Congratulations pistolchamp,

If you are an experienced reloader you should be able to master the .500BPE. You should start by buying and carefully studying Graeme Wright's book, Shooting the British Double Rifle, which should be found at Amazon, or at Huntington's.

Dies, brass and shellholder can be had from Huntington's. You'll need the big Forester trimmer, or an RCBS trim die.
Given the length of this cartridge you may need to buy another reloading press with enough gape to accommodate it. The Lee Classic Cast Press is an inexpensive way around this problem.

It will take experimentation to find the correct bullet weight for the gun to regulate, unless it is engraved on the rifle itself. For cast lead, 340 grains was usually standard. These rifles are pretty finicky about bullet weight. They want only what they were regulated for, but when you find that out, you are there.

You may find good success with paper-patched bullets. I am using an interesting paper-patched formula that is actually easier than casting bullets. (Using the Ranier 335 grain swaged copper plated pistol bullets, paper patched).

Unless the chamber length is engraved on the rifle you should do a chamber cast to make sure of the cartridge length. You also need to slug the bore, as there was some variation.

Ross Seyfried wrote an article about loading the .500BPE which I found very helpful. If you want to send me a PM with your mailing address I would be glad to send you a photocopy of that article.

Loading nitro-for-black powder loads is quite different from loading conventional modern ammo. You cannot rely on pressure signs exhibited by the brass or primer. These cartridges operate well below pressures showing such signs. Get a firm understanding of low pressure and the use of wads before you try anything. Otherwise you risk ruining the rifle.

Contact me if I can be of help.

Curl

P.S. If you would like to have a look at my Purdey .500BPE follow this link: Curl's Purdey .500 .