Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only My .500 Jeffery Problem

Before I had a religious conversion to the .458 Winchester Magnum faith,
I dithered with many big bore chamberings and lots of wildcats.
I made a false start on the .500 Jeffery in 2003, finding a dusty box of .500 Jeffery dies made by North Devon of the British Isle.
That was in Rapid City, South Dakota, in a small shop now gone defunct.
I also saw a couple of .500 Jeffery rifles complete at First Stop,
and had just returned from a side trip to the outskirts of Oklahoma City
where I had fired a fellow gunnut's .500 Jeffery made by Sterling Davenport on a standard M98 action.
That was an amazing rifle.
So, I was a sucker for the dies as a start down the trail.
Here is the siren that called to me:



I checked this PT&G reamer print by Dave Kiff and found it faithful to CIP chamber and brass drawings:



Here is a detail from an article by well-known .500 Jeffery fan Tony Sanchez-Arino,
and even he can find something to complain about:



OK, Jeffery copied the original .500 Schuler "Jumbo" (12.7x70mm Schuler)
regarding later release of the .500 Jeffery with same case head and rim anyway.

Here is the article by Tony:

Metaphor:

Now that Norma has discontinued production of .500 Jeffery brass,
if I ever found any of the non-rebated-rim brass,
my response to Norma brass, if the Norma brass is a Harrier jet:



If that ever happens, just open up the bolt face of the .500 Jeffery rifle using Norma brass.
Until then, make do, just for fun, i.e., use the .500 Jeffery rifle as a substitute
preventing a .50-140-3.5" Sharps 1874 boondoggle.
Both cartridges have same gross capacity within 1 grain of H2O.
CIP is the well-established standard for the .500 Jeffery.
The standard twist for the .500 Jeffery is 1:20", great for cast bullet loads,
even paper-patched and BP.
What cheer !

Another great metaphor:

Re-cap:



Above are first 3 feed dummies made by this dummy.
That Bertram brass has a rim diameter of 0.571".
Norma brass has a diameter of 0.574" which is very close to spec of 0.575" maximum, about .015" smaller than .416 Rigby rim diameter.
Parts is parts, the collection grew slowly over a 17-year period:





The dummy collection expanded.



I tried to resist, but I found a CZ .416 Rigby action that fed the dummies, all of them.
Never an over-riding of the rebated rim by the bolt !
So a reamer was ordered, to match a CIP chamber but with a wee bit of throat added:



And finally a barrel was decided upon, from McGowen, arriving in 2020, resistance was futile.
The Rigby bolt face is a loose fit on the .500 Jeffery rim.
Some of that improved brass with a bigger rim diameter sure would be nice.

Now 19 years in the works, and not finished yet:

Good stuff Riflecrank, the 500 Jeff would have been a world star with 505 Gibbs rim, even with the short neck and no freebore, ample power still could have been derived, the Gibbs would have been perfection at .510 inch, always something to keep the lathes, end mills and drill presses going huh? ; ]

Ha! Now you got me thinking of running
.505 Gibbs brass into .500 Jeffery dies.
Or re-looking at the old .500 AHR which
was a .500 Jeffery with a wider rim and a longer neck.

And a McMillan stock with magnum fill would be only 2.75 lbs.
10 ounces lighter than the plywood post full of steel.

If I could squeeze the .505 Gibbs from .640" base to .620" base diameter, then trim the rims down to .620"
and shorten the brass to 2.750" and size and fire-form in a .500 Jeffery chamber,
I would call it the .500 Jerry.

As you were.
I got mixed up on the date I fired that Sterling Davenport .500 Jeffery.
It was in 2006, and it was actually 107 degrees F in the shade, outside OK City.
I have a record of all 5 shots I fired at 50-yard paper target, open sights,
3 with the fine bead in one hole,
then I flipped up the H&H-style "moon bead" and took a target hold on the top of that bead too, for the last two shots.
The bigger bead made those shots go lower and spread.
That must be the best iron-sight shooting I ever did,
and I recommend this load as an accuracy load to try in a .500 Jeffery:



That was for beginning to sight-in my fellow gunnutt's new rifle.

Here is the sort of beads used, though shown on another rifle:

Note that Horneber .500 Jeffery brass was used, available back then.
The brass situation is sorry now !









RCC brass for $12 per piece is only twice what Norma brass cost when it could be found previously.
The RCC brass could be made with non-rebated rim ...

Barrels and stocks:









Here is a .500 Mbogo with B&C stock:





That McMillan stock is currently on a .408/.338 Lapua Magnum Unimproved, aka 10.4 Spiridon Moor,
that has a No. 6 McGowen Light Target contour.
Conclusion: I need to leave the plywood on the other .500 Mbogo and use a McMillan stock on the .500 Jeffery Procrastination,
aka .500 Jeffery-P.

A very enjoyable thread.

You gotta hard handle on it Riflecrank, now all we need to do is somehow invent more time ; ]

Yeah, very interesting. I’d probably sit in the shade and watch the range work though.🙂

I had a 505 Gibbs. Very enjoyable rifle. Bertram brass was all I could get in the beginning. The rim diameter varied by forty thousandths. A very large friend of mine was at some show, Jim bell had two boxes of Gibbs brass on his table. He grabbed them and said what do you want for them? Bell said he didn’t want to sell them, my large friend said they’re going home with me and tossed him a hundred. Jamison brass was wonderful as was the bell. I burned lots of WC 860 lit by Federal 215s. A cast 600 grain gas check was my bullet. Used it on bison hunts as backup dealing with bulls.
Had to sell it, recoil was too much for my neck.

My reason for doing this .500 Jeffery-P is to shoot any cast bullet that was just not quite right in a too slow or too fast twist in the rifles
I already have:







1:20" seemed to be just what I needed for maximum cast-bullet utility,
and coincidentally that is the standard twist for the .500 Jeffery per CIP,
and it is darn good for .510/535-grain jacketed at full nitro.
I'll deal with the quirks as they come.

Partial bullet sizing to fit the throat is to be considered, since the desired (major) bullet diameter inside the case is to be 0.512".



I really wish I had used a "coned-up" breech like on the .458 WinMag.
No worries with that sort of throat.
Might need a new throat reamer, or maybe even a neck and throat reamer.

Anyway, the rifle is going to look something like this when shootable:

Sadly, with sights, the rifle will be over 10 pounds, can't compete by Creedmoor Rules.
But wait ! That was for .45-bores !
A new .50-bore class with a 12-pound limit ?
With a little politics we can get the rules changed, the Democrats do it all the time.

IIRC you also come from the medical field, if so, keeping the liquid advil i.v.'s running would be quite nice of you as Riflecrank and i keep on rolling with the flow, as Charlie Rich used to sing, LOL.

I’m a lefty. I now have traumatic arthritis in my left shoulder from 20 years of elk hunting with a fairly light 340, and during that time working up a 416 Rem, and 458 Lott. Not to mention some others.

I might have to take some aspirin with my ice tea, just watching you guys. 😉

^^^^^^^^^^LOL, Damn! ^^^^^^^^^^^^ We'll all make it man ; ]

It has since buffed out though.😀

And some people think a 300 magnum kicks.

It's a Nock's form after the gunmaker Henry Nock

George, was that bruise from firing a Nock's volley gun ?
7 barrels of +50-cal ball and BP going off at once do feel a bit like Selous' 4-bore.
That can make the shooter spin like a weather cock in the wind, as the Brits might say.
Or like a weathervane.
Sort of like Nock's form versus knoxform.




Sort of like to the victor go the spoils:

RC, no, nothing as exotic as that. I noticed this after a range session for the plain old 458 Lott topped off by touching off a few 3 1/2” shot shells through one of those 6 lb H&R break-open 12’s. Those things should not have 3 1/2” chambers 😳😊.

Holy buttstock jumping out of the shoulder pocket Batman!!!!! LOL

Nice to see my photo's from 12 years ago still being used without credit, lol !

Aside from that ...

RCC just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and won't be making brass for anyone anytime soon ...

I have 2.5 year old prepaid orders of brass for my "Wolverine" line on cartridges based on the 500 Jeffery case in 30 cal, 338, 8mm, 358, 375 & 416 ... with a 338 Lapua size rim diameter that won't see production & I'll never see my $cash$ again because Chapter 7 protects RCC from lawsuits for lost $$$

Thanks to Swamplord for use of his photos and,
sadly, news of RCC bankruptcy.
What little .500 Jeffery brass I have will be well cared for.
I'll get the rifle finished before 2023 passes.
Before 20 years passes.

I love my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery. Has some issues with it feeding. Between Harlan at Triple River, Wayne at AHR and Kevin Weaver (Colorado Springs) we got it "sorted out" It feeds and functions flawlessly now, shoots sub MOA. I use Jamison Brass, CCI Magnum Rifle Primers, 103g H4895 and Barnes 570g TSX bullets. They chrono at 2300 fps. The load is straight out of Art Alphin's book "Any Shot You Want". Pictures (I also have a bruise picture caused by me not treating the rifle with enough respect the first time doing load development lol)

[img]https://i.imgur.com/BD0shRU.jpg?1[/img]

How did the rifle work out? Sorry haven't been on this forum in awhile. I have a CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery, love the gun!

OK. I'll get it done before the year is up.
Won't let it go longer than one score years.
I have been fiddling with 3 other rifles in the queue.
I 'll get to scraping a barrel channel tomorrow.

Interesting topic which made me review my PMs from Oct 2010 with a German friend about creating a 0.510” 505 Gibbs which would fit in an H&H length action (COAL 3.6”) DGR.

Didn’t make up a rifle for it but originally considered either a CZ Magnum or Ruger RSM, with a preference for the latter because of the feasibility of reboring a 416 Rigby (heavy barrel) or 458 Lott to .500”/.510”. I made up several dummies with Barnes 570 gn 0.509” monolithic solids. Looking back now, a Win M-70 long action, restocked for a larger magazine assembly which would allow at least 3 cartridges in the box, would better fulfill the original intent - fitting the modified 510/505 Nu Gibbs in a standard LA easily available DGR.

Altering the case to fit the COAL with that bullet required shortening the neck, but the Gibbs case retains at least the capacity of the 500 Jeffery case, so that cartridge’s MV should be achievable.

The main issue for this project is magazine capacity in the RSM or Win M-70 LA, which would favor the CZ Magnum route, but would negate the original intent. I still have the dummy cartridges and will post pics if I can figure out how. May need to revive the project later in the year. Too many irons in the fire currently.

Ditto irons in the fire.
Main problem with the Gibbs rim diameter
is the bolt diameter, magazine capacity is less a factor.
Even the CZ 550 Mag barely makes it on the bolt face.
It is a mere 0.700", same as Ruger RSM and most others.
Granite Mountain is better at 0.750" bolt diameter.
The defunct MRC M1999 PH is 0.800" in diameter, II RC.
And it has a drop box with inside mag box length of 4.02"
IIRC.
That would make a good .505 Gibbs wildcat.
That is what my .408 Chey-Tac "Sporter" is built on, a 10-pounder.
I need to get a muzzle brake on that for my old age.
Wouldn't want to tip over my wheel chair when the wheels are locked.

I am back to 3#6oz laminated stock
plus 7#9oz barreled action
for my .500 Jeffery-Procrastination,
11 pounds of comfort,
and a muzzle brake.
.500 Jeopardy.

Well i have Nosler 500 Jeffery brass I just bought, 100 pieces for $400. If you want 50 I can sell them to you for $4 each. I too like the Jamison brass but hard to find thse days. I have a lovely CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery. It will shoot one ragged hole groups at 100 yards when I do my part. Love the rifle. If i knew how to post pictures from Imgur to this board I would.

I guess I can share a boob picture too, my first time out with my 500 Jeffery, shooting in T-Shirt from the bench 570g TSX loads (6 rounds each) started out at 2150 fps last load 2510 fps. Ow ow ow! I've learned better, now it's my favorite rifle to shoot.

https://i.imgur.com/eWD7vjm.jpg

You’re a better man than I. A 500 grain bullet at 2350 fps from a 450 Rigby Rimless Magnum in a Ruger RSM is my limit so far.

I admire your courage and determination. Kudos!!!

I'm in the same boat with my 500 Jeffery project that has been on the backburner for about 20 years. I talked to Jack Huntington about finishing it up for me.

I didn't realize the brass issue is so dire, I have about 45 cases and would like to get another 50 before committing to investing in finishing it.