Any one here shooting TC's prohunter in 500SW cartridge? Looks like a hell of a big punch in a relatively light carbine. Looking at some posts on the handirifle in this calibre a 700gr bullet at 1400fps will deal to large critters up close. Penetration with a hard cast projectile should be amazing.

Don't be surprised when the frame is stretched and starts sending the brass over your head when you squeeze the trigger. These kinds of heavy loads will ruin that action right damned quick. Why beat the gun when you just don't need that kind of maxed out power or that heavy of a bullet. Just because someone makes those kinds of bullets don't mean they are good for anything. I shoot 385-400 grain bullets at around 1750fps and thats plenty to kill any critter. Makes about as much sense as loading a .243 with 180 grainers.

I know frame stretch was a issue for the Contenders, did one in myself as a matter of fact. I haven't heard that frame stretch was a problem for the Encore. Tell us more.

When you consider some of the cartridges the Encore is factory chambered for, I really don't think there is any problem shooting anything you care to load in a .500 S&W. You will probably regret the recoil, but I don't think you are going to harm the action. I have no idea of the operating pressure of the .500, but they chamber the thing for .300 Win. Mag. at the factory.
Just my opinion, but a call to T/C will answer the question for sure.

The SAAMI MAP for the .500 S&W is 60kpsi, but I've not seen any load data pushed beyond about 52kpsi. You can see pressure data on Hodgdon's site.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

I have a NEF chamberd in the 500 S&W Mag and I orderd some 535gr and 700gr loads and I had lots of problems with the 535gr blowing out Brass and I was loading them 2.5 grs below mid charge and still having problems so I never used my 700gr ones I have loded 370gr Cast Performace loads with 44.5grs of LILGun and if you need somthing more powerfull than that well be my guest. I am geting 2150fps with a 370gr cast bullet and breking cinder bolcks out to 150 yards with that load. 3 shots off a bench is all I can take with that load, dont think you need much more than that...

I have 325gr Barns x bullets loaded hot too dont know the speed but it brakes Cinder blocks out at 200 yards.....

jusr my thoughts but be very carefull loading the T-Rex thumpers in a rifle I will not load anything hevyer than a factory 500gr round in my gun but that is just me.....

Original saami specs "were" 50k psi. They also thought 440gr was the heaviest bullet that could be shot It didn't take John Ross long to develop a 725gr slug and load it to 60k psi. Since that time saami has raised the bar and we are shooting slugs exceeding pressures seen in lot of rifle cartridges. I have a spread sheet from John Ross that has loading data for 50k & 60K psi loads.

500MagMan your brass is splitting because it's Hornady. Switch to Starline and you won't have a bit of problem. I shot one 600gr load that calculated in excess of 60k psi (by accident) and all 5 cases stuck in the cylinder of one of my S&W 500's. The walls of the cases never thinned but the primer pockets were blown out. That's a testament to their brass and the strength of a S&W. The 700gr Tyrannosaurus Thumper is a bore riding design and has no more bearing surface than the Hornady 500grainer. I suspect your problems stem from your brass.

I have an Encore handgun with a 15" 500 S&W Magnum barrel. I wouldn't worry about frame stretching with the 500 S&W Magnum. Most heavy loads are under 52,0000 PSI. The Encore frame is proof tested to 85,000 PSI. My heavy load is a 700 grain WFNGC at 1250 fps. It's a 41,000 PSI load and very safe. This load penetrates like a freight train.

So tell me again what the real purpose of these super heavy for caliber bullets might be...i keep forgetting! There is a point of very diminishing gains, which is right around the 440gr mark. Yes it may penetrate like a freight train...but it won't kill any quicker than the 440gr GCWFN, which will fully penetrate anything that needs penetrating. Again, about as useful as that 180gr .243 bullet. I wonder who will be man enough to post here when they ruin their Encore frame? Any written guarantees going in those boxes of 700gr bullets?

Woodrow it's interesting that you would pick 440gr, why not 465gr or 420gr? Hornady sells 500gr factory ammo, is this too much too? One would think the engineers at S&W would have figured this out and made the cylinders short enough so a 440gr slug is all that would have fit. Initially the cylinder on the Taurus revolver was too short for the 700gr slug. Guess what, they lengthened it too.
I'm not trying to start an argument but the 440gr WFNGC won't kill any deader than the 300gr slugs I'm pushing at almost 2200fps but I still use them. It's about experimenting, that's what we (read that some) reloaders do. We push the envelope and sometimes we compromise. The 5.7L Hemi engine in my Jeep Commander Limited won't get me anywhere any faster than the 3.7L engine but I've chosen to compromise economy for power. I want all of the power I can safely get. If I were content with the 440gr slugs I wouldn't be reloading and we wouldn't be having this chat

I've been reloading for the S&W 500 since it first came out in 2003. To date I've got over 1K brass and used over two dozen different bullets and fifteen different powders. I STILL don't know its limitations but I'm close. I know what my limitations are and I'm having fun in the process.

FWIW, I don't own an Encore but I do have (5) S&W 500's. If I did I would certainly be shooting the 700gr slugs out of it too just because I can

There is a difference between responsible reloading and experimenting to find out just how much the gun will take before it blows up...AKA pushing the limits. I am a reloader who works to find a reasonable load for the task at hand...one with a real purpose. Nope, I don't want to argue either as nobody wins, regardless of who is right! I can't change your mind and you won't change mine. We will just have to agree...to disagree.

I whole heartedly agree and don't get the wrong impression. I don't always load to the max., only in so far as seeing how far I can go, that's it. My loads operate at both ends of the spectrum and everything in between to see what is achievable. Some of my very light loads are with Titegroup and Trail Boss. They give me the opportunity to plink with one of my 500's without punishing myself or the gun. And FWIW, I've never found any max load to be accurate.