My New 50 Cal Wildcat

[scope eye]

OPS sorry about that, I knew it was one of those 50s.

Dean

[farmerben]

Been doing some homework on this in the tractor today. If the 375 ruger case length is 2.58 and the 500 s&w case length is 1.65, how do you decap the spent brass? Or do it manually. Looking at case length between the 50 a&e, The 500 s&w, and the 50 beowulf, all about the same. Whats the difference in dies then if the all load .501" bullets?

[scope eye]

I have a decapping die that I use for everything, I have only used the S&W dies so I can't help you there, I think it come down to you get use to and are familiar with they equipment and tools and dies that you have.

Dean

[Blitzfike]

Decapping is easy, I just screwed the decapping stem down far enough to punch out the primer using the 500 SW sizing die. I have a couple of universal decapping dies, but didn't need them. The stem is actually below the top of the die, but for my initial purposes it worked OK. Also, the 500 SW die doesn't size the neck down enough for me, the neck tension with it is pretty loose. The 50AE sizing die reduces the neck enough to make a significant difference in bullet retention. With the 500 SW die, I can spin the bullet in the case after seating it, but crimping it did hold them in place, that makes for erratic ignition and more spread on the shot strings. I haven't tried the 50 Beowolf dies yet, but I suspect they will work as well as the 50AE, as I am using the same bullets in all three. I don't have a 500 SW currently, just the die set. Once I get a chance to set up the chronograph at the range, I'm going to do some serious load development. I have a wide variety of powders, including some surplus canister powder (not military surplus) and I'm going to be working up some load data for them as well. I have this mold - Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold C501-440-RF 500 S&W Magnum (501 Diameter) 440 Grain Flat Nose Gas Check - and a thousand Hornady gas checks, so I plan to do some serious work with the cast bullets as well. The chase for a good working load is what motivates me on these projects.. Dean sure got me in trouble with this one, I won't know when its done. I make bullet jackets from copper tube as well, so this is another machining project ahead of me. Thats for later after I get some load development done. Jim

[scope eye]

Thanks for clearing that up Jim, I am always up for learning something new, and increasing my options.

Dean

[Blitzfike]

Dean, since we are head-spacing on the cartridge case mouth, have you seen any stretching of the brass with the heavier loads? If this was a rimmed case, we would have head-spaced on the rim, but as a rimless and belt-less and no shoulder, case length becomes the standard. I have set the length of new brass in my batch as the standard length for this particular rifle. Whatcha think? Jim

[scope eye]

I have seen so little stretching or brass flow it is not even a subject of conversation, I had some that were tad shorter, they grew to the chamber size and head space and stop right there.

Dean

[sixonetonoffun]

I have to f/l size to chamber fired brass. I like the idea using new brass length keep us posted on that.

I am gonna try the an AE die. The crimp has weird effects as you mentioned and I have had some pull off when crimped hard.

Still chasing a rl7 load hopefully this week!

Told my neighbor its my deer rifle for this season :-)

[SUTTERERMAN85]

I have been using the 50ae die as well. My Lee 500 S&W dies I couldnt get enough tension as stated. I had good luck using it as well.

[farmerben]

Ordered the Lee 50 beowulf 4 die set. Has the factory crimp die which could be beneficial.

[Blitzfike]

I've gone through 100 rounds of the new 375 basic brass doing measurements for length, and there is as much as 8 thousandths difference in some of the brass. I thought I had picked the shortest brass in the first lot to set as my final case length, but I see that I am going to have to work a little more to get everything to a standard length. Good thing setting head-space isn't hard here.. I'll have to mill a new case gage as my standard length is going to be shorter than the gage is... The factory crimp die from the 50 beowolf is the way to go from my experience so far, and the 50 beowolf sizing die brings the neck tension down to where I want it. I guess the 50AE brass is thicker and that makes it not ideal for this thinner brass in setting neck tension. More work to do before I can really get to load development.

[Blitzfike]

I was using a standard belted mag shell holder instead of ordering the 375 ruger shell holder. No problem except that the loose fit left protruding primers. I fixed that with the RCBS universal hand primer, and it fixed the problem with misfires. Hitting the primer without it being fully seated usually just drove it deeper into the pocket without igniting it. A second strike would always fire it, but that's not what we want. If my shell holder ever gets here I'll see what that does. I'm using a Lee two cavity 440 grain gas check mold and they seem to work really well in this round. Much better bullet retention than with the jacketed bullets. I run them through a Lee 5.01 sizer die to seat the gas checks and size to proper dimension. I'm still only playing with IMR-4895 at this point. I need to wait for warmer weather before I go out with the chrono and press to develop any other loads. Jim

[SUTTERERMAN85]

How much 4895 are you running with 440 grain bullets?

[Blitzfike]

Right now I'm at 70 grains. No pressure signs and primers are still rounded. Pretty good thump, but still low on the load. I had a pocket gopher poke his head out of a hole when I was coming back from the shop with the rifle, I popped him from about three feet away. Could find no sign of the carcass, but after 5 days the hole is still open. I guess that was overkill, but it sure did work.

[Blitzfike]

I meant to add that the 440 grain bullet actually weighs 465 grains with the alloy i'm using and the gas check. These are fairly hard, water quenched. If just air quenched, they are somewhat softer.

[farmerben]

Question for you guys. Tried loading up a few rounds tonight and having problems with the factory crimp die on the Lee .50 beowulf die set. Trying to set the crimp and the bullet still turns in the case after the crimp. Pushed a bit harder and the case gets rippled. Whats the method or cure for this?

[sixonetonoffun]

I use a .500 S&W taper crimp. Have the same thing occasionally. Probably not an issue if ya aren't storing indefinitely. But I just pull harder as you did no issue with ripple. Have had crimp pull off a few times n attributed it to crimping to hard?¿?

[SUTTERERMAN85]

Question for you guys. Tried loading up a few rounds tonight and having problems with the factory crimp die on the Lee .50 beowulf die set. Trying to set the crimp and the bullet still turns in the case after the crimp. Pushed a bit harder and the case gets rippled. Whats the method or cure for this?

What brand dies are you using? My Lee 500 S&W would do this as well. Got pissed off, crunched some cases and tried the 50AE and it worked like a champ even though the round is slighty tapered (50AE), but I guess it doesnt matter too much as it basically is only seating and crimping.

[scope eye]

So basically all you need is a 50AE crimp die, and not the whole set, is this right?

Dean

[farmerben]

Using the Lee set. Havent had the crimp pull off. Just seemed too loose that i could spin the bullet. Maybe its not an issue though. Also I do believe that Dean menrioned stuffing cotton ball on top of the powder to hold the bullet up while crimping? I have one that the byllet fell in during the crimp.