500 Jeffery with cast bullets

[OzarkSafariGuy]

Hey guys,
Got my 500 Jeffery build running, it's a Savage 110. Now I need advice on loading with cast bullets.
Fired 10 rounds so far, of Norma PH ammo (only factory ammo that I could find locally).
Worked great, but going to swap to either iron sights or a low power scope.
I also fired 5 rounds of cast lead bullets, powdercoated, and was not very impressed with accuracy.
Grouped 2.5 MOA, compared to 1.2 for the Norma PH.

Using a 445 grain cast bullet of unknown origin, powdercoated and sized to 0.511"
125 grains of BL-C2, and 3.25" OAL. CCI magnum primer, and a hefty crimp.

Rifle is a Savage 110, with a 1:12 twist and 25" barrel.

Any advice of what to change up?
I know that 445 grain is really light for this cartridge, does anyone have a recommendation on a good bullet mold for this caliber?
Just using this gun for knocking over hogs and bears, nothing serious.
Also, recommendation on a recoil pad. I had to put an ice pack on my shoulder after my range session.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I made up some practice loads for my .404J using cast bullets, powder coated and with gas checks crimped on. The people at Hodgdon's provided reduced loads using IMR5744 and mentioned that cast bullets should not be loaded at velocities beyond about 1800 fps. My loads are very soft shooting and I estimate velocity at about 1400 - 1500 fps. Very accurate in my rifle (23" PacNor barrel). Makes the rifle fun to shoot.

 

[nztimb]

I made up some practice loads for my .404J using cast bullets, powder coated and with gas checks crimped on. The people at Hodgdon's provided reduced loads using IMR5744 and mentioned that cast bullets should not be loaded at velocities beyond about 1800 fps. My loads are very soft shooting and I estimate velocity at about 1400 - 1500 fps. Very accurate in my rifle (23" PacNor barrel). Makes the rifle fun to shoot.

Then the people at hodgdon are wrong. I ran 365gn cast bullets (linotype) in my 404 Jeffery at 2416fps over 87gr H4350 (ADI2209) and 2481 over 80gr Varget (ADI 2208) for recoil and reload practice although 74gr Varget at 2363fps gave better accuracy.
A slower load of 63gr H4350 with different (hunting alloy) gave excellent accuracy (.33) at 1900fps
A plinking load of 20gr red dot gave 1400fps and even killed a few goats.

I developed a 160gr 2 part bullet with hard shank and soft nose for my 7x57 ran it to 2420 fps over 39gn H4350 and killed goats to 200 yds with it.

It all has to do with alloy, sizing, lube, case sizing and neck tension. I was part of a group that were doing extensive testing of the various elements of cast bullet shooting and experimenting with adding copper to our alloys among other things

In this pic you can clearly se the change from the hard shank to the soft nose and the result of over 2400fps contact and the almost 100% weight retention.

 

[Nevada Mike]

So Garry... guess you can't put too much faith in what vendors tell you. I suppose that the gas checks make a big difference with lead bullets. I have little experience with lead bullets, so your comments are very helpful.

 

[nztimb]

So Garry... guess you can't put too much faith in what vendors tell you. I suppose that the gas checks make a big difference with lead bullets. I have little experience with lead bullets, so your comments are very helpful.

I made my own gas check from both al and copper and after all my testing I found that the al ones were just as good and better in some cases up to about 1900fps as I could tailor the thickness to the needs of the bullet base and the barrel but above that velocity the Hornady GC was best but then I also had custom molds made to suit some rifles for best results. Not sure what bullet you have but I found that the bore rider gave best results accross the board.

 

[zephyr]

Loading a 600gr cast bullet for my 505 Gibbs using both 5744 and Trail Boss . There are formulas for loading both on their web sites