Daggaron, I can't seem to find your .470 NE load report. I remember you were using Doskocil gun case foam cores as filler, cut out with a .50 BMG case with sharp mouth, and you were getting very consistent velocities. I'm getting ready to fill up my .510-.505 Gibbs cases with my new faster powder, and I'd rather not have any hangfires because I think they are potentially risky. Running the bullet forward to stick in the rifling on the primer and THEN igniting the powder could be a bad thing...

I figure I can cut out my cores with a sharp .585 Nyati case, but I was wondering: how tall were your cores? Any other hints?

Thanks,
SDS

SDS. Make sure the foam is big around enough so no powder gets between it and the side if the case. Also have the bullet compress the foam to keep the powder space consistant durring recoil and handling/transporting the ammo. If I do not use some type of filler in my 450 No2 I will get a hangfire almost every time.

SDS,
Nickudu has some great 505 Gibbs load data, and explains well the rationale for RL-15 and filler at:

http://www.accuratereloading.com/505gibbs.html

NE 450 No 2 has given some good advice above also.

I brought the 470 NE thread back to the top of the Africa forum "470 Nitro Express Merkel Report: Final Installment" if you want to look at that again.

Your use of an Nyati case sounds good for the cookie cutter on the sheet of foam. Looking at Nicks data, he used 4 to five grains of Dacron filler. In the larger diameter Gibbs case this might be 1/2" to 1" thick foam plug.

If you get 1" thick foam, you can trim the length of the plug with scissors. If you get 1/2" or 3/4", or even 1/4" foam you can use the plugs as is or adjust accordingly, stacking the shorter plugs, etc.

You will just want to slightly more than fill the air space in the case, with the foam being slightly compressed in its three dimensions when the bullet is seated.

Please let us know how your loads work out.

I found that about a 5/8" tall plug of .510" diameter cut from the Doskocil Guncase type packing foam worked well in the 470 NE.

Thanks to you all. Once DaggaRon had pulled the thread back to the top I knew to look in African Big Game Hunting and not in Big Bores. I also read the .470 NE pet loads thread.

I did try the search function, and while I had had success with it in the past on other topics, several different searches (".470 NE," "The Merkel Report")came up bone dry. Likely my fault, my bread tends to land jelly side down.

SDS,
I went to WalMart and bought some sheets of urethane foam used for air conditioner air filters. These are only 1/4" thick and should be a snap to punch disks out of with the Nyati or BMG cookie cutters. They can be stacked to whatever thickness of filler needed. Cheap and easy and as good as it gets. Other thicknesses of the urethane foam could also be found at WallyWorld, if not in the air conditioner or furnace filter section, then in the bedding section in the form of mattress pads, etc.

Now where is the official source for sheets of packing foam, or urethane foam?