.470 Empire?

Glenn Slaven

AH enthusiast
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
423
Reaction score
746
Location
Baytown
Media
41
Hunting reports
Africa
1
Member of
NRA
Talked to Pete at Qual Cart and he has a bunch of .470 Empire brass that needs to be used. So I have a project to build the gun now.

Anybody have any experience with it or load data?

It’s a .460 Weatherby cut back to fit in standard action, necked up to .474”.

I wouldn’t even know where to start for loads. Besides throwing about 70grains of H1000 and seeing what happens. lol
 
Talked to Pete at Qual Cart and he has a bunch of .470 Empire brass that needs to be used. So I have a project to build the gun now.

Anybody have any experience with it or load data?

It’s a .460 Weatherby cut back to fit in standard action, necked up to .474”.

I wouldn’t even know where to start for loads. Besides throwing about 70grains of H1000 and seeing what happens. lol

If you can look at the pressures and volumes of the case, you could compare it to a cordite load that was able to achieve that velocity. Start low, check for signs carefully, use 3031.

The major hazard I see is a more pronounced neck versus old kynoch loads that may cause pressure spikes if you’re required to use a wad.

Perhaps compare it to 470 Capstick and other 470 wildcats to see if the volume and dimensions are somewhat similar so you can start with a conservative loading?
 
I would think you could start with the 460 a square short loading. That should be close.
 
Highly recommend acquiring QuickLoad software.

You'll thank me later.
 
Talked to Pete at Qual Cart and he has a bunch of .470 Empire brass that needs to be used. So I have a project to build the gun now.

Anybody have any experience with it or load data?

It’s a .460 Weatherby cut back to fit in standard action, necked up to .474”.

I wouldn’t even know where to start for loads. Besides throwing about 70grains of H1000 and seeing what happens. lol
Glenn,
you got me curious and put together loads (derived from my 550 Magnum (Shirley) and 495 Asquare) work. Basically looks just like a modern 470 Nitro Express in a standard action with 2154fps in 24" barrel, albeit, with the Weatherby max. pressure rating. Since the 500 Jeffery fits in a Mauser 98, this should go into a std model 70 with some feed work and resist the high pressure. Thanks for thread.
Steve

470 empire drawing.jpg
 
Thank y’all for the input.

I’m thinking for the feeding I’m going to get a Wyatt’s center feed. Solved my .404 Jeff feed issue right away.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
59,615
Messages
1,294,456
Members
108,324
Latest member
AlbertaH54
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

schwerpunkt88 wrote on Robmill70's profile.
Morning Rob, Any feeling for how the 300 H&H shoots? How's the barrel condition?
mrpoindexter wrote on Charlm's profile.
Hello. I see you hunted with Sampie recently. If you don't mind me asking, where did you hunt with him? Zim or SA? And was it with a bow? What did you hunt?

I am possibly going to book with him soon.
Currently doing a load development on a .404 Jeffrey... it's always surprising to load .423 caliber bullets into a .404 caliber rifle. But we love it when we get 400 Gr North Fork SS bullets to 2300 FPS, those should hammer down on buffalo. Next up are the Cutting Edge solids and then Raptors... load 200 rounds of ammo for the customer and on to the next gun!
 
Top