50cal,

I agree heartily that no bullet over 440gr. should be used. I didn't think Marrakai was advocating anything different. I focused on his advice to throw away the 550's and overlooked the passage you noted.

I can say this. My .500BPE is a fanatic about bullet weight. It wants 340 grains. It will not shoot a 360 grain bullet - they are apart and cannot be brought together within my sense of a reasonable load. I have never tried a 440 grain bullet in it, nor have I tried the 440 grain NfB factory load. Frankly, I can't imagine how the 440 grain load would regulate in my rifle. If I had some of those bullets I would try just for the information.

I have a LBT mould custom made at 340 grains which shoots in my rifle.

I recently bought a box of the Cast Performance 350 grain WFNGC bullets (Midway USA Product # 817445) and plan to try them. I suspect they will shoot apart in my rifle. I would think this is a good bullet for the average .500BPE. I am yet to shoot them as I am recovering from an injury and surgery to my right shoulder. Others should try them too. This may be a great first try for the shooter who started this thread.

Mostly I am shooting the swaged lead copper plated bullets from Ranier, paper patched (335 grains). It's so much easier to paper patch these ready-made bullets than to cast a bullet, add a gas check, size and lube.

The paper patched bullets shoot absolutely clean, and my rifle was made for PP bullets, "Bullet - hollow or solid, papered & greased":

I do nothing to roughen the Ranier bullet. My patches stay put, but they promptly peel from the bullet just past the muzzel, as they should. Recovered fragments and pieces of patches show perfect sealing and no slippage.

If you are concerned about the patch leaving the bullet at the muzzle, worry no more. They are supposed to do that.

If you read Paul Matthews book (which you probably have) you will note that he is more worried about factors causing the patch to stick to the bullet.

I would like to hear specifics on your loads for the .500BPE.

Best,
Curl

P.S. 50cal, I didn't mean to sound abrupt in my prior post.

Pardon me if I did.