500 Jeffery Club

[Daniel Cary]

I joined the club yesterday. I have not fired mine but I have shot a couple of her sisters over the years.

Hey, many congrats! .. nice catch!

 

[Huvius]

It is my belief that Schuler developed the 500 rimless and Jeffery adopted it.
Pretty much says so in their own period advertising:

Surely if they had developed it, they would have claimed that.
Instead they give a nod that the 500 rimless already existed In their advertisement for the 500 magazine rifle:

“During the last few years we have had many enquiries from sportsmen for a heavy magazine rifle to equal or surpass the energy of double rifles of the ‹470-bore class. We have, therefore, decided to build rifles of the magazine type to take the •500-bore rimless cartridge.”

 

[Huvius]

By the way, 45GBP in 1926 is roughly equivalent to 3500GBP today, and W.J. Jeffery starts their 500 at 52,000GPB

 

[Tintin]

Fellow club members,

I had a few loaded rounds that I needed to pull.

The green plastic kinetic hammer of Thor wasn't going to come close to accommodating the 500 Jeff.

Have not bee able to find the RCBS .500 collet in stock anywhere.

Stumbled across this solution.

 

[Riflecrank]

Huvius,
No doubt about it. Shuler did it first, as you say. Tony ought to know:

 

[colorado]

Fellow club members,

I had a few loaded rounds that I needed to pull.

The green plastic kinetic hammer of Thor wasn't going to come close to accommodating the 500 Jeff.

Have not bee able to find the RCBS .500 collet in stock anywhere.

Stumbled across this solution.

Nice I have a bullet puller that works with my 500 Jeff. I use a Lee Classic Press for my factory crimp die and my bullet puller (rarely need that anymore). I use Lee Turret Press for everything else, had it machined to take the larger dies, cost me $20. I know RCBS is higher quality, but that Lee Turret Press is so convenient and works well on all of my rifles.

 

[Riflecrank]

Here is the Duane Wiebe .500 Jeffery bottom metal for a standard Mauser 98, allowing just over 3.500" inside length of the magazine, shown on an FN Mauser that started as a Herter's .30-06,
but hey, a .500 Jeffery reamer would clean up the .500 Bateleur chamber just fine, heh-heh-heh:

Two each of 12.7x68mm Magnum, .500 A2, .500 Mbogo, .500 Bateleur, and one .505 Gibbs are the reasons it has taken 21 years of parts collecting to get my one .500 Jeffery rifle nearing completion.
I sure would hate to ask Rusty McGee to do the feed job to convert a .500 Bateleur to .500 Jeffery,
however I do have one to spare ...
The CZ 550 Magnum .500 Jeffery has had its barrel lug fitted and is awaiting the solder.
First things first, after 21 years.

 

[Forrest Halley]

Where and how does one find brass for the improved Jeffery? Does it use the Gibbs bolt face?

 

[grand veneur]

As far as the rebated rim is concerned, Harald Wolf wanted to optimize something there, but I don't know whether that made much difference. I never had any problems by reloading my rifle caliber 12,7x70 Schüler quickly while hunting. A lot depends on the gunsmith who built the rifle.

 

[Riflecrank]

Where and how does one find brass for the improved Jeffery? Does it use the Gibbs bolt face?

Good question.
The standard .500 Jeffery case has a base/head diameter of 0.619" and rim diameter of 0.575".
If the .500 Jeffery Improved of Sanchez-Arino & Wolf is truly non-rebated, that means a rim diameter of 0.619" maximum.
The .505 Gibbs is a huge 0.640" for both rim and case head.
No, I will not be sizing and turning those down to make .500 Jeffery cases.

The .500 AHR used a .416 Rigby-sized rim (still some rebate) and a longer neck on the .500 Jeffery case, maybe a sharper shoulder too ? Bertram made that case.

Now I am going to go scour the internet to see if any sort of .500 Jeffery brass can be found ...

 

[AimSmall]

Bertram shows to have 500 Jeffrey brass in stock.

 

[Riflecrank]

As far as the rebated rim is concerned, Harald Wolf wanted to optimize something there, but I don't know whether that made much difference. I never had any problems by reloading my rifle caliber 12,7x70 Schüler quickly while hunting. A lot depends on the gunsmith who built the rifle.

Sometimes a proper magazine follower and spring that provides more lift to the rear of the cartridge is all that is needed to sort out the kink.
Theoretically the rebated rim and short neck are problems for a DG cartridge.
That put me on the trail of other Five Hundreds.
But a riflecrank has not truly lived until he has adopted a .500 Jeffery.

 

[Huvius]

There is a thread here about the Schuler magazine and I posted pictures of mine.
The way they did it is 100% reliable and really quite simple once you see how it was done.

 

[Riflecrank]

I see that Bertram USA has .500 Jeffery brass.
Hoping for Norma to go with my other 70 pieces.
I have 3 pieces of Bertram and one piece of Norma made into feed dummies.
Might go with Bertram if that is all I can find.

 

[Riflecrank]

There is a thread here about the Schuler magazine and I posted pictures of mine.
The way they did it is 100% reliable and really quite simple once you see how it was done.

To make it easy to find:

500 schuler magazine

Hi all I just purchased a 500 Jeffery project that is maybe 20% complete. It’s a new barrelled action and stock blank. It has not been opened up at all. has anyone got and detailed pictures of a single stack Schuler magazine? I’m interested to see how the feed lips actually work. I’ve seen the...

www.africahunting.com

Vertical, non-staggered, "straight" stack, no problemo.
The Weatherby MKV depends on sheet metal feed lips at the top of its box,
and a very thin, flat follower,
for carts of 460 WbyMag head and rim size. Hey, those are mildly rebated carts too, heh-heh-heh.
Three down straight-stacked there too with the DGR drop floor plate added.
Just need to get a bolt face with proper fit for .575" rim ...
Hey, .583" rim on the 460 WbyMag and .604" belt diameter.
Existing bolt face of the .378-based carts might work ?
Rebore your .460 Weatherby Magnum barrel and run a .500 Jeffery or Schuler reamer into it ?
Shucks, it's still a pushfeed !
But I do have a MKV .500 Bateleur that could be cleaned up with a reamer.
Gotta check to see if Gunsmith had to open the bolt face to fit the .510/ .338 Lapua Magnum Improved instead of that rebated .30-378 WbyMag rim ...

Another reason I have been working on my .500 Jeffery since 2003.

 

[Riflecrank]

I apologize for this meme from 2012:

The Fifty Aught Twelve = .500 Bateleur
The Fifty Aught Eight = .500 Mbogo
The Forty Aught Seven = .395 Tatanka
The Thirty Aught Six = Started this family of cartridges a century earlier.

 

[Forrest Halley]

To make it easy to find:

500 schuler magazine

Hi all I just purchased a 500 Jeffery project that is maybe 20% complete. It’s a new barrelled action and stock blank. It has not been opened up at all. has anyone got and detailed pictures of a single stack Schuler magazine? I’m interested to see how the feed lips actually work. I’ve seen the...

www.africahunting.com

Vertical, non-staggered, "straight" stack, no problemo.
The Weatherby MKV depends on sheet metal feed lips at the top of its box,
and a very thin, flat follower,
for carts of 460 WbyMag head and rim size. Hey, those are mildly rebated carts too, heh-heh-heh.
Three down straight-stacked there too with the DGR drop floor plate added.
Just need to get a bolt face with proper fit for .575" rim ...
Hey, .583" rim on the 460 WbyMag and .604" belt diameter.
Existing bolt face of the .378-based carts might work ?
Rebore your .460 Weatherby Magnum barrel and run a .500 Jeffery or Schuler reamer into it ?
Shucks, it's still a pushfeed !
But I do have a MKV .500 Bateleur that could be cleaned up with a reamer.
Gotta check to see if Gunsmith had to open the bolt face to fit the .510/ .338 Lapua Magnum Improved instead of that rebated .30-378 WbyMag rim ...View attachment 599267

View attachment 599268View attachment 599269

Another reason I have been working on my .500 Jeffery since 2003.

Now that looks like a capable cartridge.