.495 A Square

Forrest Halley

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I did a search of the forum and found nothing about this cartridge. Does anyone have any insight? This came up during a reading of Terry Wieland's Dangerous Game Rifles. He paints it in a favorable light. I wonder if it would be a fun round to chamber in a No. 1 Ruger? Presumably you could load it slow enough to use lead bullets for plinking. Thanks for your time!
 
Forrest - when I worked at A-Square in the 90s, I built one for myself. Left handed, so was done on a big Sako action.

The big pinch for it now is there is virtually no one making brass, let alone ammo. The Lott, Gibbs, or Jeffrey would be much wiser choices in terms of component availability. One can open up .460 Wby cases, or shorten .500 A-Square cases (which are also rare as hen's teeth), and you could get along fine in the states. However, in order to really use it for it's purpose you would need to commission a special run of properly headstamped brass to get it into Africa.

It does give a "shove" vs. a cracking/beating the crap out of you recoil impulse. Of course, mine was built using the A-Square stock, so the recoil pad was very large and this spreads the force out over a much larger area - the opposite of a Mosin-Nagant rifle. The description in Any Shot You Want does list it as the most gentle .50 caliber cartridge, and it also mentions the ability to download it for lead projectiles. I would guess that it would be a bit too brisk for use with a Ruger #1, but each person's recoil tolerance is definitely a specific quality to themself. Gregor Wood really busts on the A-Square pattern stock in his book on African rifles, but having used the Coil-Check stock, I can vouch that it worked well/helped distribute the recoil impulse.

One of my basic course buddies changed horses from tanker to SF. We took "Thumper" to the range and he was going to try it out from the bench. Having been to the Q course, and I'm sure, several other boutique schools for marksmanship, he snuggled in behind it as if it was a .308 or .300 Win Mag. I started to say something about he "might want to hold down the fore end", but I didn't want to insult his weapons skill knowledge, him being the ferocious snake eater now. So he touches off the .495 and the thing rocks up and clocks him over the eye with the 1.5-5x20 Leupold Vari-XIII - deep, deep cut. It took a minute to start bleeding. Much to his credit, he did get back in the saddle and fired a second round - this time he held the fore end down. Then he decided he'd had enough and relinquished the bench back to me.

To get used to handling the rifle, I used to shoot cottontails in my in-laws' tree break around the farmhouse in SD. The bunnies would bark the trees and kill them in the winter when food was scarce - nothing like a 570 grain bullet heading downrange in the early morning twilight - substantial flash - then only about 1/2 of the rabbit was discernable. : )

If I missed anything you wanted to know, or fostered additional questions, let me know.

USMA84DAB
 
Thank you for your informative reply. I feel as though I have just been to the funeral of a great cartridge, however the frustration saved was appreciated.
 
I was also very intrigued but this cartridge but as you said ammo and brass are nonexistent. Even 460 Roy brass is $2.50 each and that’s just too expensive to form others out of
 
Glad I finally knew something about a topic on here and could contribute!
Something I remember and has stuck with me from an early A-Square brochure is: “Put a good bullet in the right place, with the most power practical.”
 
OR, another obscure cartridge which you might like is the .465 h and h? No rifles or ammo can be found, but apparently one can create the cartridge from .460 Weatherby cases also. Pheroze can give you more information. Good luck!
 
It's 9:45 on a Saturday night (on the east coast of the US) and everyone who responded to this thread is "on-line" here at AH.
I feel like I should be speaking Latin when talking about the 465H&H or 495 A-Square...
Sorry @USMA84DAB, I know how you feel about this cartridge.
But seriously, where would the 22 year old version of ourselves be right now?
...not reading Latin or discussing the future of the 495 A-Square I believe.
 
I would be/was on the East/West German border leading patrols, or at Graf for gunnery, or at Hohenfels for maneuver training. I suspect that I was ahead of you a bit when I raised my right hand...

It is OK to be a gun nerd!!!!!

You do have a point - pretty select group of people haunting the AH website. True gun and hunting lovers!
 
Was below deck myself on a submarine operating a nuclear reactor as a 22 YO.
...but yes, you beat me to the punch by a few years.

Cheers to us both, except for that one day every year...yep, you know the day.
GNBA.
 
Sorry, Navy - what is GNBA?

You had a nuke reactor - I had the lives of 29 Cavalry scouts to worry about - can you imagine a Tide Pod challenge idiot doing our jobs?!
 
Sorry, Navy - what is GNBA?

You had a nuke reactor - I had the lives of 29 Cavalry scouts to worry about - can you imagine a Tide Pod challenge idiot doing our jobs?!
LMAO...you do know what that means right?
Go NAVY, Beat ARMY.

Apologies for being a F#$%^ing Nuke.
 
I reloaded some 375s earlier this week if I could afford a 495 I’d have one. I tried the Army guys but they won’t take me due to a failed hearing test.☹️
 
At least you tried, Wyatt.

So now be a great US citizen by knowing the Constitution, making your own way, and being able to serve as a Minuteman when the time comes.
 
BeeMAA - you knothead - we never bothered with "Go Army" - the Army always is on the go - we just say BEAT NAVY!

I am glad we had you running a nuke reactor though - the entire team is important! I will still rib you, but would also go back to back in a fight to cover your six.
 
Thanks. All hope is not lost as a Marine recruiter called and said I might be able to retake the test since it’s been over a year. My hearing is damaged but i might get lucky or be able to get a waiver.
 

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