500 Jeffery and the 750gr A-Max Tests

[Brent]

Just got back from shooting the rifle for the first time a bit ago.
After 2 rounds my brother mentioned he had a headache all morning, and this was killing him every shot. Well, after 5 rounds, he told me to shoot the rest of 'em his headache was just too bad.

For some perspective -
The recoil as much, or a bit more than I expected, although when he was shooting it, it looked fine. It was more than both 50 BMG's I've shot, the Grizzly and the AR50 both. Twice what the AR50 was becuase of it's very efficient brake design, but very bulky too. Recoil got worse with the hotter loads, and should be pretty noticable when the get to 2400 fps or so. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] It recoils about like a light 338 Ultra with hot loaded 250's and no brake! Not quite like a 375 Ultra or 378 Wby, more of a big push though. It's not like a 300 WM or Ultra...

Ruger #1 (early 80's model w/ adjustable trigger)
36" Pac-Nor barrel
Custom design brake (extended Holland Quick Discharge variant)
NF NXS 5.5-22
Farrel base (20 MOA + 6 MOA barrel taper)
Leupold QRW's
Custom made stock (shaped from 4"x12" blank)(not quite done shaping and finishing it)
Harris bipod


500 Jeffery 750gr A-Max at 4.65" OAL -

IMR4350 106-111gr 36-42k psi 1980-2180 fps

H4831SC 108-112gr 31-34k psi 1897-1989 fps

RL22 108-112gr 30-37k psi 1900-2065 fps

We shot these in 1.0gr increments, 16 rounds in all. Pressures are still way low, should end up with 2350-2450 when they get up there some more.

Here's pix of the rifle, and one of the current brake design. I say current because he's going to go build another one now that's a bit bigger and more efficient for this big boy. The extra set of slots in it over the Holland isn't quite as good as it could be. The new one will have more slots and might even be a lot longer with slots angled rearward too. Shouldn't be too hard to improve it quite a bit to at least 300 WM recoil levels.

[Nighthawk]

Looks pretty kick ass Brent. I also noticed your pressures were not very high, any way you could get more power out of that small bullet? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ 01-11-2004: Message edited by: Nighthawk ]

Hi Brent
How heavy is that big fella Brent?
I have a nice custom Jeffery built on a pre'64 action converted to single feed and pregnant floorplate. This rifle was built as a heavy dangerous rifle in the reverse of your experiment there.
Mine has 23" barrel which is very accurate with Woodleigh projectiles.This rifle tapps out pressure wise with 570gr at 2250fps so that long barrel is really gaining for you.

[reed mosser]

That rifle looks great. Truly one of a kind. The 750 amaxes should be devasting on game. The tank style breaks are very effective. On the few 50's I shot the tank breaks kick less. I am switching over to either tank or JP breaks. They do work better than the Vias style breaks I have on my guns. Keep us posted interesting project. Reed

[Brent]

The brake could definitely be more effective, he was thinking of ordering a brake from Armalite for the AR50 and using it, it's big and bulky so he was thinking one off the 338 Lapua AR30. In the end he just made this one to try out first. He's going to improve on it and see what he comes up with.

I shot an AR50 50BMG with the tank type brake quite a few times and it recoils about half what this does, it's a pussy cat, bout like a heavy 308 is all. BUT, the blast rearward is HORENDOUS and you MUST be DIRRECTLY behind the RIFLE!!!! If you aren't, ugh!!! You'll feel like you got punched in the nose! It's MEAN! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Blows stuff right off the bench way off to the side. I grabbed this guys spotting scope off the bench one time as he stood right next to my friend Shawn who just set up to shoot the AR50 and was about to fire. This guy just stood 4-6' away next to him, obviously nieve and had no idea what was fixin to happen when Shawn pulled the trigger!!! I told him to get the hell back or he'd regret it!

Derrick said it weighs 17 lbs as you see it in the pic, but this 30-338 Lapua I have weighs 17 and his felt about the same holding them both at the same time, his might be a tad heavier if any. I should have grabbed the scale cause I don't know how he weighed it.


Aussie,
Dave, my smith has a 500 Jeffery break down rifle, 9 lb kick you ass express sight DGR.
He just got back a while ago from a hunt down in Australia. He's got a bunch of vidio I haven't seen yet. My brother was telling me when we were out to shoot that beast there, that Dave was with a guy hunting Buff that was shooting a Marlin lever in 45/70 with super hot loads, hottest they make for the thing. He said he shot this Buff in one shoulder 3 times with that thing, the Buff never even flinched! He turned around 180 degrees and the guy shot him in the other shoulder... 3 more times! Derrick said, he's watching this thing on the vidio and it never even fliched, every single shot. He wouldn't have believed it unless he seen it himself. He said the Buff just stood there looking at them. Davie handed the guy his 500 Jeffery and said, "here, shoot him with this" He grabbed Davie's 500 and shot him one time and the bullet literally smashed his body to the side and he fell over instantly! He said it was AWESOME!

I'll post a pic of the solid they recovered from Davies 500 out of his Buff, Derrick said it's somethin like you've never seen after hitting them huge bones. He said he didn't think steel could do the damage it did to that solid...

I can't remember how thick he said the hide is on one of the buffalo, but it was thick as hell!!

It looks like we'll get 2350 fps out of this by the Quickload data, maybe 2400 or more if we're lucky.

Hi Brent
Funny thing is that I have never shot a buffalo here in Australia [Asiatic Water buffalo which are feral] but I have had a go at Cape Buffalo in Africa several times.
There have been times with them when I felt that nothing you can hand hold would get their attention - maybe need a 20mm or bigger!
The first bull I shot was with an old 500/465 H&H and quartered him from the front near side first whereupon he did turn slightly to offer the same shot from the other quarter - off side shoulder.
at the second shot he trotted off. Seemed like I shot him with a 22lr insread of 480gr at 2250fps and about 50yds. He did go another 200 yds or so before he went down and had to send in a finisher to the brain.
The .500 Jeffery is definitey in the next rung up power wise from the 450 range of cartridges. I have had 570 gr solids exit from broadside shoulder shots on a grown bull elephant.

[Brent]

Asiatic Water Buffalo is what he was shooting there, I don't think you've got Cape Buff there do you? I only know what he's been telling me about your place, he said he's got friends there and it's WAAAAAAy cheaper to hunt Buff in Australia.

I've watched a lot of Buff hunting on vidios, a bit of Elephant, none of them look easy to kill, at all. Whole nother ball game with them giant beasts!

Maybe he's got some of those vidio clips on digital, might be able to load those Buff shots on a clip so you all can see it too? I'll see, I know a friend of his has a nice digital vidio camera, so maybe they can put something together...