Ok, for 500 Jeffery bolt gun...

22 or 23 inch barrel?

10 or 11 lbs?

21" and min. gain after that, or until balance is perfect.
505ED

for the 500 jeffe, 505 gibbs, 500 asquare and 510 wells (and every other 535gr at 2400ish .510 bore)

the barrel is at 85% expansion at 21".. and just plain runs out of benefit at 26".. per Well's former gunsmith and my experience.

the first 500jeffe i did was 9.5#, and that beat the heck out of me. it.s 10.5 now, and much better

so, have it at least your correct LOP, 10#+ and 22" barrel.. the rest is to taste

jeffe

Since the 500s kill more by bullet weight and cross section of bullet, not velocity, I wouldn't worry about the length of barrel, cut it where it feels best...

I like a 26" tube for shooting off hand as they just hang there like a rock and I have plenty of space between the sights and that gives my old eyes a step up....and thats the ONLY reason I shoot long tubes...A short barrel just doesn't hang right, the old Mountain men and their 38" barrels, the early Africans with their 27" bolt guns, all knew a thing or two about shooting off hand.

My .500 Jeffery is with a 24" barrel and weighing in at 5,6 kg/12,3 lbs with a full magazine.
In the big bore rifles balance is of great importance.

Cheers,

André

My preference for any caliber over .458 is to be at least 12 lbs with a 24 inch barrel min. My 500 AHR is approx 13.5 unloaded and has a 25 inch barrel.which gives it a nice balance. Don't mess around with the feather weights in the big calibers, it just makes them tough to shoot.

Dak

New Guy,
Mine has a 24" barrel and weighs 10 1/4 lb.It balances about right.
Fred

I would pick a 23 inch barrel to minimize muzzle blast and barrel rise.

I agree with 500 grains, 23 -24" is a sensible minimum.

My own rifle has a 24 inch tube and weighs in at 12.5 lbs, even with that length barrel muzzle flash is noticeable with Kynoch factory ammunition.

I spoke to David Little about this (MD of Kynamco) and he told me that in his opinion going too short a barrel was a mistake.

In any event balance and control of muzzle flip are usuall subjued better with a longer barrel.

I think, if I recall correctly, the rifle built by H. Lennard (W.J. Jeffery) for Fletcher Jamieson was built with a 26 inch tube, this was designed to consume the flake powder used in the Schuler and Kynoch (LOADED) cartridges around at that time.