I bought one. I like it. Haven't shot it much yet, but it has already saved one or two lives (one of them being mine)... an angry buffalo took us by surprise in a creek, and a quick brain-shot with a 600 grain Woodleigh PPSN sorted him. It feeds nicely. It boots as expected, and a better recoil pad will be fitted at some point in the future. I didn't like the big white bead on my Kodiak .375H&H, but the buffalo incident with the .500 Jeffery made a believer out of me. It carries well on the shoulder through creeks and swamps.

The buffalo was a smashed-up old warrior carrying wounds and a grudge from fighting, and I killed him eight metres from me and eight feet from my mate.

Bet your happy you weren't toting that 22-250 hey

Was this in Australia? (creek mentioned). I was chatting to a friend yesterday and something similar in Zimbabwe. They were in thick jess up against a cliff tracking a cape buffalo. Not the brightest idea. The buffalo ran out, they couldn't respond in time, he got hooked under he right pectus muscle, and then ground on the chest, and then hoofed in the face. He says he only survived because the jess and undergrowth was so soft it absorbed the pummeling. Fortunately he recovered. Note the PH was up ahead. As far as the .500, I shot a wounded cape buff with a 600gr PPSN Woodleigh at about ten yards with my Gibbs .505 in the chest. Completely bowled over with legs in the air. But ther was a 1" entry punched hole so it probably touched a twig first. The buff was partially in bush. Was found on the opposite chest wall and extensively mushroomed. Love the .500 s and mine is accurate to 300yds.

Great to hear. It's always a great feeling when you get a new rifle and immediately bond with it. I love my 500 Jeffery but haven't been able to shoot anything but elk and feral hogs so far. Maybe an american bison this year (no danger there)

I love Sakos. How much does one in 500 Jeffery go for?

I think they were like 2500. Damned if I can find one now. They went quick.

That's a great deal.

LR3: Yep, Australia. The impact of that bullet had a concertina effect on him.

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:
LR3: Yep, Australia. The impact of that bullet had a concertina effect on him.

Aah the concertina effect.... when the bloody awful sound makes you want to die fast...

Ben, put up a photo or two when you have a chance.

Bill, here you go:

http://www.eurooptic.com/sako-...jeffery-jrsa577.aspx

Slow twist barrel
1 in 20 twist

Ben,
Good shooting killed that buffalo, caliber had little to do with it..

Boomstick:
1:20 is the CIP spec for the 500 Jeffery and as Sako is built under CIP jurisdiction it is rifled as such
More than plenty twist to stabilize the "Standard weight" 510 cal bullet for this cartridge. Stable is stable period.... "more stable" does not equate to anything more in wounding ability !

Will a 1 in 20 stabilize a 750 grain Hornady 50 BMG bullet? If not, it is too slow IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
Will a 1 in 20 stabilize a 750 grain Hornady 50 BMG bullet? If not, it is too slow IMHO.

http://mcgowenbarrel.com/twist2/

Using the McGowen Twist Calculator above:

Hornady .510"/750-grain A-Max, length = 2.552" (some of the later specimens I have, earlier ones were longer, IIRC).
Assume
sp.gr. = 10.0 (jacketed)
MV = 2150 fps (reasonable)

Required twist is 15.8" or faster, round it down to the common 1:15" twist as the maximum twist in inches required (and minimum spin rate) to stabilize the subject bullet.

1:15" twist is the C.I.P. spec for the .500 NE 3", well established for that caliber decades before the 500 Jeffery.
Just another example of how the 500 Jeffery is no product of William Jackman Jeffery, the original Genius of Jeffery.
He would never have let that happen,
nor the short neck nor the horribly rebated rim.
He was dead by 1909, and the 500 Jeffery surely must have set him to spinning in the grave. R.I.P. Jackman.

Of course I do know that 1:10" works great for theses bullets as well as shorter ones at similar MV, and higher MV, monometal and jacketed, lighter and heavier.
My first love for recoil therapy.
I also use a 1:12" twist to great success in my .500-caliber and .510-caliber "custom cartridges."
Sadly, the 500 Jeffery will never deserve that title, even if a faster twist barrel is used.

Thanks in advance for the appreciation of this if you get it.

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

The 500 Jeffery was designed and offered with the 535 gr bullet in mind, no more no less !
For that purpose and that purpose alone it was offered with the 1:20 twist barrel.

It was not intended for anything else but a close range large DG rifle, not a long range military anti material gun, not a long range wildcat !

At the time of its release there was nothing ex factory to beat it.

( The 505 Gibbs was offered as a Cordite large cap loaded offering and suffered all the problems of a stick cordite loaded round which limited it's potential and placed it below the Jeffery)

Were there many built?

No just 24 in total ! and judging by how long they sat on the shelf (and I have records attesting to this) hunters were not exactly falling over each other to buy them either !

Now you modern DG warriors can dance around this one as much as you want pontificate as to the merits of this twist or that fact is a original 500 Jeffery loaded to original spec will knock the snot from anything that walks or crawls this earth ! And it will do so without reserve of need for apology ....Period

Hate that rebated rim on the Jeff.

Not a good design.

Hear hear!
Alf makes a good point.
The 500 Jeffery is good enough to knock some snot from any creature,
and I dare say that means on both ends of the rifle.
This point made also shows that many other cartridges are more than good enough,
because they are superior in so many ways, including snot knocking, to the 500 Jeffery.

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Well, I've got no clue about this-or-that twist rate. All I know is that I've sorted-out angry / attacking buffalo with .416 Rigby, .458WM, .500NE... and now this .500 Jeffery. All of them worked fine, but this cartridge smashed us both much harder... but not so hard it wiped the grin off my face. And I'm pretty sure the 600 grain projectile made a neat round hole in Old Man Nganabbarru's head at 8m, not a sideways hole.

Interesting discussion.
I was enamoured with the twist question in my own 505 Gibbs, that I just had to know.
I ran a tight patch through her 5 times and came up with 1:10.25" twist.
The info was very difficult to come by from the CZ website, so I emailed them and they said they were 1:10" twist.
Close enough to my measuring.

The 600gr Woodleigh out of my rifle makes neat round holes, happy with that.

I have to go with BenK and Alf..The old Jeffery is about as good a hammer as you can get, been proving that for quit awhile, and more US custom rifles have been made in that caliber than the English ever made I suspect..

All that said, comparison of one or two buffalo between calibers is pointless, Ive killed too many buffalo with a 414, 404, 375 and 9.3s etc. to be adamant about caliber. Centering the bullet is so much more important..

I have no doubt the 500s are better killers with body shots up to a point, I also have no doubt a 404 will get the job done every time.

I keep my .500 Jeff as my "so you think you're a man" rifle when I take a pile of guns to the range. I'ts built on a p-14, 22" barrel as thin as it will go, laminated Richard's stock and weighs in at a svelte 7 3/4 pounds. The barrel is a Pac Nor with a 1:12" twist. 535gr at 2250 into an inch at 50 yards. It has humbled many a goof nut who thought they could shoot big bore, many that do shoot big bore on a regular basis feel it's a tad under weight, but does actually balance nicely and gives a serious rolling push of recoil, not a punch. My wife shoots it regularly to embaras pie plate shooters (guys that show up on hunts with bore sighted rifles or think three into a pie plate at 50 means they are ready for the season.

quote:

Originally posted by 416RigbyHunter:
Interesting discussion.
I was enamoured with the twist question in my own 505 Gibbs, that I just had to know.
I ran a tight patch through her 5 times and came up with 1:10.25" twist.
The info was very difficult to come by from the CZ website, so I emailed them and they said they were 1:10" twist.
Close enough to my measuring.

The 600gr Woodleigh out of my rifle makes neat round holes, happy with that.

My CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery has a 1 in 10" twist McGowen barrel as well. It's very accurate with both 570g TSX's and A-Frames. You can almost feel the forearm twist in your hand if you load them much over 2300 fps.

When it comes to the real big bores, you will find a lot of Testosterone and regular Stud Muffins making claims of honor that boil their warrior blood, others that meekly sink into the background and appear to be regular little Metro fags...Albiet somewhere in the middle are just everyday good old boys that shoot a .375 and 9.3x62, who it seems survived the rigers of the dark continent and a good PH..

NOte: all in good fun guys, no claim to anyone living or dead.

Been a tough few weeks, so this arvo it was well-and-truly time to go for a pleasant little stroll with the .500 Jeffery. It's a beautiful time of year, and you can hardly raise a sweat. An Old Man Nganabbarru fell to a neatly-placed 600 grain Woodleigh PPSN.

Nice! I hope to get out there again once the family is well. It's been a while ...

G'day Chuck, best wishes to your family, and I hope you do get back to buffalo country soon. Cheers, Ben

Just got back from a morning adventure... I wasn't as neat as I'd prefer on the first shot, so this bull quickly received four shots plus a finisher. My .500 Jeffery felt tiny as he looked at me with understandable hostility, and it was a relief to knock him over. Launching 3000 grains in the space of a minute sure gets your attention!

I've now fired my rifle fourteen times, for three buffalo and one boar, plus an ant pit.

Just an update...

Getting quite used-to this rifle.

I’ve killed six buffalo and 3.5 pigs with it. My brother killed one buffalo with it.

The local guys love this rifle, and it always brings a lot of laughter and smiles watching each other shoot. One guy can’t weigh more than 70kg, and he loves having a go!

Of the seven buffalo: two one-shot kills; four that could have been one-shot kills but had a quick insurance shot administered; and one that soaked-up more than a few because I didn’t place the first one perfectly, mentioned in a post above.

quote:

Of the seven buffalo: two one-shot kills; four that could have been one-shot kills but had a quick insurance shot administered; and one that soaked-up more than a few because I didn’t place the first one perfectly, mentioned in a post above

Proves that shot placement is king no matter what one is using. Also not to stop shooting until they are down and dead.

Glad you are enjoying it.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Of the seven buffalo: two one-shot kills; four that could have been one-shot kills but had a quick insurance shot administered; and one that soaked-up more than a few because I didn’t place the first one perfectly, mentioned in a post above

Proves that shot placement is king no matter what one is using. Also not to stop shooting until they are down and dead.

Glad you are enjoying it.

Precisly!.

It´s better to do a perfect heartshot with a .22lr than a slight miss with a .577 Nitro.
Power, caliber, bulletweight etc means nothing even on big heavy thick skinned game.
You are right on the money sir!.

The chronograph tells me I’m getting an average of 2138fps with 113 grains of AR2209 (600 grain Woodleigh PPSNs). That’s about perfect!

If anybody wants one, check out Guns International. One showed up today for $2499.