No love for the .500A2?

AustinM said:

Need to take some better pictures of it, but this is my go to rifle when things need to put down. Of course this one is a bit special, as the chamber was long throated for the use of bmg projectiles, and my what a shooter it is. I've never had a rifle that points and aims quite like this one, it's truly an experience.

Now the reason the A2 is the most convenient/cheapest of the 50 cals to own is due to it being made from 460/416/378 Weatherby brass as the OP stated. Weatherby brass is almost always available and normally for a cheaper cost than the other 50s. Weatherby brass is also known to handle higher pressure and this can be taken advantage of in the A2. I have a load, generated from quickloads, that claims that Reloader 17 can produce 2600 fps with a 570 gr barnes solid, if they will ever get more out I should be able to try this. That's alot of power out of a 23 inch barrel!

Also, noteworthy on my rifle is the LAW muzzle break that a friend of mine insisted on. Even with heavy loads this makes shooting a breeze. Also, the end can be taken off and put on the barrel to protect the threads if the muzzle break is not desired.

Alot can be said about this rifle, but I'll save that for another day! Good to see people talking about such a great cartridge.
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What's that funny thing at the end of the muzzle?

colorado said:

What's that funny thing at the end of the muzzle?

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As stated in my original post that is a LAW muzzle brake with a thread protector. Does one heck of a job on reducing recoil and getting back on target.

I know this is an old thread, but home bullet making can breathe new life into some of the hard to find big bores. If you swage your own bullets, you can shoot these big 500's as much as you want (not that I want to shoot them too much), same as casting, but you get a superior bullets and can shoot them at full velocity. You can make them at home and can make any weight bullet you want with the same dies.

Here is my die set for making .510 caliber bullets for my 50bmg, but I can also use the boattail die to make flat point bullets with a flat base. This die set will make bullet jackets from 3/8" ID copper water pipe, and make the bullets pictured. The 2 bullets in the picture are 700gr FB and 700gr BT bullets for 50 bmg made with these dies.



In the picture below are unpolished, annealed, jackets. and polished Flat Point, and VLD Spitzer point bullets. The flat point bullet is about 800gr, the 50bmg bullet is 700gr.


The following bullets were made by a home swage die maker named Brian Thurber that goes by BT Sniper over on castboolits forum. The first picture shows expanding 308 fired brass to make a bullet jacket for the .510 caliber bullets. Homemade finished bullet made from 308 brass with ballistic tip shown on right. He has shot 50bmg bullets made from fired brass jackets under 1/2 MOA at 200yds.


Here are a couple different type bullets made with home swaging dies. On left made with fired brass for bullet jackets, on right commercial bulets jackets are used. The 2 middle bullets are 1000gr. soft points.


This is a bullet made from fired brass cut in section. That solid brass case head makes a pretty solid flat point for a dangerous game bullet. Very reminiscent of "punch" bullets. If you make that a bonded core bullet, it is a pretty formidable solid for the 500 A2. Even at $3 per pound for new pure lead wire you can make a 600gr bullet for less than 40 cents per bullet. If you use pure lead from other sources, it could be less than 20 cents per bullet. You can make solids, soft points, partitions, or bonded cores, just about any kind you want, in any weight you choose, at home any time you want.


Factory monometals can run between $2-$3 per bullet, and Woodleigh Weld-Cores about $2 per bullet. In addition to making bullets at 10 percent the cost of commercial bullets, and not being subject to availability at the time you need them, you can make bullets in different combinations of type and weight that are custom suited to your rifle and purpose, that are not available from any commercial maker. You can make bullets so cheap, you can practice with exactly the same homemade premium bullet you hunt with. I swage bullets in many calibers from 223 to .510.

Talk about saving, you can make 223 bullets using fired 22lr cases for jackets for under 2 cents if you buy new lead and under a penny if you use scrap lead. That is how Fred Huntingdon, founder of RCBS (Rock Chuck Bullet Swage) got his start during WWII, when bullets (for shooting rock chucks, marmots) were almost impossible to find for civilians.