Groups just over one inch at 50 yards were the norm with AA1680 powder.
Bill Noody of Northern Precision has been thinking big these days, caliber-wise. He’s had requests for 0.500″-sized bullets and Bill delivered. Using .50 BMG cases for the bullet jackets, he draws them out and works his magic, then adds a lead alloy. The large Ma Deuce cases work perfectly and with the skillful use of his series of Corbin dies, he completes the bullets. If bonded bullets are wanted, an extra step is added.
These bullets can be made to any weight from 350 to 600 grains with a large meplat nose profile. When loaded with bullets crimped in the cannelure, they cycle flawlessly through my Big Horn Armory Model 89.
Bill Noody is a one-man show and his work is flawless!
A Little History
The .500 S&W Magnum made its debut at the 2003 SHOT show. Cor-bon designed the cartridge in a partnership with S&W. The motive was twofold. First, the companies wanted a handgun and cartridge capable of taking the largest North American big-game species. The second? Simply having bragging rights for the most powerful production handgun and load produced.
If you’re gonna’ do it, do it big — and that’s what they did!
The fixin’s for some good handloads. Look at the Big Horn
Armory wood upgrade — worth every cent!
Big Horn Armory 89
About five years later, Big Horn Armory owner Greg Buchel had the desire to build a lever gun sturdy enough to shoot the powerful .500 S&W cartridge in a John Browning-style lever gun. Makes sense, right? He knew the sleek model 92 was too small and he didn’t welcome the bulkiness of the 1886 Winchester. So, he combined the attributes of both and came out with a lever gun halfway between the ’92 and ’86, which happens to be 89 — hence the Big Horn Armory Model 89 came to fruition.
Buchel uses 17-4PH stainless steel, a steel three times stronger than that originally used by Winchester. The mid-sized action allows adjusting pivot pins for the carrier, release points of cartridge guides and other critical internal parts to form the correct geometry to consistently cycle the 500 S&W cartridges. Two large locking lugs keep the bolt locked solidly in the high pressure round. For a few extra bucks, Buchel offers beautifully stocked rifles. It’s well worth the money!
Northern Precision’s .500 bullets (left to right) — 350-grain, 450-grain and
600-grain bullets next to a drawn out .50 BMG case used for the bullet jacket.
The Load
Noody’s 500 bullets pack a punch from the large meplat he uses. Measured at 0.430″, this very blunt lead exposed nose transfers mega doses of energy. The tapered jacket allows perfect mushroom expansion without allowing the bullet to turn inside out. Tougher game like Cape Buffalo would benefit from Noody’s bonded bullets.
Looking at Big Horn Armory’s loading data, AA 1680 looked to be a good contender from what I had on hand. Using Hornady brass, Winchester Large Rifle primers and 42 grains of AA1680, I chronographed the 450-grain bullets right at 1,800 FPS. Accuracy at 50 yards using a Trijicon 6MOA red dot sight was just over an inch. With a 450-grain wide jacketed exposed nose bullet going 1,800 FPS, there’s not a lot of big game animals the bullet wouldn’t dispatch quickly.
Loads were assembled using Hornady dies with Tank’s Lee Classic Turret press.
Final Word
Using custom-made bullets isn’t for everyone. But if you enjoy handloading and take pride in shooting your own ammunition, Northern Precision has the bullet for the job. The 500 S&W magnum will handle the world’s largest game. Using a traditional lever gun during your hunting endeavors is a traditionally fun way of doing so. You’ll take pride in carrying your Big Horn Armory lever gun and you’ll rejoice in taking game with it!
Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed hunting with lever guns and you will too! He called his Winchester 1895 chambered for the .405 Winchester “Big Medicine” while hunting lions and other beasts in Africa.
Bill Noody’s 0.500″ bullets will allow you to “speak quietly while carrying a big stick” when loaded with .500 S&W cartridges in a Big Horn Armory Model 89 lever gun. They are a match that complement each other rather nicely.
—————————————————————————————-Hey don’t blame me if your gun blows up by using any hand loading info on this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grumpy who is Lawyer proof i.e. I am broke and POOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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A Fox A grade in 16ga
Monkeys make good pets in theory. In practice they are usually
more trouble than they’re worth. David Jensen.
Had I gotten my way you guys never would have heard of me. I had planned 25 years in the Army followed by a second career teaching high school physics someplace. As a mechanical engineer that seemed a good post-Army retirement plan.
God had other ideas. As a soldier I averaged eight months out of twelve away from home. It seemed I could be either an Army helicopter pilot or a Dad, but I couldn’t be both. Like an idiot, I decided to go to medical school. Eventually I wrote enough to land this gig, and the rest is history. However, it certainly wasn’t my plan.
I had a high school physics teacher — Gene Barbor — who had a powerful influence on me. I saw myself following a similar path.
My formative world was liberally dusted with World War II veterans. Sixteen million served out of a population of 137 million, so they were literally everywhere. My senior math teacher packed a Browning Automatic Rifle all the way across Europe. Mr. Barbor was a Navy officer serving aboard a destroyer in the South Pacific. They’re all gone now.
Every now and then Mr. Barbor would wax nostalgic in class. Most of his tales were funny or harmless. There was the one where one of his gunners got his head literally blown off in front of him during a Japanese air attack, but that was an outlier. Most of his stories were more benign.
The United States produced 377 destroyers of all types during
World War II. For a time one of them had a pet monkey.
My favorite orbited around a monkey. A WWII-era Fletcher-class destroyer carried a complement of 329 officers and men. Most were either conscripts or recent volunteers. There was subsequently an extreme shortage of proper experience. As a result, many times you might have a warship cruising about looking for trouble crewed primarily by souped-up teenagers. This was one of those times.
Mr. Barbor’s ship once happened upon a deserted island. The skipper dispatched a landing party to scout the island for fresh fruit with which to augment the mess. The away team returned with mangoes and such as well as an unexpected passenger. These guys had captured a monkey.
The little guy was undeniably adorable, and the ship’s complement took to him immediately. Mr. Barbor said regulations were quite specific concerning the inadvisability of bringing illicit fauna aboard a US Navy warship, but the ship’s commander was a soft-hearted soul. He thought it a bit pirate-esque to have a monkey onboard. The thing was apparently fairly personable and spent his days frolicking on the bridge.
Mr. Barbor’s ship spent most of its time on isolated antisubmarine patrols or on missions to retrieve downed aircrew. Without a great deal of adult supervision all involved saw little harm in keeping the creature. Then came one very hot day.
This was, after all, the South Pacific, and the temperatures were blistering. The crew had therefore opened the windows on the bridge to take advantage of the scant breeze produced while underway. The ship’s monkey scurried about playfully.
The most important single item on the ship was the code book. Codes changed regularly according to a set timetable. For a given period encoded messages would come in over the wireless, and the commo guys would use the code book to decode them. This information told the skipper where the ship should go and what its particular mission might be. Loss of the code book would compromise the security of every ship in theater. As a result, the book itself was weighted so it could be thrown overboard in the event the ship might be boarded. You can see where this is going.
On this fateful day the ship’s monkey spontaneously snatched the codebook off of the chart table and casually tossed it out the window. Before anyone could react, the weighted document splashed off to meet Old Hob. Understand this was a really big deal.
Now if they got orders to do something important they had no way to decode them. Careers died over less. Commanders could be court-martialed over such. They still had several days until the new codes kicked in.
The Captain had the ship steam in circles until the new codebook took effect, and the monkey was given his leave at the next handy landfall. No one was the wiser. However, the tale of the larcenous monkey did ultimately add great levity to Mr. Barbor’s fifth period physics class.
I have read her fine book about this VERY black page of Japanese history. Sadly she later on took her life. So I hold that Ms. Iris Chang was the last victim of the rape of Nanking. May God rest her soul! Grumpy
Here is some photos of what the Bastards did
There is even worst stuff out there which I won’t share with you. So just remember the 1st rule of war. DON”T LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!