Hi guys, I am new to the forum and I would like help with loading for my .470NE Blaser S2

The rifle has been regulated with federal 500gr SP and I have been trying to develop a home load which also works. Upto now I have loaded 500gr Barnes TSX, 95gr Vit N170 & 500gr Barnes soilds, 118gr Vit N170 and although they group they wont regulate (9 - 10 inches apart at 50 yards) My atempt of loading Woodliegh 500gr SP yield much the same result. Think something must be wrong I purchased two laser bore sighters and the barrels seem to be shooting apart from each other in an opening "V". At 15 yards they are 8 inches apart!

The rifle has been back to the dealer and they say it is fine with factory ammo and I am currently waiting for some to arrive. (Federal factory 500gr woodliegh SP are £18.00 ($29.35)EACH!!! over here) Am I doing somthing stupid? I have loaded for my R93 rifles for years and have never had such a problem finding a load in the past.

Any help, guidance or sugestions will be greatly apreciated - off to Mozambique in 4 weeks for the first time to do Buffalo,Crocodile and Sable and Im not confident with the rifle at the moment.

I also have a .470 S2. However, mine was regulated with WR ammunition and it regulated with 500 grain Woodleighs at around 2000 to 2150 fps. I will let some others here comment since I don't have any experience with the federal ammo but I couldn't get mine to shoot with Hornady ammo. It was too fast. Can you tell me if your bullets are crossing at 50 meters. If they are crossing you need to slow the load down. If they are shooting eight inches apart, you are going to need to speed them up. If your rifle was regulated with Woodleigh bullets, I would start with the Woodleighs rather than the Barnes bullets. In addition, you are going to have to lay your hands on a chronograph so you can see what your loads are doing.

Welcome Blaser! For you regular members I saw Blaser's post on BlaserPro and suggested that he post here as he received no answers other than mine. I agree with everything that Dave Bush said ie. use Woodleighs and use a chronograph. Blaser also, have you done a search on this forum for 470 type posts? I am pretty sure that you will find some loads and velocities somewhere! Barnes bullets tend to be a law unto themselves. The Woodleighs (soft and FMJ) are good bullets. Hornady's are also pretty good IMHO.
Peter.

Get a chronograph and set aside the Vit powder, use the 500 gr Woodie softs and some IMR4831,start at 105gr.
Make sure you are properly holding the rifle....no hard rest,use your hands on a bag or sticks....fire both barrels within 8 seconds,right first.....etc. The testing sequence has been well described here on the Forum.

Guys - Rifle is shooting much better with the barnes soilids right out to 100 yards with a small leupold scope but the open sights are way out out, shooting 18" high and no adjustment left.

Cant seem to get my head down enough to get the bead in the rear notch and may have to get the stock casted down, shave some off the comb or lift the rib? Any one else had problems like this or any advice?

Get one thing sorted and another rears its head! Got to love the doubles!

You might consider purchasing the excellent book "The Double Rifle" from Saul Braceras. It helped me a lot to develop loads for a friend's Merkel .470 NE. We finally used RL19 and Woodleigh 500 grain bullets.

In our case, the velocities calculated with QL to be identical to factory ammo made the rifle regulate well.

How did it shoot with the Federal factory ammo? If it is shooting eight inches apart and high, that would suggest your loads are too slow. However, until you get a chronograph, you are stumbling around in the dark.

In my Merkel in 470, I am shooting 87gr of Re15 with Kynoch wads and 500gr Woodleigh softs and 86.5gr of Re15 with the Woodleigh solids. In my Searcy, I am loading 106gr of IMR4831 with the 500gr Woodleigh or Hornady and 105gr with the solids. The Searcy will also regulate with the load in my Merkel and hornady factory loads. You definitely need a chronograph to find the regulation velocity.

Glad you got it shooting better. My Blaser (500NE) looks like the rear and front sights are interchangeable, held in place by a pin or screw, so you should not have to do anything with the rib. Just ask Blaser (UK) if they have a higher front sight or lower rear sight. I am still concerned about you choice of bullets. Barnes is NOT the be all and end all of solids for doubles. Again, I would recommend Hornady's or Woodleighs. I am sure you can find Woodleighs in England as they are made in Australia.
How are the barrels shooting? Are they crossing? They should not be crossing! I would suggest shooting at 50 yards, where if you cannot see the bullet holes a decent scope or pair of binoculars will help. You need to track which barrel shoots where. Shooting at two separate targets will help do this. What load are you using?
Peter.

Federal factory 500NE is loaded with Norma powder...and the Federal Softs shoot to the exact same point of aim as the woodleigh softs in our test rifle.. (a Blaser S2) so probably Norma loading manual (or the web) would be a good starting point....

Peter, the loads which are working for me are 117gr Vit N170 500gr Barnes Solids. Iam getting near as Parallel at both 50 & 100 yards. Getting a chrono tomorrow to check out the ballistics properly.

Since I last posted I have put a leather extention boot on the stock which gives me an extra couple of inches of length. In a standing position resting off a tackdriver bag ( I parked my quad bike in front of me and rested the bag on top of the seed spreader ) I am shooting just a few inches high at 50 yards. As time is running out, I may just leave it at that for now as the scope is bang on at 50 and 2 inches low at 100 - opensights 2 to 3 inches high at 50.

As far as the bullet choice, baring in mind I am a new comer to buffalo hunting, I thought Barnes solids and Barnes TSX were suposed to be one of the best if not the best bullets to use?

Sorry Blaser, I did not see your reply. I have been out of town. Barnes solids have been used in bolt rifles, as have TSX's. personally I have not had good results accuracy wise with TSX's. For doubles, as you can see by perusing the forum, the go too bullets seem to be Hornady DGX and DGS bullets, with the top of the line generally regarded as being North Fork and Woodleigh. The NFs are banded solids. If you can get GS Custom FN bullets over there then those are excellent (in my bolt guns). Gerard seems to spend more time posting on AR and getting into pissing contests than he does making bullets or responding to emails. As I result, my solids choices are GS Custom for my 375 H&H , and North Fork banded solids for my 500NE.
What did the chrono show?
Peter.