Just bought a BFR 500 JRH!

Looks forward to trying this out on IN deer this year and out in WY, when we finally start building our place out there. Who has used this cartridge on game and what should I know?

The 500 JRH aka the 500 S&W Short magnum is a cartridge that can have two loads to use. One for anything close in the lower 48 and one for everywhere else when massive animals who can kill you are hunted. The bullet is a 440 grain hard cast gas check flat wide meplat at 950fps from Buffalo Bore and another using the same bullet at 1350fps from Buffalo Bore. And Max Prasac used a 340 grain Cutting Edge Bullet of solid copper and flat meplat in his BFR 500 JRH to drop a huge Cape Buffalo as well as a huge bull in Argentina as a test run for the Cape Buffalo of Africa.

If you are reloading, I would recommend the RCBS dies for 500 S&W. They are one, if not the only ones where you don't need to chop some length off the bottom of the die for loading 500 JRH rounds. If you are loading cut down 500 S&W brass, call RCBS and order a 50 AE expander die. If you use the 500 S&W expander with cut down brass that has not been inside reamed it will bind and buckle your cases.

Other than that, there really isn't much to worry about. Just about any load out of the JRH is going to be more than lethal on deer and elk sized game but it isn't a death ray. You still need to do your part and put the bullet in the correct spot.

Enjoy. I have one as well and have had no issues using the 500 S&W RCBS dies for loading the JRH. I use cut down 500 S&W brass and have not run into the buckle issues but maybe I am just lucky. I run a 475gr hard cast over a generous portion of H110 and it is very accurate out to 100yards. Also have a practice load using TrailBoss that is very mild.

Have Fun!!

I had a 500 JRH built by Jack Huntington a few years back. Absolutely loved it. I got starline brass that was head stamped properly for the 500 JRH directly from Jack, and never had to cut down the long stuff.

I got the RCBS dies that you mentioned! I am all set to start reloading for this gun.

I ordered 100 pieces of the properly head stamped brass from Buffalo Bore + 60 rounds of their ammo. This gun is not cheap to feed at all!

But OOOOOOOOHHHHHH SO FUN!!!!

I finally had a chance to shoot this beast and was amazed at its accuracy. I tested both of the Buffalo Bore commercial loads and the difference between the two is pretty noticeable to say the least. I just loaded up some 440gr Cast Performace bullets over 10.0gr of HP38, hoping for 910fps. I think this will be plenty of horsepower for Indiana deer.

How did you make out for deer season?