Who out there actually owns/hunts/loads the .500 AHR? Lokks like i'm getting one and i dont know much about it,good or bad, aside from the obvious.Let me know what y'all think


thanks,
bOB

The .500 AHR cartridge is a long necked version of the 500 Jeffery. It's a damn fine design and packs a wallop. I know because I own one. If you are having one built, have ED at AHR do it on a Granite Mountain action. Yes it will cost you about $2K more, but it will be well worth it. A 500 AHR on a GMA action would have about 4 down and 1 in the pipe. It will feed and eject flawlessly. This is very difficult to do on a CZ550. By the way, Ed's stockwork is absolutely first class. This is an excellent choice for a DGR IMHO.-Rob

Nominal .510" bullet caliber, 535g @ 2400 fps, 570g @ 2300 fps. It's the 500 Jeffery with longer neck and minus the rebated rim. Brass comes from Bertram in Australia - about which I've heard "mixed" reviews at best regarding softness.
Company is American Hunting Rifles. Maybe bell could make some if you could gather interest for 500 pc or so?
http://www.hunting-rifles.com/index.html

That heavy bulelt going 2300-2400 fps would make a fine heavy stopper for Africa, providing you can keep it on target! More to do with stock design I suppose.
Sounds like you've come across a deal, rather than preparing to have a rifle made. If so, tell us about it?

I like it, so that means it's good.

Bob,

It is my primary hunting rifle. Excellent caliber and fine killer. Recoil isn't too bad either with the brake, and the muzzle blast isn't either (believe it or not).


Are you getting a synthetic stock or the laminate? I would definitely stay away from the Claro walnut that AHR usually uses!

Here are some pics of mine (it was restocked after I received it and fitted to me):





Close-ups of the stock:






I must apologize for the quality of the pictures. The camera is old and doesn't work well anymore, the lighting was horrendous, and worse of all the photographer lacks talent! The rifles are left or top a Ruger M77 MkII 416 Rigby (no that isn't the factory stock but a duplicate in english walnut with a second cross bolt behind the rear action screw) and on the right or bottom the CZ550 500 in Turkish walnut.

If you are interested in load data, etc, send me a PM.

Scott

Scott, is that a "X" brake on the 500?

THAT's what a heavy recoiling rifle stock should look like.
American Classic, but with that reassuring negative drop (or is that parallel?).
Give it just a hint of schnabel-esque flare at the forend and I'm in love.
You're not shy with the barrel-length either, are you?
What is that, 26"?
Excellent use of a CZ, my friend.
I want to shoot it!

Al,



My rifle, like yours, predates the 'X - brake'. A company called 'High Performance Gunsmithing' supplied the muzzle brake on my rifle. As I understand it they are a subcontractor of AHR. They call the brake a slimline muzzle brake. Follow the link for more information.



High Performance Gunsmithing



The brake does a descent job of reducing recoil, but more importantly it is relatively quiet!



Bwana-Be,

The barrel measures 26 3/8" without the brake and 27 3/4" with the brake. The Ruger's barrel is right at 24".



Scott

Al,

This is a picture of my muzzle brake. It is also on AHR website, I forgot about it being there, but here it is, you can clearly see it ain't an "X" brake.



Like I said, it works good though.

Scott

Shoot the 50s while your young and pay the piper when you get old, but I know this will fall on deaf ears! (nice play on words, huh?)

Bursitas, deafness, punch drunkeness at its worst is possible, Joe Louis syndrome I call it, to many blows to the head, you know the brain bouncing back and forth, eye problems can result, but the vitality of youth could care less, I know I dismissed such trivial suggestions, and if I had it all to do over I would not have done it, but no since crying over spilt milk...However its food for thought and consideration.

I was lucky all I came out with was deafness and bursitas, at least so far, but then I'm still shooting the damn things.

Make that "thangs", sometimes I forget my manners.

Ray,

Your words of warning are appreciated, but alas are far too late. I have been a big bore shooter for almost 20 years. I suffer from most of the ailments you warn of; however, I can contribute them to other than big bore shooting.

1.) Bursitas, due to shoulder injury from power lifting 15 years ago or so. I was a football player, middle linebacker, damned game has left in living in constant pain i.e. shoulder, right knee, wrists (both have been broken), back (broke more accurately cracked real bad), etc. Once benched well over 400 pounds, though. Never will again!!!

2.) I have a significant hearing loss (can no longer pass a military physical), just ask my wife, due to a combination of shooting without hearing protection when a child/teenager and drag racing. You think guns are loud! You need to sit in a chassis car churning out over 800 HP. My ears did not hurt but my jaw sure did. After that I always wore ear plugs, highest dB I could find, and my helmet. The noise energy is so high though, it stills get you, as it causes your bones to resonate.

3.) Punch-drunk, has not yet set in. So I still have something to look forward to, oh joy!!! Do you suppose that with the onset of 'punch-drunk' the others will be forgotten?

Scott

I'd say the ultra large bores have a built in failsafe against long term damage called 'immediate damage'!
ie. your use of them is regulated to sensible frequency purely by the abuse.

Where as the normal bores that you can shoot all day might be accumulating the most long term damage without you even knowing.

I draw the paralell to fighting versus sparring. The former has more severe impact but sparring is believed to be the major cause of braindamge since it is done 50 times as often.
Just a theory. it all depends on what you use your bigbores for..

Karl.

The other option is to use the .500 A2 design which can easily be done on a cz 550 .416 Rigby (Re-barrel job) I really think this is the most practical way to get heaps of power in a price effective package.

Bob,

Sent a PM, but not sure if I really sent it?? New software and I are not jiving. I replied back to your PM, at least I thought I did. My Home does not show that I sent a PM though, so the confusion. Let me know if you received my reply.

Did some load development work yesterday with the 600 gr PP Woodleighs and have a load that went into 1.5" at 100 yards, and no POI shift between first round fired and the following shots(which has been an issue with both the 535 and 570 gr SP and a HUGE issue with Barnes X)! Need to chrony it now, but best guess is a MV around 2460 fps. I am liking these 600 PP Woodleighs alot!

Couldn't talk anyone into shooting it yesterday though. Lots of interest until I fired off the first three shot string. After that everyone seemed to be very content just watching me.

When do you expect to receive your rifle?

Scott

Scott,
I did receive your PM, and thank you.Interesting about the 600gr bullets.Using 4350 again? how much? Like you, i find the X bullets to be a real pain in the ass to get to shoot in my rifles and, in fact, i've pretty much given up on them , the exception being my.416 Hoffman which seems to love the 350 gr version.I have been pleasd however with their terminal performance in that rifle.
I'm finalising the configuration of the .500 with Ed now and hope to have it in my hands by May.Lots of decisions about actions, barrels,etc....what fun!

Had my 500 AHR made at 12lbs. Probably with a scope and rings, the weight will push 13+lbs. Haven't hunted with it yet, but did carry another 12lb rifle for 6 days in Australia and it didn't bother me too much. So to handle the recoil, build it heavy.

Like the cartridge very much, eliminates some of the problems with the 500 Jeffery case. Problem as I see it is the brass available (Bertram). How did Scott load to 2450 fps with no ejection problems?

Bob M. you will enjoy your AHR safari rifle when you finally receive it, easy to shoot.

Good luck!

.

Bob,



Glad to hear you got the PM. The powder I am using is IMR4350. I will not post the actual recipe, but the starting point data I provided in the PM is still good for the 600 PP.



Scott