early for powerful loadings.I don't have a case on hand yet for this one but am assuming it is going to sit somewhere between the 500A2 and the 550 magnum being off the Wby case also.
Any of the 550 guys care to weigh in with their best loads or favorite powders?

Hi Karl,
530 McDonald? I always think of 505/530 Woodleigh from COTW wildcats.
Based on 505 Gibbs necked up.
530 McDonald is based on 460 Wby?

Glad you are still kicking.
The Woodleigh history is inspirational.
I did not know the company only started up in the mid 1980's, seems young, or I am getting pretty old.

So you are having the second ever 530 McDonald rifle made?
That one was less popular than some of my wildcats, and just about as popular as the rest of my wildcats so far.

That too is inspirational.
I will be using some Woodleigh Weldcore bullets in the 500 Mbogo Short.

Noting the .530/750-grain Woodleigh Weldcore soft at 2100 fps: Low pressure, Buffalo Killer Ne Plus Ultra
Also adequate for whaling if you can attach a line to the base of the bullet.

Noted my confusion above.
505/530 Woodleigh vs 530 McDonald.
Corrected by referring to COTW.
Both by Geoff McDonald of Woodleigh Bullets.

530 McDonald aka 530 Woodleigh Magnum in 1982, 460Wby based.
750-grains at 2150 fps "at acceptable pressure" in a 24" barrel.

505/530 Woodleigh, .505 Gibbs based, was field tested in 2001 in Zimbabwe.
Loads from 2100 to 2352 fps with 750-grain Woodleigh bullets, using 130 to 146 grains of H4350.

Karl,
Start with 100 grains of H4350 with 750-grain bullet and work up from there.
You cannot go wrong.
Just stop when you get to 2150 fps with the 750-grain Woodleigh softs,
then back off a few grains for the solids of same weight.
Do this at your own risk.

I started off in the 500A2 with 750-grainers and 100 grains of IMR-4350 and could go up to 110 grains,
though 105 grains was a nice 2150-ish-fps load in a 27" barrel, 2050-ish-fps in a 23" barrel, accuracy load.

I prefer H4350 now, from Oz.

With your bigger bore you are going to need more powder to get same velocity with 750-grainer.

Now for some actual, tested load data for the 530 McDonald?

The 530 McDonald came first, based on a 460 Wby case.

505 / 530 only came out a few years ago.

.

Ron, I changed the thread name, thanks for the COTW research. Geoff is the one doing the barrel incidentally and dies for me and I have just been referring to it as "The weatherby 530" in conversations with him. Thanks for the data for the big bullets. He will be furnishing me with a few of these, as well I am thinking of fashioning or ordering some 535 grain bullets for medium game. Same SD as 375 270grainers so hopefully does not offend the big bore pundits too much Did you ever try light/er bullets at high speed by any chance in your A2/JAB creations?

505 you woul'dnt happen to be one of the owners of the slightly less obsure 'other 530' would you. I know there are a few more of these out there Geoff built...

Regards,
Karl.

Karl,

Very interesting.

With your bigger bore and more efficient powder capacity in the "530 Weatherby" aka "530 Woodleigh Magnum" aka "530 McDonald" ...

And pressures to 65,000 psi being OK in the Weatherby case with a sporting rifle like a CZ,
but best kept down to 55,000 psi in the bigger Gibbs based 505/530 Woodleigh,
unless you are using a a Chey-Tac or 50BMG capable action ...

You are going to need faster powders with the lighter bullets.
The good powders are made in OZ: Hodgdon Extreme line.
I would work down slow to fast as the bullet gets lighter than 750 grains:

H4350
Varget
H4895
H322
Benchmark
H4198
H110

Take a gander at this H4198 data with 300-grain Barnes bullets, in 500 A-Square, from member ross10:

quote:

Originally posted by ross10:
I noticed there was no data available for the A Square with 300 grain Barnes bullets so I loaded some and chronographed them with a 35P Oehler here is what I came up with
Rifle used was a McGowen 30" barrel 15 twist
I started with 112 grains of H4198 and went to 120 grains of H4198. There were no pressure signs in this rifle
112--3175
114--3258
116--3310
118--3395
120--3479
This is a heavy rifle 17.0 pounds in a 40X stock
for shooting bears from a bench rest

I have saved that to give a try sometime.
I also have some 50-to-30-caliber sabots I would like to try in the 500A2 or 500 Mbogo Short:
+4000 fps with 30-cal/150-grain bullet?
Might take a case full of H110 handgun powder.
Just been going too many different directions with too many things to get it all done ...

Ron thanks I will work my way through some of those on the list and see where it gets me.

yes this 530 is a simpler and in practice possibly even more powerful option than the gibbs based depending on brass. it doesn't do anything the 550 magnum doesn't do better but difficulty getting that size barrel out of the US to here is very hard now.

As to real power, could have gone for another 585 but I found the 585 has a couple of problems. At low speed its hitting small/medium game and sometimes not doing much to them. How dissappointing to have your co-hunters rupturing things with a 340wby beside you and laughing at recoil that knocks you over, but not the pig

At higher velocities things get dramatic of course but so does the recoil.No problem firing offhand or even really at the bench to show off all day to bikini clad onlookers( I haven't found a range that has them, but still looking).
But the other field shooting positions become real stunts to even attempt(eg kneeling,sitting, poking throyugh dense scrub).Especially aus hunting where head counts exceed peoples post counts.

I have the greatest pet hate of all the terrible shots out there and lack of the martial aspect of our art. Just look at youtube people testing their 505's up to 600 level guns, firing offhand at a target 20 yards away and you can cook an egg in the time it takes them to fire the shot. Reason 1.= psyching themselves up for the recoil which they clearly don't like, reason 2: no practice offhand, snap shooting or anything that should really relate to what a dangerous game hunter should be able to do.

So its the 530 cal now, an oddball, aus history sort of thing, still with enough thump for a bikin clad onlooker, and at 2750fps with a 535 grain hollowpoint should have thankfully little edible meat left on an Australian medium game animal

Karl,
Keep us posted, and please post photos if you find a rifle range with bikini-clad FEMALE attendants/observers/admirers of yours.

Please, no Buzz-the-charlatan-in-a-mankini pictures (due to a bet or a dare gone wrong?), like on the African Hunting Forum!
I still have nightmares about elephant hunting with a PH dressed like that!

Kidding aside:
I think you are on the right course, as I believe all big game rifles will be optimized in smack and penetration at 2750 fps MV,
with the right bullet.
Your 530 Woodleigh Magnum with a 535-grain bullet at 2750 fps MV should be most impressive for culling out to 200 yards or more,
if you do your part.

I am getting too old to do anything greater than .510-caliber.
The 12 ga From Hell 3.85" with 1400-grain bullets at a modest 1800 fps was more than enough fun for me, even with a muzzle brake on my NEF-er.
I guess I need a lighter bullet for that one, too ... not!

For my 585 for lighter game than rhino/buffalo,
we have 4-5 weights of lighter hardened lead
bullets. Go over 3,000 fps with them
if they are hardened, if you want.
Make them with easily available 58cal
cal molds for a small fraction of jacketed bullet
costs. I just got a whole bunch for 10 cents
and another bunch for 20 cents each.
I now have 440gr, 540gr, 640gr, plus 3 heavier
weights of jacketed bullets. Cases 3bucks.
585 is most versatile of the big, big bores.Ed

Geoff wouldn't make us .550 bullets due to the failure of the .530 ..no joke ...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Karl:


I have the greatest pet hate of all the terrible shots out there and lack of the martial aspect of our art. Just look at youtube people testing their 505's up to 600 level guns, firing offhand at a target 20 yards away and you can cook an egg in the time it takes them to fire the shot. Reason 1.= psyching themselves up for the recoil which they clearly don't like, reason 2: no practice offhand, snap shooting or anything that should really relate to what a dangerous game hunter should be able to do.

My word, my favorit youtube is the bloke with the 8. something pounds .600 OK. Six seconds aim at a 5 gallon blue drum 15 yards away and he hits the left bottom corner, just 2" more to the left and he would miss completly the 5 gallon blue drum. That was only his second shot posted in this youtube.

A text book example of recoil anticipation and recoil fear.

The other youtube favorits of mine are those, where they aim at first for 3-5 seconds and than abort the shooting and start looking around the rifle in panic search for every handle, every button and every lever they can touch, they touch. When they finally take the aim it takes them another 10-15 seconds to fire the rifle. Not mentionig the fact that they reset the the rifle at least 2-3 times into the shoulder and recheck the position of the target in the same time.

I'm just curious how these people shoot a shotgun.

Pyzda

Karl

First let me say that I wish you the best with this project. The power of these things is truly impressive. After reading the history I am glad he picked the .530" and I was able to do the .550". I believe the 750 gr is to heavy for that caliber after all that is what the .585" bullet weight is and also how effecting the 700gr .550" bullets are http://www.shakariconnection.c...magnum-season-2.html I wish Woodliegh would make .550" bullets I would buy a good supply. He did tell me what Jeffe stated above but that is water under the bridge. I would very much like to see pictures of the rifle and cases. I would start with 510 wells/A-Square load data.

Thanks for the comments gents. RNS your 550 is the king of the weatherby case for sure, though I would use it in Australia with lighter bullets and faster. Alas the US govt is closing up an area of small business exports it seems, 50cal+ barrels, mirrored by our customs dept getting stricter too.Victories for both countries antis.

Ed your 585 is the all rounder king of the ultrabores if this 530 doesn't work out I may convert it further to yours. Thanks for the PM by the way I have passed your info on to the guys I still know in the game.

As to failure I hope not a technical or performance based one? He told me it was his choice of the two 530's he made due to practiciality of the weatherby case and equal success on big game.He has in fact reamed me the last 530 barrel around and the full length die on the basis of this. I'd say its a failure alongside his regular calibre lines for sure, but most wildcats are commercially.

Well hopefully it works out okay.... I considered despite being a complete oddball it whould be quite repeatable from a technical standpoint so hoping this does not end up one of those 100 post ' develope the wildcat' threads. As far as wildcatting goes I make a better soldier. aka after something easy this time I can just form cases and blast with

quote:

Originally posted by Karl:
505 you woul'dnt happen to be one of the owners of the slightly less obsure 'other 530' would you. I know there are a few more of these out there Geoff built...

No, not me. I own an Original 505 Gibbs that was owned by a good friend of Geoff's and is a gun Geoff has always desired !

Ask Geoff yourself by email, I am sure he would say who he sold it to.

.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyzda:
The other youtube favorits of mine are those, where they aim at first for 3-5 seconds and than abort the shooting and start looking around the rifle in panic search for every handle, every button and every lever they can touch, they touch. When they finally take the aim it takes them another 10-15 seconds to fire the rifle. Not mentionig the fact that they reset the the rifle at least 2-3 times into the shoulder and recheck the position of the target in the same time.

I'm just curious how these people shoot a shotgun.

Pyzda

Ha ha they probably can't. Good shotgunners are a mile ahead of most of us in skill, or rather they need to practice more to get first level results, eg hitting something on the wing. With rifles 3 shots from a bench has a beginner on target, and unfortunately that level is where most people stay...

I think we should be showcasing our gun handling skills like IPSC and western action guys. An elephant gun is one of the few 'self defence' hunting firearms.Even if you never shoot big game it is in the spirit of the gun to be able to use it as such, from any angle, on moving targets, whilst moving yourself etc. The complete lack of posts on this , or even youtube videos shows the complete lack of interest. we have thousands of posts on testing bullets performance, but not our own..hmmmm

I have two of the 505/530s from Geoff. I hunted with Geoff and a friend of his a couple of weeks ago. I had to back up on one of the elephant. Four shots going away, one exited out the chest, one exited from just behind the right front leg and one was found in the heart. This was a very big Wankie bull. The 750grn bullet at 2250 ft/sec has huge penetration.

Photo of Geoff on the cover of his 2003 bullet catalogue with the 505/530 and a big old dagga boy. Says he made the rifle for a well known Zimbabwean.
The old bull is nice but the 505/530 built on the P14/M17 platform wouldn't win Miss Universe but obviously more practical than she would have been, in that situation anyway

quote:

Originally posted by Clive Conolly:
I have two of the 505/530s from Geoff. I hunted with Geoff and a friend of his a couple of weeks ago. I had to back up on one of the elephant. Four shots going away, one exited out the chest, one exited from just behind the right front leg and one was found in the heart. This was a very big Wankie bull. The 750grn bullet at 2250 ft/sec has huge penetration.

A 750g bullet at 2250 fps ouch!

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Noted my confusion above.
505/530 Woodleigh vs 530 McDonald.
Corrected by referring to COTW.
Both by Geoff McDonald of Woodleigh Bullets.

530 McDonald aka 530 Woodleigh Magnum in 1982, 460Wby based.
750-grains at 2150 fps "at acceptable pressure" in a 24" barrel.

505/530 Woodleigh, .505 Gibbs based, was field tested in 2001 in Zimbabwe.
Loads from 2100 to 2352 fps with 750-grain Woodleigh bullets, using 130 to 146 grains of H4350.

Karl,
Start with 100 grains of H4350 with 750-grain bullet and work up from there.
You cannot go wrong.
Just stop when you get to 2150 fps with the 750-grain Woodleigh softs,
then back off a few grains for the solids of same weight.
Do this at your own risk.

I started off in the 500A2 with 750-grainers and 100 grains of IMR-4350 and could go up to 110 grains,
though 105 grains was a nice 2150-ish-fps load in a 27" barrel, 2050-ish-fps in a 23" barrel, accuracy load.

I prefer H4350 now, from Oz.

With your bigger bore you are going to need more powder to get same velocity with 750-grainer.

Now for some actual, tested load data for the 530 McDonald?

I would advise you to use some foam filler if you use less than 128gn of powder in that big case, or you will be risking inconsistent ignition due to the excessive air space, and that can have very undesirable consequences.