Tell me about the .500 JRH

[Sharptop]

I just got another .454 Freedom Arms and am strongly considering a conversion to the new .500JRH cartridge, built by Jack Huntington and which is produced by Buffalo Bore. I am particularly interested in the 950 FPS load which appeals to me.

Any thoughts from the experts or just folks who know about this cartridge?

[paulboy16]

its a frigging beast LOL

[chris in va]

Can you imagine the wow factor carrying a normal sized revolver in .50? Just drop it down to 45acp speed levels.

[Socrates]

Hi
I love Jack Huntington's cartridge. It fits in a regular sized pistol, like these,



Shooting the 440's at 950 fps feels like a stout 44 Magnum load, yet, on large, dangerous game, it kills like a 375 H&H rifle.

The stock ammo is available from Jack Huntington Advanced Gunsmithing, and, last time I checked, it was about 35.00 for 20.

If you want 38 ft lbs of recoil, you can go with the 430's or so, at 1350 fps. In an FA 83, that was a handful, but not anything an experienced 454 guy couldn't get used to. Just make sure the grips are custom fit to your hand size, or, you won't be able to hold on. I learned the hard way.

The 475 and .500JRH use pretty much the same loading data.

Here's a shot of the 440's after they killed about a 1500 pound Asian buffalo. The mushroomed bullets were caused by smashing shoulder bone, and, were caught in the 1" thick offside skin. Overall penetration was in the 5 foot range.

Meat damage caused by the 440 at only 950 fps.


Bison shot with 500JRH



Jack Huntington is best phoned at:

(530) 268-6877

S esq.

PS I've shot a LOT of guns in .500JRH, and, I find the 440's at 950 fps to be about 20% more then a medium 44, or about 25 ft lbs of recoil. If I was hand loading for it, I might go a little lighter, and, I might use Hawk .025" thick jacketed bullets in that caliber. Since the case is a 500 S&W cut down a bit, there are an awful lot of bullets out there, at least compared to the .475 and 500 Linebaughs, and, I have both of the last two. Keep in mind that someone took a 2450 pound bison cleanly with a 370 grain bullet, LFN, in .480 ruger, at a leisurely 1170 fps. Broke the offside shoulder. One could easily push the Hawk HP's at good enough speed to work effectively on anything in the 48.

Either of Jack's loads are effective on large brown bear, also, as long as they aren't charging. They are effective then, too, if you are.

The FA 83 grip is my favorite of my guns for heavy recoil. I like it better then the Bisley grip. Just sort of distributes the force a lot better, and rolls up, taking the backstrap sting out of it. Compared to a full house 454, the .500JRH fires a MUCH heavier bullet, but, at 50% less pressure then the 454 usually is loaded to. This takes the vicious snap out of the 454, or 60k loads.

[Sharptop]

Thank you Socrates, that was what I was looking for.I haven't shot my current F.A. model 83 in .454 much, I just don't like high pressure rounds. I have a .45 Colt cylinder for it and just use that with everything from cowboys to +P rounds. I recently got a Ruger Alaskan in .480 and shot the Hornady and Grizzley Cartridge rounds, the Punch bullet and a heavier cast. The recoil was manageable to me. Would you expect the .500 JRH at 950 to be similar?

Also it looks like most of your guns are 5&1/2 inch. My current 83 is a 4 &3/4 and I like that but am considering a 5 or 5 1/2 on the one I am going to convert. Any thoughts on barrel length?

[Socrates]

Sharptop:

My problem is the only one in that batch that's mine is the .475 Linebaugh Freedom Arms 83, with a 7.5 inch barrel.
Jack made it target grade accurate, and, it shoots one hole at 25 yards, if you will. So, I couldn't very well have him mess up a gun that shoots one hole, by chopping the barrel.

I WANT a shroud length 500JRH, just like Jack's BFR, but, few other things are in the fire right now. That's Jack's house packing gun, when it's dark, or otherwise. I've shot that gun, and it was just a piece of cake with the 440 grain loads.

REcoil was calculated at 25 ft lbs of energy, which is heavy 44 mag.

I've also shot this gun:




The .500JRH and the 475 Linebaugh use essentially the same loading data, so recoils going to be the same. You didn't post bullet weights or velocity on those loads you've shot, and, I've only shot Jack's ammo, and, my handloads, or Hornady 475 Linebaugh 400 grain XTP's at
1350 fps.

If you are an experienced 5 gunner, the 500JRH simply provides the most penetration and punch, in the smallest shootable package I know.

Jack also has a little 500, on a Ruger. 350 grain bullet at 850fps.

I'd love to have both a Ruger Alaskan, and, a FA 83 in .500JRH. I think it runs about 500 dollars for each conversion.

[RsqVet]

S --

Seems like many 50's have come to the market, how does the JRH stack up against the S+W 500 Spec, the Wyoming Express and others?

BTW I'm slowly thining that I need to own one.....

[Sharptop]

Socrates,

My Ruger Alaskan loads were as follows:


Grizzley Cartridge: 480 Ruger
Bullet Wt: 370 Grain Punch Bullet
Velocity: 1200 fps / ME 1250

Grizzley cartridge: 480 Ruger
Bullet Wt: 425 Grain WFNGC
Velocity: 1200 fps

Hornady: 480 Ruger
Bullet Wt: 325 Grain hollowpoint
Velocity: 1350

As you might expect the 425 Grain Grizzley kicked the most, yet it was entirely manageable if I held the grip down from the top where it would tend to slap the area between my thumb and index finger with a pretty hard whack and hurt a bit, although it didn't seem like it was going to split my joints open, if you get my drift. If the grip were positioned a little better for the shape of my hand I don't think that would bother me as the Alaskan has a softer area in that position for, I assume, exactly that reason. There is a gap between the grip and my hold in that area when I grip the Alaskan which I believe accentuates the slap. I suspect, by common logic, that the 440 at 950 in the .500 JRH would kick considerably less, although logic does not always work with gun stuff.

The Hornady didn't kick too bad and its pretty cheap, relatively speaking at $15.40 for a box of 20, but why a hollow point type bullet for this gun?

The Punch round was the less stressful of the group and it is designed for penetration so I took that to Alaska on my recent fishing trip.

The thing I like about the Ruger Alaskan is that you can put it on a belt over your waders, or hiking or hunting in a Simply Rugged holster and hardly notice its there. Compare that with lugging around a rifle or some other option.

The problem I have with the Ruger is that when I went to shoot it and get the sights set is that I had to reverse the adjustible sight screw all the way out to the right about a quarter inch or so, I mean the screw is sticking out of the sight a long ways and superglue it so that I could hit a good target at 20 yards. It almost seems like the groove built in the gun for the rear sight was miscalculated or the front sight was placed in the wrong position. I am going to have to send it to someone for better sights so I may end up getting Jack to build me a 500 JRH Ruger Alaskan on it while I have it worked on.

I did talk to him on the phone a couple of weeks ago and he is an engaging fellow. I liked him. Please feel free to offer any suggestions here or in a P.M.

[laytonj1]

Thank you Socrates, that was what I was looking for.I haven't shot my current F.A. model 83 in .454 much, I just don't like high pressure rounds.

Compared to a full house 454, the .500JRH fires a MUCH heavier bullet, but, at 50% less pressure then the 454 usually is loaded to. This takes the vicious snap out of the 454, or 60k loads.

Just to clarify a few things,

About the only 60K psi 454 ammo you can get is top end handloads. Factory ammo is generally loaded to lower levels.
Yet the loads you are running in your 480 ruger are around 45 ~ 50K psi... not exactly low pressure.
In fact, the 475 linebaugh which folks like to claim is a low pressure cartridge is also a 50K psi round with top loads... the same as the 500 S&W which is claimed to be a high pressure round but is factory loaded to a max operating pressure of 50K psi.

Your 454 can be handloaded down to launch 395gr. bullets at 1200fps at ~ 30K psi.(ref: Hodgdon), a very potent and mild pressure load which should handle anything.

I guess my point to all of this is if you handload then no cartridge is "high pressure" unless you load it that way. They can all be loaded to lower pressure levels with excellent performance.
And with that said, I am curious as to what advantage the 500 JRH offers over the 500 WE.... Socrates? And what is the pressure range for the JRH?

Jim

[Socrates]

Jacks factory loads are in the low to mid 40k, IIRC. That's what Tim loaded, but, no reason you couldn't use H110, lilGun, or tightgroup, and get it down into the 25-30k range, if you reload.

The huge advantage the .500JRH has over the WE is you can cut down S&W 500 brass and use it, and, it doesn't have a belt. Other then that, I'd really like to know what difference, if any, there is between the .500JRH and the .500WE. I have never compared the two, or, seen a .50WE case, so I have no idea what's different, other then the reloading stuff for the .50WE is pretty darn hot.

Baker has told me it was independent developments occuring at the same time. Randy Smith, God bless him, might not agree.
I'd sure like to see exact case measurements to see what the difference between the two is...
Jim:

With the 454, and the 500 S&W, and any of the high powered cartridges, often ammo is loaded with high recoiling, cheap powders that give a huge bang, because folks think they are getting their money's worth when they see it. Tim Sundles loads 454 ammo that is not over 45k, with high quality powders, that works just fine.

There is no logical reason, other then using bullets weighing 45 grains more, and .45 vs. 50 caliber, and, the
.500JRH is just a very cool looking cartridge. If you can't get it done with a .45 and a 395 grain bullet, you need a real rifle.

Cost wise, the .45/454 is a lot less, but, Jacks ammo, and I don't know how long it will last, but Hornady's 475 Linebaugh 400 grain XTP are the current best deals I know in ammo.

S esq.

[Patriots]

To update this thread. I have a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in 480 Ruger. This is a woods gun in a chest holster in case of a brown bear charge in Alaska. This is not a hunting gun...

I have some questions about the 480 Ruger vs the 500 JRH in terms of stopping power on large game, penetration and recoil. Is the 500 JRH a BIG step up in performance over the 480 Ruger? I know Grizzly Cartridge makes a 425gr hard cast in 480 Ruger. Has anyone seen or read about the difference on large game i.e. the reaction of the animal hit and how long it takes to expire between the two? Stopping power and killing power being a priority. I want to be able to stop a charge from a brown bear as quickly as possible with as few a shots as possible.

Who are some well known respected gunsmiths who make the conversion and on average how much does it cost? Is it worth the cost? Any reliability/durability issues, timing, jump crimp etc? If I'm not mistaken, I believe with the 500 JRH conversion you get a 5 shot cylinder while the 480 Ruger is 6 shot?