My April Save elephant hunt has been postponed til late September. Since I had been having a helluva time finding a load for my VC 500 and was running out of bullets, I bought some Norma PH 570 gr solids and softs for the hunt.

Well, since I've got nothing but time on my hands I took one of the cartridges apart and found 104.75gr of a powder which resembles MRP. Same color, hue and shape, only it was just a smidgen shorter. Not fat and dumpy like 217, but just a shade shorter- say 4 mm vs (MRP) 5 mm. I emailed and got this response: The powder used in the loaded ammo is only used in the factory and is not available to the general public. Norma will not even let us (Western Powders) get any of their powder that is used in the factory loaded ammo. The powder may have a burn rate close to either the Norma MRP or 217.

Any guesses? Quickload has MRP 200 fps too slow. 204 is close velocity wise at 2150. IIRC Norma PH was 2170 -ish

Years ago after purchasing my .404 which came with some factory Parker Hale ammunition made by Norma I made enquiries via Parker Hale to Norma to see if they had any components to offer reloaders. The answer by letter which I still have, was no but Norma did provide the specifications of the .404 ammo they loaded. They used 87.0grs N204 with a 400gr bullet. I have seen and kept later data from Norma for their own .404 ammunition and they list loads using N203B and N204.

I imagine for most of the big bores that Norma loads for they will use the medium burners and not large charges of the slowest powder. Keeping to medium powders also lowers recoil.

The powder that seems to work well in a 500NE using 570gr bullets is H4350. One of the loads Graeme Wright recommends in his books is 106gr behind soft points and 104 gr behind solids. He uses Fed 215 primers and Woodleigh bullets.

You can use Norma MRP but it will give you only 2000 f/sek. 114 grain with a Wood. 570 SP gave only 2000. Norma 204 give uneven combustion.

Can you get finnish Vithavuori powders in the US..? Their N160 performe well..114 grain gave 2140f/sek with the mentioned bullett..

You should back off perhaps 2 grains With a 570 grain solid due to pressure..

These data from a Krieghoff Big Five..

You may e-mail VC and ask what load Your rifle is regulated with..