Educated Guess on Starting Load

[SAWMAN]

I have been shooting this NEF Handi Rifle chambered in 500S&W Mag for some years now. The bbl has been chopped to 18 inches and LOP taken down to 12.75 inches.It wears a 2.5X Leupold with heavy duplex.
I have tried quite a few different loads with this gun including the 350gr and 500gr Hornady XTP's. My hunting load is a 440gr WFNGC (hardcast) and I have several loads shooting lighter bullets at <850fps which are great fun on steel.
The 500 in a single shot action is great fun. The gun in the middle is the 500. Bottom gun is a 444Marlin and top gun is a 45-70.
Hopefully you can get you AR running properly at the >50K psi pressures.Personally,if it were my gun,I would shoot only jacketed bullets thru it. If it has adjustable gas that should help with the "tune" greatly.
What is the actual chambering of your gun ?? 50Raptor ?? 500S&W without a rim,right ?? --- SAWMAN

[tabascoman]

I have been shooting this NEF Handi Rifle chambered in 500S&W Mag for some years now. The bbl has been chopped to 18 inches and LOP taken down to 12.75 inches.It wears a 2.5X Leupold with heavy duplex.
I have tried quite a few different loads with this gun including the 350gr and 500gr Hornady XTP's. My hunting load is a 440gr WFNGC (hardcast) and I have several loads shooting lighter bullets at <850fps which are great fun on steel.
The 500 in a single shot action is great fun. The gun in the middle is the 500. Bottom gun is a 444Marlin and top gun is a 45-70.
Hopefully you can get you AR running properly at the >50K psi pressures.Personally,if it were my gun,I would shoot only jacketed bullets thru it. If it has adjustable gas that should help with the "tune" greatly.
What is the actual chambering of your gun ?? 50Raptor ?? 500S&W without a rim,right ?? --- SAWMAN

It’s probably the 500 auto max


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[BradyT88]

I have been shooting this NEF Handi Rifle chambered in 500S&W Mag for some years now. The bbl has been chopped to 18 inches and LOP taken down to 12.75 inches.It wears a 2.5X Leupold with heavy duplex.
I have tried quite a few different loads with this gun including the 350gr and 500gr Hornady XTP's. My hunting load is a 440gr WFNGC (hardcast) and I have several loads shooting lighter bullets at <850fps which are great fun on steel.
The 500 in a single shot action is great fun. The gun in the middle is the 500. Bottom gun is a 444Marlin and top gun is a 45-70.
Hopefully you can get you AR running properly at the >50K psi pressures.Personally,if it were my gun,I would shoot only jacketed bullets thru it. If it has adjustable gas that should help with the "tune" greatly.
What is the actual chambering of your gun ?? 50Raptor ?? 500S&W without a rim,right ?? --- SAWMAN

I was in search of one of those Handi Rifles for a while but they had been discontinued and used models were going for more than they ever sold for new so I didn't really want one that bad I guess. Some time later Big Horn Armory announced their AR500 chambered in 500 AutoMax and the price seemed pretty reasonable to me so I pre-ordered one.

I've ran some pretty hot loads through it already. I bought some factory ammo from Underwood to initially test out. 350gr XTP's rated at 2300 fps. I shot 10 of them the first time I took it out with no problems. Thy chrono'd just a hair over 2300 fps. Bought a different scope mount and took it out in July and zeroed the scope again. Ambient temps were in the high 90's. I would shoot a round, the next one would get chambered and be sitting in the chamber while I was looking through a spotting scope at the target. Since I previously hadn't had problems, I didn't have the chrono out nor was I checking brass. I blew 5 primers out of the 7 rounds I shot. One of the primers jammed into the star chamber with the next round and I had a pretty hard time getting it back out. Spoke with Underwood and BHA about it. BHA wasn't worried about the rifle. Only the bolt face if I fed it a steady diet of those. Underwood was surprised though. They said they thought they had done a good heat test of the rounds when they would shoot hundreds at a time through the rifle rapidly. When they recreated what I explained they ended up with the same result as me though and reworked their load and sent me new ammo. Their load was apparently good until you shot a certain way on a really hot day.



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[BradyT88]

With that knowledge I was getting frustrated with my 300 gr Berrys work up using AA#2 so I shot my test loads right up to where I blew a primer out. Nothing... all 24+" three shot groups... luckily after that my 350gr Xtreme loads with AA#2 shot much better so I didn't shoot them passed the pressure signs.

The unfortunate thing to those light loads is that it wasn't until the very top end when I was getting pressure signs would they actually cycle the bolt and even then it wasn't enough to be able to lock the bolt back. Meanwhile those Underwood loads (the new reworked ones) are still pretty overgassed. This gun may involve adjusting the gas block frequently which is annoying since I have to pull the hand guard off to access it.

I guess I could load those Berry's down to like 1200fps or less and close the gas block and just hand cycle them for a light load but it sort of defeats the purpose of having an AR. Haha

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[SAWMAN]

NOW . . I understand what chambering we are talking about. Same everything as the 500S&W but with some rim turned off . . correct ??
Yeah,the power here stomps all other AR10 type chamberings including Beowulf,Socom,Bushmaster. AND . . . coming out of 18 inches of bbl . . . the extra velocity in a heavy bullet ='s energy on target.
The hardcast 440's out of my gun can't be stopped.
Good luck with this project sir. I say - -> if your gonna go big . . . GO BIG !! --- SAWMAN

[BradyT88]

NOW . . I understand what chambering we are talking about. Same everything as the 500S&W but with some rim turned off . . correct ??
Yeah,the power here stomps all other AR10 type chamberings including Beowulf,Socom,Bushmaster. AND . . . coming out of 18 inches of bbl . . . the extra velocity in a heavy bullet ='s energy on target.
The hardcast 440's out of my gun can't be stopped.
Good luck with this project sir. I say - -> if your gonna go big . . . GO BIG !! --- SAWMAN

Yep. Completely identical to the 500 S&W. Could even shoot them in the revolver if you had one cut for moon clips. Might work in your Handi Rifle if there is a way for it to headspace without getting into the chamber too deep.

Yeah. I like to go big or go home on most things. Haha. I have a 460 Rowland kit for a 5.25" XDm and am hoping to get a Model 500 revolver to pair up with this AR.


My end goal with the Berrys and Xtreme bullets was to have a lower cost plinking load. The copper plated bullets are pretty cheap compared to all the other bullets and AA#2 is like $20/lb. But it may not be worth the hassle.

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[Muddydawg75]

Now I’m really interested.... I’m building the 45Raptor....




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[BradyT88]

Now I’m really interested.... I’m building the 45Raptor....




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I think the one advantage of the 45 Raptor is you can make cases from 308 brass which would be a lot cheaper than having to buy Starline Brass. Even 500 SW brass is spendy and then using a lathe to reduce the rim could leave some room for mistakes.

The other advantage I have heard is that the 45 cal bullets will have a better BC than the 500's but I doubt it significantly better by any means. Though there may be 1 or 2 that are pretty good I suppose. I haven't looked myself.

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[Muddydawg75]

Well, the 45 Raptor makes sense for me because I already load 460S&W....

Maybe one day I’ll buy a 500


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[tabascoman]

I think the one advantage of the 45 Raptor is you can make cases from 308 brass which would be a lot cheaper than having to buy Starline Brass. Even 500 SW brass is spendy and then using a lathe to reduce the rim could leave some room for mistakes.

The other advantage I have heard is that the 45 cal bullets will have a better BC than the 500's but I doubt it significantly better by any means. Though there may be 1 or 2 that are pretty good I suppose. I haven't looked myself.

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They make 500 am brass. 250pcs are 200 bucks. That’s bordering my 458 socom price lol. I agree. I’m debating a 45 raptor build. But I want something that shoots rifle bullets. It’s in my mind. And not gonna change. That I’d rather shoot rifle bullets. I’m thinking about a 375 socom now


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