Okay..I'm asking this just because I'm curious!

Let's say I want a really big boomer, possibly for african game. I decide for a .500, since they can be formed from .460 WBY brass, fits into the CZ 550 and they have a nice selection of good bullets. But those bullets are quite expencive, and a big boomer should be shot with a lot! So cast bullets are way to go.

Wouldn't a .510 Wells be a LOT better than the common .500 A-Square when it comes to cast bullets? (much longer neck) How far off in prestada would the .510 be from the A-Square? (the A-Square is improved, so it should have at least a bit better prestada..)

And where can I get cal .50 gas checks???

Finally.. how heavy should a .500 cal be?
(without muzzle brake please)
I've tought out that 12 lbs should tame most recoil, but it starts to be a bit on the heavy side then..

well well...... thnx :-)

Morten, the 500 a-square and the 510 wells are nearly identical. I don't think you will see any difference in performance with cast or jacketed bullets between the two. I am not sure if anyone makes gas checked .510 cal. bullets but you are right .510 jackets bullets are expensive. My 500 A-Square weighs 12.4 lbs. and has a muzzle brake, a rifle of this magnatude is a handful if you plan on shooting 600 and 700 gr. bullets at max. velocitys. You might want to rethink not installing a muzzle brake unless you are willing to add more weight to your rifle.

[This message has been edited by Mitch (edited 06-18-2001).]

There is a company that makes 50 caliber gas checks, though I'll have to find contact info. You can get 50 cal gascheck molds from NEI, they have them in many weights, from the 400 gr for the 500 linebaugh, up to 500, 580, 600 and 680 gr for rifles in both flatpoint and spitzer.

As far as what weight, it depends on how hot you intend to load it, and how you deal with recoil. I would think 12# would make it fairly managable w/o a brake, but if you drop it to 9-10# to make it handy to carry, I'd at least consider having a screw off brake for load work. If you load a 530 gr @ 2100 fps, it shouldn't be that bad, but if you want to push a 570 2400 fps, its a whole different ball game!