Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 5O Caliber Big Bore?

I would like some informatioin on what it takes to build or have one made, a 500 Nitro Express in a bolt action or that .577 what ever it is called also in a bolt action. The type of action best used, along with the barrel and stock types. Anyway I am looking at something in the same area bullet weight wise as that 500 A Square type caliber. How heavy does the gun have to be and what kind of recoil would be at my end once the trigger is pulled. If anybody has the approximate costs I would appreciate that also. Also who out there or on this forum makes such a rifle. Thanks!

The 500 NE is not a good choice for a bolt action. In 50 caliber, there are basically three choices, the 460 weatherby necked up to 50, which has various names, 510 Wells, 500 A-square, and a few others. The other option is the 500 Jeffry, or 500 AHR which doesn't have the rebated rim, and finally the 505 Gibbs. Pro's and con's, the 460 based rounds are the most economical, as the brass is $2 a case. The 500 Jeffrey and AHR cases run $4 ea, and there are only a few places to get it from, but they hold ~10 more powder then the 460 case. The 505 Gibbs is a mammoth case, pricey, and uses less common .505" bullets, compared to .510" for the other two. A nice thing about the .510" rounds is you can use cast bullets for the 500 Linebaugh pistol, and if the throat is cut deep, you can shoot mil surp 50 bmg bullets single shot fashon @ ~2200 fps.
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<br>In 577, you are probably thinking about the 585 Nyati, which is the 577 NE case with a rebated rim and slight shoulder. The brass is pricey and there are two choices, Hornbear which is good and hard to come by, and bertram which is soft. Bullet choices in 577 are more limited, and they are more exspensive then the 50 bore.
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<br>There is a guy working on a new wildcat, it is the 585 case with a belt added, and blown straight to fire the .620" bullets the 600 NE uses. Brass on this one is being made by hornbear, but I'd personally be a bit leary on such a specialized case.
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<br>As far as actions, the CZ-550 magnum is the least exspensive option at $500-600. You could also us a Ruger M77 416 Rigby, which also provides a stock to start with, and if you have the factory barrel re-bored, then you get the integral 1/4 rib, and barrelband sling swivel and front sight. Early models of the Ruger had a larger dia barrel, not sure if it is big enough to go to 577 bore, but it's fine for a 50 cal. I'd factor in a minimum of $2k to get into one of these guns, but you can easily double or tripple that with a nice stock and finishing touches.
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<br>Make sure the smith doing the work has done it before, and you can contact customers to verify the quality of the work. There aren't that many smiths who are up to building such guns so that the stocks stay together, and which will reliably feed ammo.
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<br>If you aren't going to have a muzzlebrake, finished weight should be at least 10#'s to be shootable. I'm still waiting on my 500 Jeffrey, and am hoping the finished weight will be 11# and change. It's no fun to build such a gun and have it unshootable. I prefer to build my guns so that they are shootable, as I think that is much more important then how comfortable they are to carry.
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<br>You really need to go to accuratereloading.com and visit the big bore forum, there is lots of info in those posts about these big bores. Use the search function, as alot of information is over there.

Chigger
<br>You may be better off looking at using a ruger #1 if you want a nitro express. SSK industries even goes as high as the 600JDJ (577 nitro blown out to .620) on the ruger.

Many thanks fella's, I am not sure just what caliber I want as of yet. I do want to be able to get component parts such as brass and bullets without having to hock my house.
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<br>I like the idea of that 500 Jeff, but I have people telling me that it is very hard to find the brass and it too is sky high for a 2 hundred rounds.
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<br>However I can ge the .460 Weatherby brass as a big discount and like you say the .50 caliber bullets are more available to get your hands on these days.

I think you'll be happiest with a 460 wetherby based 50. I recieved a good offer on brass, and from my gunsmith to build a 500 Jeffrey, if I hadn't, I would have gone with the more practicle 500 A-sq, or one of it's ilks. If will produce all the performance one can get with 50 cal bullets, and plenty of recoil to boot.
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<br>The 500 Jeffrey is a nice round, with the history behind it, and a plenty big case. Brass is available, and the good Hornbear stuff is now stocked by Huntington's, but at $4 a case, 200 cases will set you back a few bucks. I only have 30 cases for mine, and will get another 20 down the road. I honestly think 50-100 cases is more then enough for such a gun, with componet bullets running over $1 ea, you just won't be shooting 100's of rounds a year through it.
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<br>Even more important then what round you choose, is who builds it. Also make sure you factor in the $ to have it built right.
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<br>Oh yeah, one last thing, if you're going to have it throated to shoot the 50 bmg pills, then get a fast twist barrel, ie 1-10. Mine has a 1-15 twist which will be borderline for the lighter bmg pills, and too slow for the long match bullets. For hunting bullets, either twist will suffice.

Have a really nice 500 AHR with brass, bullets and dies that I would let go for $2300.00.
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<br>24" barrel, fiber optic front sight, Warne QR rings, built on the CZ550 action, Laminated walnut stock, 11#

Gents,
I am a big-bore fan, and I have a 500 A-Square in the works.
Enfield P-14 action By Remington made in their Conn. works marked "ERA"
PacNor Barrel..1-14" twist ChromeMoly 30" as delivered by PacNor
Timney Trigger, Bell & Carlson Carbelite stock,re-enforced by addition of
an extra crossbolt, steel bedded and backed by a Pachmyr #900 pad . I am in the planning phases for the iron sights right now as well as the glass options.

This will be a matching rifle for my 416 Rem Mag. The 500 should be ready in mid-feb to march . This will be my Whatever Rifle..T-Rex,Triceratops,Elephant,,,,you name it...It won't be cheap,but I should have less than $2000 total. I can hardly wait. 45nut

Why not base it on the 50 BMG ? It certainly has enough energy to do the job, brass is cheap and rifles are available. The only problems are getting good hunting bullets and bringing 50 BMG ammo into some countries.

Paul, Chigger is Mike Boyd otherwise known as, Dancer, Latigio, ironhorse, lane, cody, etc. etc. he's nothing but trouble don't waste your breath! This is the internet poster child for hunting forum trolls. He has set the bar for others like him to dream of one day reaching. He's showed back up at AR and already causing trouble there again as well! It all starts out well and good but turns to crap once he gets going. He is no more building a 50 caliber rifle then he knows the difference between Bore and Boar!

No doubt he will see this post and show his true undignified colors!