>>we were surprized to discover that it could easily handle a Hornaday 500 jacketed soft point at the crimp for a overal length of about 2.9 inches.<<

I have some of the 500 grain Hornady SPs and they taper very quickly ahead of the cannelure. At .180 ahead of the cannelure they only measure .450.
Ed

Yes the Hornady 500 gr jacked SP do taper. We also loaded 550 gr hard cast lead bullets that had an very wide meplat and no taper until the blunt nose (they looked just like the Garrett 540 gr bullet). These were only loaded at an OAL of 2.79" (backing off slightly from where the bolt would not close).