View Single Post
Old November 14, 2008, 04:57 PM   #19
Ole 5 hole group
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 13, 2002
Location: Red River Valley of the North
Posts: 203
I don't know Patriots, I can’t subscribe to most of your explanations because if the bullet is constructed so it will stay together under most conditions then speed plus mass is your friend. We need to keep everything constant if we can – that being well constructed bullets that will stay together when hitting bone at “high” speed. Solids, special hard cast etc – doesn’t matter, it just has to stay together. We can’t compare good bullets and not so good bullets when discussing penetration, as a good slow moving bullet will probably out penetrate a fast not so good bullet every time. The reason most people don’t shoot heavy bullets at high velocity is because of recoil, which is not friendly to anyone I know. You will produce a larger shock wave, often times referred to as the temporary cavity, with the faster bullet and if the bullet tumbles and yet maintains somewhat of a straight line from entry to exit it’s going to do a lot of damage and be very effective if your shot placement is on the money. If the bullet doesn’t tumble it won’t create as much damage and if it tumbles and goes off course to an extreme it might not be as effective. There is a velocity for every bullet that is the optimum relative to penetration. Going beyond that velocity is going to give you more penetration with a lot more recoil but not in the same proportion as the “optimum velocity”, if that makes any sense the way I said it. Jack no doubt has found the optimum loads for the 500JRH. The 425 grain JRH at 1350 fps is harsher than the 440 grain JRH at 950fps relative to felt recoil and the 465 grain at over 1400fps is downright unpleasant. Jack’s load data for the JRH just doesn’t apply to the 500 S&W in my opinion. With the proper bullets the S&W can shoot heavier bullets faster than the JRH resulting in greater penetration with a corresponding larger shock wave with less recoil - that is if one feels the need for that type of power.

A large Meplat provides the slap to your round but decreases penetration. Gibson (Ranger Rick) has a 440 grain hard cast 500 diameter bullet with a 90% meplat – I don’t know of anyone making a larger one. I’ve measured several 500 and 501 diameter bullets and the meplat’s ran from .350 on 465 grain LN bullets, .410 on 535 grain Keith style bullets to .460 on Ranger Ricks 440 grain FN bullet that is advertised as having a 90% meplat – I found it a little larger than 90%. When I measured the 425 and 440 grain bullets manufactured by Buffalo Bore for the 500 JRH I found both rounds possessed a .385 meplat.

With the 500S&W with a 600 grain bullet I have a Taylor KO something like 55 but I would take a "small" heavy rifle like a 375H&H everytime in a close encounter because I'd rather eat bear than have him chew on me.

Last edited by Ole 5 hole group; November 14, 2008 at 05:07 PM.
Ole 5 hole group is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.03632 seconds with 8 queries