500S&W Magnum and Berry's Plated 350gr?

[Shrinkmd]

I found a few old threads elsewhere saying that these bullets are rated by the company to 1750 or so, with much thicker plating than usual. Check out http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/44248-500-S-amp-W-Plated-Bullet-Velocity Given this information, it looks like these can be pushed pretty hard for a great plinking/practice round.

Has anyone used these with the Alliant data for these bullets? The Power Pistol load looks economical, and the higher velocity of 300MP still would be great if usable with the Berry's bullets. $260/k is way cheaper than any of the jacketed, and if they can be pushed to 1700 or so...

If the brass can be reused 10 times, this means that shooting the 500S&W with factory strength plinkers can be done for cheaper than new factory 45acp!

 

[nofishbob]

I have shot a lot of Berry's 350 grain plated bullets in my 10.5" S&W 500.

I have not used the powder you are asking about, but I can offer some information from my experience:

I use Tightgroup and Trail Boss powders for light target loads. I use a light taper crimp and have experienced no bullet jump and excellent accuracy. I figure that by not roll crimping, I will get a few more loadings out of my target brass.

As I experimented with faster loads for these plated bullets, I found that the upper velocity limit was shown when I drove the bullets so fast the they were spraying lead as they went down range. Accuracy was still good, and there was no evidence in the barrel, but I had some lets say "surprising evidence" on the targets where you could see swirls of lead next to the bullet holes. I pulled the rest and am happy with the lesser loads.

Good luck!

Bob

 

[Shrinkmd]

Well, I finally shot some of them today. 38 grains of 2400 and CCI large rifle primers. I'm amazed by the flash and boom. Although I think the actual recoil of shooting 357 magnums out of a 640 is more, different somehow.

I need to increase the crimp, since the last round had crept out a bit. Not enough to lock up the cylinder, but I need to experiment with more.

I don't see how anyone goes through more than 50 of these on a range trip. Gotta test my Unique 330 lead loads for something tamer.

I'm looking forward to chronographing these loads!

 

[Walkalong]

I bought some to try in reduced loads in .458 Win Mag for the same reason, price. Berrys told me that bullet is designed for velocities "up to 2000 FPS". They measure .500 instead of .458, and will not work with the RCBS dies I have. The seater die is too tight. The plating is thick and the bullet is hard.

 

[FROGO207]

I have held off buying any for the same reason nofishbob stated. I did try some Berries in the 7.62X39 and had some lead/jacket spraying at higher velocities with those. Shooting target loads are one thing and I am happy using lead but for full house I think that I will just stick with jacketed bullets. I would think that this "spattering" would be worse with the bullet shearing the plated jacket on the forcing cone in a revolver as opposed to using a plated bullet in a rifle chamber. YMMV

 

[Shrinkmd]

Yeah, I was thinking about shooting a few at each velocity NOT over the chrony, just to make sure all they made were holes in the paper and not shredding it. I just keep having visions of blowing up my chronograph (again) and really trying to avoid it this time.

As in, use a bipod/rest for the shooting, and also doing a little pre-testing to ensure these bullets stay together. Of course, Berry's claimed on another forum that the 500S&W bullets are good to 2000 fps, and I don't think my loads will come close. I will report back once I finally shoot and (hopefully) measure them all.

 

[Shrinkmd]

Here's the data!

All shot using once fired Starline Brass, CCI LR primers, and the Berry's Plated 350gr bullets, all out of my Performance Center S&W 500 Magnum 10.5" barrel.

Most are 10 round samples, except when the chronograph missed a shot or two.

Power Pistol:

23gr
High: 1534
Low: 1410
E.S.: 124
Ave.: 1453.4 1478
S.D.: 51.2
95%: 71.1

******
The 23gr load read higher than the 24. I left the data out, but readjusted my chrony and then the rest of the data came out better.
******

24gr
High: 1396
Low: 1336
E.S.: 60
Ave.: 1371.1 1394
S.D.: 23.3
95%: 19

25gr
High: 1431
Low: 1361
E.S.: 70
Ave.: 1388.4 1416
S.D.: 25.2
95%: 20.6

26gr
High: 1458
Low: 1390
E.S.: 68
Ave.: 1419.5 1446
S.D.: 24.7
95%: 18.6

26.7gr (max load 27gr)
High: 1492
Low: 1444
E.S.: 48
Ave.: 1463.6 1484
S.D.: 16.3
95%: 12.3

And now the 2400 data:

38gr
High: 1415
Low: 1376
E.S.: 39
Ave.: 1394.2 1404
S.D.: 10.9
95%: 8.2

39gr
High: 1501
Low: 1360
E.S.: 141
Ave.: 1398.4 1446
S.D.: 41
95%: 30.9

40gr
High: 1471
Low: 1398
E.S.: 73
Ave.: 1435 1463
S.D.: 24
95%: 18.1

41gr
High: 1522
Low: 1416
E.S.: 106
Ave.: 1457.6 1487
S.D.: 28.6
95%: 21.6

41.8gr (max load 42gr)
High: 1558
Low: 1439
E.S.: 119
Ave.: 1502.4 1540
S.D.: 38.2
95%: 31.2

They all ejected no problem, no pressure signs, etc. Got tired shooting them after a while...

 

[sirsloop]

I load mine with 43.3gr H110, 350gr Berry RS, starline brass, LR magnum primers... out of a 9" Encore. I can get away with less/no crimp because these are going out of a single shot. I think when you crimp them heavily for a revolver you damage the plating and the bullet ends up coming apart in the barrel. I have had some plating come flying out my muzzle brake and ended up in my arm/face/lip, etc when shooting it indoors...ended up wearing long sleeve shirt to protect against that HAHAH. My targets have always been nice round holes with no splatter, even at 5yds. I'll probably back em off a little bit, down to like 41gr on the 500 load day. I'm right at the upper limit right now... no problems with the brass or primers but they are HOTTTT! Keep breaking scopes lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFBv0xhBUro&feature=relmfu

just bolted up a TSOB...

 

[Steve Koski]

I've shot hundreds of the 350 Berrys over 16 gr Titegroup. Great load, but not anywhere close to full power.