Is there any issues using hard cast lead w/ gas checks in the big 500 ? .. Any insight would be appreciated .

No issues. What’s the intended use?

Just general target shooting / banging steel and such ….. No big / dangerous game .

I thought I had seen / read about some catastrophic failures using LiL Gun and cast bullets ...

I have a 4" and use the 350 grain mold from NOE. This is a plain base bullet.

18.0 grains of Unique get 1080 fps. 20.0 grains runs 1240.

Bob

No, you may have read about the POS Winchester large rifle primers in the 500 S&W, I had one pierce and spray campfire member Rockchucker with shrapnel, it was a medium load with the 440gr Cast Performance bullet at 1350 fps.

I went home and had to pull damn near 400 rounds, shltcanned the wlr's forever, reloaded with CCI-250 magnum primers, not one single solitary problem since, that includes the hellbender load with the same 440gr hard cast at 1600 fps, that one bucks a little.

I had a 454 Casull for awhile and swear that canon caused nerve-damage in my hand. Glad you guys can handle the recoil but I can't imaging plinking away at the range with the 500 S&W!!

While admittedly, I’ve not shot the 500 S &W, the 460 S&W is a “pussy cat”! With the handgun weight and generous porting.....recoil is minimal. Pushing 400 grain cast bullets very hard, it is much more pleasant to shoot than my S&W 629 44 mag .....except for the muzzle blast! My wife’s first time shooting it stated “ I though it was gonna be a lot worse”!

I do have a friend with a 4” 500, that said that with some loads it is not bad......however with Buffalo Bore (I think), he said it was pretty brutal! memtb