Has anyone loaded 500 gr Hornady XTPs in a factory 500 S&W Encore barrel? I want to be sure they can be seated full length before ordering them. I know 350+ gr bullets don't work in their .45-70 barrels without seating them deep.

I would call Hornady and ask them if they've done any testing with this bullet in the Encore.

I tried, however loading them to the standard/recommended OAL would not work in my barrel. Your barrel may be different, but mine would not if I went by factory specs.

I'm glad I didn't order them first. Thanks Bubba.

I really liked that 500s/w, but the only reason I bought it was to shoot the heavier bullets. Since it became a problem, I sold the barrel and had a custom 50cal made that was intended for use with those 400-500 grainers.

Best of luck.......

All of you ignore twist rates and try things that don't work.

Please explain? What I am refering to is the fact that the round was too long to put in the chamber and close the gun. Rate of twist in the barrel is a non issue if you cant close the gun to fire it.

Again, 430man, voice your opinion but try not to offend others. I will be watching your posts.

I'm concerned with the lack of a throat in the barrel preventing the use of heavier bullets when seated to the OAL recommended.

Gregg and 430man, no offense taken. I should have explained myself a little better on the first post. Pab1, I had a 50 B&M AK built by JD Jones. The gun eats up those 500 grainers like you wouldn't believe. It also burns up quite a bit more powder than the 500 S/W, but I couldn't be happier with its performance. Seating depths are also a non-issue if thats a concern.

I try not to offend and if it sounds that way, it is not my purpose so forgive me.
But yes, the twist rate is so very important and as the boolit or bullet gets heavier and longer it needs to be driven faster so the spin for stability is correct. If the twist is too slow, you will not be able to reach velocity without increasing pressure into the danger zone.
It is true that a faster twist can use a wider range of boolit weights and only velocity changes are needed for each boolit.
Just maybe the gun mentioned will support the heavy boolit.
Where I run into questions are those that go overboard with weights. A few use real short barrels in revolvers and try to shoot 700 gr boolits or try to shoot heavy boolits in a slow twist at 800 fps.
We can compare a revolver in .475 with a 1 in 18" twist to one with a 1 in 15". The 1 in 18" shoots the best with a 350 gr boolit and as they get longer, accuracy starts to fall off unless the boolits are shot faster but you will reach a limit.
The 1 in 15" does not perform until 400 gr and up to 460 gr and hates the light boolit unless downloaded. With the fast twist, you can make about any boolit shoot but you can still get too heavy.
Now look at the Marlin .44 with the 1 in 38" twist. Nothing shoots past 50 yards short of a round ball! To try and shoot 320 gr boolits is a nightmare and even the .444 would not do it so Marlin changed the twist in the .444 to 1 in 20" but left the .44 alone. Some pencil neck at a desk used Greenhill for the .44 and there is no way to shoot the gun fast enough for stability.
Anyway, a lot of .500's are using a 1 in 20" twist so you should work with it to see what you get. I feel a 1 in 15" twist is better so you should know what you have before choosing a boolit that might not work.
My feeling is that all pistol shooters ignore the twist and nobody would do that with a rifle.