OK Gurus,

Who has a load for the 500/465???

Will be using 480gr Woodleighs.

Fed 215M primers and hopefully RL-15...

....Whos got what?

Thanks,

Jeff

I worked up a load for a 500/465 Holland & Holland once.

I would start with 480 Woodleigh softs and 86 gr of RL-15 with compressed filler, either dacron poly [pillow stuffing] or foam plugs that you can cut oout with a chamfered 50 BMG case.

88 to 89 gr should be about right but start lower.
What kind of rifle is it?

Durring the final shooting session with the H&H It did "blow up", a 4 inch or so piece of the right bbl let go just infront of the fore end....

But it was not because of the loads.

Jeff,

Don't have a 500/465, but do have 500/450 that also uses the 3-1/4" flanged 500 Nitro base brass.

I get a remarkably good composite group with 96.5 grains of IMR-4831. Velocity is just above 2,000 fps. I've taken two elephants with that load. I am GUESSING that your case capacity is somewhat larger, but that your barrels are somewhat less eroded than mine, so you might want to start at, say, 94 grains first at 50 yards then go up to 100 yards. Note that I tried mine with 99 grains of IMR 4831 and got a very good composite group at 100 yards, but the barrels were crossing!

Why do I use 4831? It gives better loading density. Gather that RL-15 requires a filler to avoid flash over. I've been reloading this rifle since 1985 so am unlikely to change a winning combination.

Regards, Tim

I have an old Holland 465 and can recommend the IMR 4831 load. I used 98.5 grains, with both solids and softs, to shoot my Tanzanian buffalo in 2003. My only negative take-away was that the load performance seemed noticeably affected by the hotter weather. Because of that, just this last year I took solids loaded with 103 grains H4831 and softs loaded with 85 grains RL15.

The H4831 solids load is very accurate in my rifle and worked very well in the field when my daughter’s buffalo needed some putting down. Point of impact and ease of extraction seemed the same as at home. This load leaves a bit of unburned powder in my bores, but otherwise there’s nothing to gripe about. With soft nosed Woodleighs there’s too much unburned powder so I don’t use H4831 with them.

I ended up not shooting anything with a soft nose on my last trip, so I only practiced with the RL 15 load. It seemed to shoot a little higher for me in Africa but I can’t be certain of that. 85 grains and a kynoch foam wad gets me to the low 2100’s, but it’s not a remarkable performer in my rifle. For me personally, I’m not sure why it enjoys the popularity it does, since it seems a combination of a little too slow, a little too dense, and a little too hard to ignite.

I’ve just started experimenting with H4895 for the 500/465. This powder has been used in the past and seems to work well in other large cases and with reduced loads. If this works I may use it for my softs and continue with 4831 solids because it’s working so well.

I just finished working up with 480 grain Woodleighs in a Holland .465 with 26" barrels. Standard velocity of the .465 is 2150 in 28" barrels. Late run Cordite factory ammo ran 2100 fps in this rifle. I started with 84 grains RL 15 with Kynoch foam wads in Bell cases with Federal 215 primers. I worked up to 87 grains which was too hot and crossed. Final load was 86 grains at 2100 fps, which shot into an inch at 50. With this particular batch of RL 15, 89 grains would have been seriously too hot.
-----------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Thw load I use in my 500/465 is 99 grains of IMR-4831 in Bell cases with F215 primers and Woodleigh 480 grain .468 dia. softs or solids. I also use a an over powder cork wad ala Elmer Keth's recipe as this load leaves a fair amount of space in the case and without the wad velocities were a little eratic. The cork wad solved that problem. Velocity is 2,145 fps. and regulates in my rifle. If you use a cork wad make sure the cork doesn't use a rubber bonding agent. Get pure cork sheets to make your wads or you may get high pressure problems with rubber bonded cork sheeting. I will try to go to H-4831 instead of the IMR-4831 since it less temperature sensitive and it fills the cases better. That has worked well in my 470.

465H&H

Thanks guys....I happen to have a TON of H-4831SC....Will it be OK to use the same grains as the IMR4831???

Dumb question, but gotta ask as I have a LOT of this stuff and would like to use it up.

Thanks,

Jeff

That will give you a good starting load but H-4831 is slower burning than IMR-4831 so you will need a few more grains of H-4831 to reach a velocity equal to that of IMR-4831. In the 470 106 grains of IMR-4831 and 110 grains of H-4831 both give approximately 2,150 fps.

465H&H

Thanks man!

JW