A friend of mine asked about reloading for a 500 BPE. I presume this is a 3 1/4 inch case?

His load is 53 grains of 4198 and a cast lubed bullet. Can you use 3 inch cases?

Rusty,
You may want to check that chamber length, the 3" chambers seem to be far mre common than the 3.25" chambers. As for his load I use 54 gr of 4198, a 370 gr bullet and 13 gr of dacron teddy bear stuffing with excellent results. I would think that you could use the shorter cases in the longer chamber on a limited basis until he could find the longer cases. I would try to get the longer cases if he wants to shoot it more than every once in awhile.
Have a good holiday.
DRSS.

Where is the best place to buy brass for the 3" 500 BPE, I
will be chamber casting & slugging the bore next week, then I have to find reloading components- any suggestions appreciated.

m4220

I got my stuff from Brownells and Buffalo Arms

quote:

Originally posted by m4220:
Where is the best place to buy brass for the 3" 500 BPE, I
will be chamber casting & slugging the bore next week, then I have to find reloading components- any suggestions appreciated.

m4220

m4220,
First welcome to the forum.
You are definitely headed in the right direction. Find out what you have before buying any components. The bores on some of the older guns did vary quite a bit so it is good to get actual bore diameter.
Rustey,
Have you ever tried the foam plugs in this type of load? I am wondering if it might work better than the Dacron filler.
Bill

Bill,
I have lots of foam for plugs. I have not loaded for the 500 BPE just trying to help a friend. I appreciate y'all's help and information.

Would my 500 NE dies work for this BPE? Same bullet diameter.

Rusty,
500 NE dies will certainly work. Depending on the actual bore diameter, which can't be taken for granted, he may have to fiddle with the set up. My two 500s have bores of .509 and .514. In order to load a bullet that fits the bore without over working the brass he may have to size the brass less than full length, set the expander to just barely bell the mouth if the bore is larger than .510/.511 and run the seater plug most of the way down to account for the shorter/lighter BPE bullets. I don't crimp mine so the seater die position is not critical other than correctly positioning the the plug. Ross Seyfried's article on the 500 BPE in the Oct/Nov 2002 issue of "Handloader" is a "must read" BTW. Good luck, let us know how it works.
Best.

Thank you 50 Calshtr. Thank you, all!

Rusty, I believe I have a copy of that Seyfried article if you need it. Let me know. Bob

Bob, is it possible to get a copy as I am just getting ready to get started with my Heinrich Scherping 500 BPE that I have recently aqquired. There are pictures of it posted on the nitroexpress.com website, just search shcerping and you will see several of my pic's.

thanks
m4220

My fingers got ahead of my brain, it is scherping

When I get back to the office after the holidays, I can scan it and email. Bob HOw about if you PM me after the 1st with your email address and a reminder and I'll be glad to send. B

Well guy's, I cast the chambers in that Heinrich Scherping double rifle today and it appears it is a 2 5/8 .500 BPE not a 3" as I was told. Does anybody have any experience with this cartridge. I will slug the bores tomorrow
and start gathering up components and start to work up a load. Its never the easy way!

m4220

Are all the other measurments the same as a 500 X 3" except for the length?

Thats correct Mike, it took a while in the books but that is what it looks to be and according to cartidges of the world they claim it was made in 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2, 2 5/8,
3, 3 1/4 just don't here of these others I quess
next step looks to be to obtain a 3" case and start cutting & fitting. I just finished a project much like this with one of his cape guns that I had to mfg the cartridge from a 43 mauser into a 10.25 x60R. Here I go again!

Well at least this isn't a bottleneck! Thanks for the info, I didn't know about the shorty 500's. I knew about the 3 and 3.25.

Check the rim thickness also.....I bought a Kerr marked .500 Exp, was 2.4" and a thick rim, ........in North America called the .50-110!
Turned out that Kerr was at the time Winchester's rep! .....So you just never know for sure.
~Arctic~

The 2 5/8" case was an early one, 1868 -1870 or so. The only cases I have reference to were brass coiled with an iron disc head. They were involved in early tests of the Enfield-Snyder which was later produced in the 577 Snyder. I don't have any data on actual loads but the bullet weight should have been 340 gr and the powder charge about 105/110 gr judging from info available from the early 2 1/2" and 3" loads. All in all sounds like a rare bird, good luck.