Starline 500JRH brass VS S&W 500 cutdown brass

[tex500]

Yesterday I  started an info thread about the 500 caliber Flat Point bullets made by Northern Precision.
 Our very own "Bearskinner" pointed out some important info for me. I will pass this along in hopes to help those enjoy the 1/2" caliber. 
   The Starline 500JRH brass that Buffalo Bore uses is very different than the S&W 500 brass.  I do not have an inside Micrometer or a tube micrometer to really get precise with this. But I am still going to throw this out there, and I believe it will be enough info to show the diffference.

 BB JRH Brass 1.389 length  OD .530    ID .498   Thickness measured with Starret calipers .016
 S&W 500 Brass cut to 1.395  OD .526  ID .496   Thickness measured with Starret calipers .016
 The caveat with the Starline JRH brass is that it does NOT taper inside quite as fast or abrupt can we say?
  The Bullets that Bill Noody sent me fit right into the Starline JRH Brass. Not only will they fit,,BUT Each of the bullets will go into the Starline JRH brass, all the way to the to the crimp groove. 
The  "UNSIZED"S&W 500 brass will not permit me to install the bullets even barely into the mouth.
  My SWAG is that by cutting down the S&W 500 brass, there is the possibility that some taper has begun.
   Diameter of each of the three bullets is .500
   Seating depth is as follows:
   450gr  .480
   500gr  .550
   550gr  .630
  Since I was not at the house and could not seat the Bullets into the 500 S&W Brass it should be noted that at this time I could not prove or disprove that these bullets seated at the proper depth would create a possible bulge or ring that would not only be unsightly, but could prevent one from chambering the round. Again just a "SWAG" would be that there would be a bulge large enough to prevent chambering or even split the brass. 
As "Bearskinner" pointed out,,, With Starline 500JRH Brass, you can use these heavyweights and its just like "Deep Seating"  Less powder needed to still have a hammer with authority.
 Thank You Bearskinner.


 

[Encore64]

I'll have to push back a little on this.

Mainly, because there are multiple makers of 500 S&W Brass and no two are exactly the same.

I've got two BFRs in 500 JRH and have only used trimmed 500 S&W Brass.

The inside taper of the cases vary from maker to maker.

While there is only one maker of 500 JRH Brass, there's a different story on 500 S&W Brass...

[tex500]

Yes there is more than one maker of 500 S&W brass. I also have some Winchester on hand as well.

[Lee Martin]

I have the original .500 JRH brass from Buffalo Bore and cases I've made from cut-down Starline .500 S&W. They have the exact same capacity. Now as noted, when you use other brands of S&W, you'll get minor variations. However, I doubt the differences are enough to nix published .500 JRH data across different makes. Of course, I could be wrong...that's just a guess. But those differences may necessitate inside reaming on some for heavyweight bullets.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[bigbore5]

Run the brass through a full length size die, then remeasure it.

[messybear]

A shooting buddy has one of these in a bfr. He has some different brass. Most cut down S&W. I think most of it is tough to seat the Lee 440 in so he had me cut down the mold to remove the gas check. Bullet weighs around 400 and works well.

[lar4570]

I have JRH brass bought from Jack Huntington. I have also cut 500S&W brass to 1.400"
The only difference I could see was the JRH brass has a smaller diameter rim.
I have often wondered about the varying case lengths?
When the cartridge first came out, wasn't it listed as 1.400"? Why the shorter lengths now?

I would be very interested in seeing how your various length heavy bullets fit in your brass after it's been full length sized.
Then measure the outside of the case at the base of the seated bullets.

I have shot a pile of the Lee 440s without any problems. I used to have a group buy 400gn mold and shot a bunch of them also.

About 11 years ago I had a 500gn mold made at Accurate. I think the nose was .400" long, don't remember the bullet length, but it bulged the cases in both JRH, and cut down 500S&W, and would not chamber.
I already had the mold bought and bullets cast, so I pulled the recapping pin on my sizing die and ran the loaded rounds in just enough so they would chamber.
All that effort... I still wanted to shoot some lol.

I had not read Lee's report on reaming cases or I would have done that next.

I lost nearly all of my 110+ bullet molds in our shop fire, so I'm happy with the Lee 440 fir now.
Most all of the Aluminum molds disappeared, all that was left was the handle frames with the screws. Some if the Aluminum molds were melted and warped. The brass ones warped also.
I'm just glad that I had insurance.
About 6 months before the wife had me take a video walk through of the whole house, shop and gun room. I talked during the video giving narrative of everything.
The insurance adjuster looked at the excell lists of all the different categories and started to question the details, so the wife got the camera and told him he could watch the videos of the rooms in question. They approved all the lists after that.

You guys might consider doing video walk through of all your stuff also... store copies in a few places.

Anyway, back on topic, please fully size both brands, measure length, then seat the bullets and measure outside diameter at the base of the bullets.
If you wanted to, you could fill with water and weigh the H2O capacity?