Hydros for .500 Jeffery?

[BenKK]

Sort-of a reloading question mixed with some field testing...

I bought some 570 grain Hydros off Tim (thanks, Tim!) to try in the Sako Brown Bear .500 Jeffery, out of curiosity. I’ve used Hydros with various smaller cartridges before, but never did try them in .500NE before I sold it. So I thought I should try some out of the .500J.

I loaded just five today, with 113 grains of 2209. In the photo you can see the seating depth. At that depth, I had to pull the round green nose caps off to fit them in the magazine. But the caps help them feed. So they fit now, but feeding is problematic. They might feed, but I wouldn’t want to depend on it. I believe there’s not much if any compression at this depth. I’ve read that a little compression is fine. Do you think they’d be okay to seat for a crimp in the next groove? Would those few millimetres of compression be okay?

Well, I wanted to give them a test, anyway. I wasn’t going to trust trying to feed a magazine full in a tricky situation in a dense swamp, so I loaded a couple of my tried-and-true 600 grain PPSNs for an emergency, and tucked a Hydro into my pocket. If the situation was safe to do-so, I would place the Hydro in on top and try it out. And that’s what happened...

When I was nearly back at the track, I heard a “meep!” and went to investigate, finding a mob working towards me. I snuck that Hydro in, and bespied the bull way to the back. The cows and calves were getting close by the time he presented almost side-on at 70m, and I took an off-hand shot that hit the base of his neck and that was that. I did use one more Hydro for insurance as I neared, shooting through his leg to his heart, and raising dust beyond.

First prize would be if I could seat them in deeper to try and make use of those nose caps for reliable feeding.

 

[Mark R]

Hey Ben, found your question

I know the tips are put on to help feeding but some rifles (my Ruger 338WM, Model 70 416RM and a Remington 798) feed them just fine. But if they are giving trouble I would certainly try seating to the next groove.

Cheers,
Mark.

P.S. Nice bull....

 

[BenKK]

Thanks, mate! I have no problem feeding capless Hydros in my Mauser .300H&H.

 

[Pheroze]

I have always found the customer service at Woodleigh to be second to none. I would pop that question over to them for sure. If you do please let us know what they say.

Congratulations on the bull. It is awesome that you can just go out and hunt like that!

 

[ChrisG]

Congrats on the bull! Also, Those huge hydros certainly look pretty in the massive Jeffrey case!

 

[IvW]

Nice report.

looks like you have some space on the same groove. I would seat/crimp them slightly forward in the same groove and not the next groove. The crimping is to prevent them from being pushed further into the case.
Not sure if you will have enough space for the plastic cap but it may resolve the feeding issue without the cap.

 

[stug]

Can you reduce the powder charge abit to give more so space in the case? Will give a bit lower velocity, but might not make much difference at the distances you are shooting.

 

[BenKK]

Thank you, all. Good suggestions. I have emailed Geoff and will keep you posted.

 

[PaulT]

G'day Ben.

Firstly, nice bull

Bluff, or flat-nosed bullets, have always been difficult to feed in the most of rifles.

It's a combination of rifles being made with magazines that are not long enough to seat them appropriately for their length (or it could also been seen that most of them are long for caliber) AND the entry point of the chambers not being "cone" shaped enough to allow the forward edge of the projectile to make it past without contact.

The entry point of the chamber can be easily fixed by any competent gunsmith, I have had several guns done, specifically Mausers, in order to facilitate the feeding of flat-nosed bullets.

The Win M70 is probably the best going round as the entry point is already chamfered to enable this, which is why all B&M chambered rifles are built on the M70 platform.


With regards to compressed loads, there is no problems compressing loads, I have been doing it for years, so long as you don't go over board, or over load.
Compressed loads are often more efficient, in terms of powder-burning, than non-compressed loads.
You just have to be careful with just how much you compress !!!

You can create more space in your loads by using drop tubes to improve the way the powder settles in the case thereby reducing compression. I actually use two drop tubes when loading my .500mdm.
This will give you more seating depth without altering the load or increasing pressure.

There are many ways to "skin this cat "

Cheers.

Paul.

 

[Tim Blackwell]

Hi Ben,
My pleasure to be able to supply them for you, it's great to see them going to such great use! A very nice bull and good shooting!

I'd certainly try and seat a little deeper and try feeding with the caps if you can. I run my .458WM reasonably well compressed and have never had an issue, even up your way in the build-up heat.

All the best
Tim

 

[BenKK]

Loaded some more deep enough to use the cap to help feeding, this time using 95 grains of 2208.

Killed an ant pit just fine, and seem to feed well, too.

I think we might be in business.

 

[Rule 303]

G'day Ben,
I would make up two dummy rounds without the cap and dry run them through to see if there are any feeding issues.
I have compressed 2209 in several rifles and no problems. However if the base of the bullet in those photos is sitting on the powder I would drop a grain of weight, tap the side of the case as this settles the powder further then try that. If you do compress the powder you do need to crimp them. In all calibres that I crimp I use a Lee factory crimp die, you do not need a crimping grove this way.

 

[geoff rath]

Seems the proof of the pudding (in this case, the Hydros) is in the shooting. Well done, mate.

 

[BenKK]

Yep, I sure do love the Lee Factory Crimp die.

 

[BenKK]

I’ve launched four of my original five 2209 / Hydro rounds, and three bulls perished quite rapidly.

 

[geoff rath]

That Geoff MacDonald bloke builds some pretty good bullets ....

 

[BenKK]

Yes indeed!

 

[BenKK]

Tested the deeper seated 570 grain Hydro on a bull today. Feeding is now a breeze.

 

[geoff rath]

I get the impression you're pretty stoke about it ...... YES?

 

[stug]

Do you think the projectiles have stopped yet? I assume penetration was full.