FPS for Reliable .500NE Expansion

[franzfmdavis]

I recently purchased a 500 Nitro Express double rifle (Heym 88B PH).

According to Chris Sells at Heym, my gun had been regulated with the DGX factory bullets. So I purchased some bullets and chrono’ed then at the range. They averaged 2,178 fps. I was going to try and load bullets to this target FPS.

I had originally purchased Hornady DGX (570g) bullets, and then read that there were concerns about these bullets.

So then I purchased some Barnes TSX (570g) bullets, only to subsequently read on a post that there are some concerns about these bullets reliably expanding.

I have not read any concerns about Swift A Frames, but there are none available on the market at the moment.

Northfork does not make soft points for 500NE.

What to do, what to do?

Is there an FPS that I could aim for (assuming it regulates in my gun) at which I can expect reliable expansion of the TSX and/or DGX?

 

[Rare Breed]

Your gun should have been regulated at 2150 FPS which is what my two were. I have had zero problems with TSX or DGX Bonded at all and neither have people I respect due to their experience and again my own. Are you I recommend IMR3031at 80 grains to achieve this with 570 grain bullets

 

[Addicted911]

Midway just posted 500 NE Swift A Frames for sale

 

[franzfmdavis]

Midway just posted 500 NE Swift A Frames for sale

Finally! Got some!! Thanks! I looked just two nights ago and they didn’t have any yet and neither did swift or anybody else

 

[Don458]

Send Email to Barnes, ask at what fps is needed for reliable expansion They answer almost immediately .

 

[50Gunner]

My 500 Nitro has 26" barrels, regulates beautifully at 2176 fps with 105gr H-4350 under the 570gr TSX, Jamison brass and FED-215 primers, I have purposefully tried to plug the HP tip by shooting plastic 5 gal buckets of water lengthwise, no deal, it always expands and is caught in the rear of the third bucket.

Have also shot freezer burnt chickens and one big turkey sitting in front of the buckets, same/same, beautiful four bladed death flower.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I recently purchased a 500 Nitro Express double rifle (Heym 88B PH).

According to Chris Sells at Heym, my gun had been regulated with the DGX factory bullets. So I purchased some bullets and chrono’ed then at the range. They averaged 2,178 fps. I was going to try and load bullets to this target FPS.

I had originally purchased Hornady DGX (570g) bullets, and then read that there were concerns about these bullets.

So then I purchased some Barnes TSX (570g) bullets, only to subsequently read on a post that there are some concerns about these bullets reliably expanding.

I have not read any concerns about Swift A Frames, but there are none available on the market at the moment.

Northfork does not make soft points for 500NE.

What to do, what to do?

Is there an FPS that I could aim for (assuming it regulates in my gun) at which I can expect reliable expansion of the TSX and/or DGX?

Hi, Franz.

The currently manufactured (post 2018) Hornady DGX Bonded bullets are all very reliable performers on Cape buffalo. Being lead cored designs, a velocity of 2150 FPS is perfectly adequate to get proper expansion out of them.

Federal Premium has some 570Gr factory loaded Swift A Frames in stock.

Buy Safari Swift A-Frame 500 Nitro Express Ammo | 570 Grain, 2100 FPS | Federal

Shopping for the Safari Swift A-Frame, 500 Nitro Express, 570 Grain, Swift A-Frame, 2100 fps - Learn more about the latest Safari Swift A-Frame and other hunting or shooting gear at Federal Ammunition.

www.federalpremium.com

I recommended these to @JD Noblin last year for his lion hunt. He had immensely successful results with them in his .500 Nitro Express Heym Model 88B.

For the most part, 570Gr Barnes TSX will expand quite reliably at .500 Nitro Express velocities. But sometimes they fail to expand and just pass completely through like a solid. This particular 570Gr specimen was fired from a .500 Nitro Express Federal Premium factory load into the broadside heart-lung region of a Cape buffalo in 2024. It experienced absolutely no form of expansion whatsoever.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I recently came back from a hunt where I used Hornady DGX Bonded Bullets for the first time in my 500/416 NE double rifle. These were 400 grain .416 bullets that I loaded to 2,300 fps. We shot 31 rounds of 500/416 that hit mainly Buffalo or camel in Australia, I was very impressed with the knock down effect and managed to recover 4 rounds that were all shot diagonally into buffalo. All other rounds passed through the animals, often leaving very large size exit holes. We did see a couple of the internal wound channels and they were impressive. Here are the 4 rounds that came from under skin on the far side of buffalo:

We also shot a lot of 300 grain Barnes TSX in .375 that also performed well but were not so effective as the larger .416 400 grain rounds in stopping power (not surprising due to different bullet size and weight). I would not hesitate to use the newer Hornady DGX Bonded bullets that you are sending out at nearly 2,200fps from your larger .500 gun.

In summary these DGX Bonded bullets mushroomed much more in percentage terms than any Barnes TSX bullets that I have shot, Retained weights were typically 330 grains or 82.5%. I hope this helps in your decision making.

I've struggled to find Swift A Frames for my last 2 hunting trips so cannot comment on their excellent reputation.

 

[sgt_zim]

Kevin Robertson did a pretty extensive test on the bonded DGX back in 2020, they seem to perform adequately, though they still aren't A Frame/TSX/North Fork.

It's the DGS bullets Hornady still can't get right. Somebody posted a video a couple days ago of a bunch of different pills for 470 NE, the DGS bent going through sand. That's definitely no bueno.

 

[franzfmdavis]

It was the report and picture above from @Hunter-Habib (that he had also posted on another thread) that got me concerned me about the TSX.

 

[franzfmdavis]

I recently came back from a hunt where I used Hornady DGX Bonded Bullets for the first time in my 500/416 NE double rifle. These were 400 grain .416 bullets that I loaded to 2,300 fps. We shot 31 rounds of 500/416 that hit mainly Buffalo or camel in Australia, I was very impressed with the knock down effect and managed to recover 4 rounds that were all shot diagonally into buffalo. All other rounds passed through the animals, often leaving very large size exit holes. We did see a couple of the internal wound channels and they were impressive. Here are the 4 rounds that came from under skin on the far side of buffalo:

View attachment 693726

We also shot a lot of 300 grain Barnes TSX in .375 that also performed well but were not so effective as the larger .416 400 grain rounds in stopping power (not surprising due to different bullet size and weight). I would not hesitate to use the newer Hornady DGX Bonded bullets that you are sending out at nearly 2,200fps from your larger .500 gun.

In summary these DGX Bonded bullets mushroomed much more in percentage terms than any Barnes TSX bullets that I have shot, Retained weights were typically 330 grains or 82.5%. I hope this helps in your decision making.

I've struggled to find Swift A Frames for my last 2 hunting trips so cannot comment on their excellent reputation.

I appreciated reading this report in another thread too. Maybe its just the DGS that is unreliable?

 

[Wyfox]

I'd take a look at CEB solids and Raptors too.

 

[rookhawk]

I recently purchased a 500 Nitro Express double rifle (Heym 88B PH).

According to Chris Sells at Heym, my gun had been regulated with the DGX factory bullets. So I purchased some bullets and chrono’ed then at the range. They averaged 2,178 fps. I was going to try and load bullets to this target FPS.

I had originally purchased Hornady DGX (570g) bullets, and then read that there were concerns about these bullets.

So then I purchased some Barnes TSX (570g) bullets, only to subsequently read on a post that there are some concerns about these bullets reliably expanding.

I have not read any concerns about Swift A Frames, but there are none available on the market at the moment.

Northfork does not make soft points for 500NE.

What to do, what to do?

Is there an FPS that I could aim for (assuming it regulates in my gun) at which I can expect reliable expansion of the TSX and/or DGX?

It sounds crazy fast, Its hard for me to imagine that the 2178FPS bullets are actually regulating in a Heym if that is what you're claiming is real-world, observed FPS? Out of a 24" barrel I'd expect 2075FPS-2100FPS to be the regulating velocity.

570gr softs are going to expand just fine if you're concerned about over-expansion. The bigger problem will be you're shooting a stopping rifle, failure to expand would be the likely conclusion for most applications. At present, other than plains game, the only DG reason for a 500NE soft would be buffalo. Any of those will certainly not over-expand.

The bigger challenge will be finding the regulating load for a solid, the primary bullet you'd use with a 500NE.

Ignoring bullets for a general statement, a bullet from a 500NE that hits its target at an impact velocity of 1900FPS is going to do exactly what gave them their excellent reputation for the last 125 years.

 

[Fordy]

Gday franzfmdavis
On the tsx if you go that way add beeswax or a like substance to the hp cavity & will all but stop the issue like @Hunter-Habib showed

I’ll second the look @ ceb as these in particular the 475 raptor

Cheers

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Another one you boys might want to consider.

.510 Cal-570gr Stone Hammer® - Hammer Bullets

This 50 caliber Stone Hammer™ is designed in the traditional weight of 570gr for regulation in the double rifles. This pure copper bullet will handle any of the dangerous game animals on the planet. It will expand and shed weight while still penetrating as well as a solid. This will give you...

hammerbullets.com

 

[zephyr]

Take a look at CEBs very happy with their performance in my 450NE

 

[franzfmdavis]

It sounds crazy fast, Its hard for me to imagine that the 2178FPS bullets are actually regulating in a Heym if that is what you're claiming is real-world, observed FPS? Out of a 24" barrel I'd expect 2075FPS-2100FPS to be the regulating velocity.

570gr softs are going to expand just fine if you're concerned about over-expansion. The bigger problem will be you're shooting a stopping rifle, failure to expand would be the likely conclusion for most applications. At present, other than plains game, the only DG reason for a 500NE soft would be buffalo. Any of those will certainly not over-expand.

The bigger challenge will be finding the regulating load for a solid, the primary bullet you'd use with a 500NE.

Ignoring bullets for a general statement, a bullet from a 500NE that hits its target at an impact velocity of 1900FPS is going to do exactly what gave them their excellent reputation for the last 125 years.

Thanks for the info!

I double checked the Garmin Chrono because I had been typing from memory when I wrote the post this morning. 2178 was actually the max speed and the average speed was 2162.

I haven’t yet made it to an outdoor range to shoot it at 50 yards.

I shot it for the first time a couple days ago at an indoor range at 25 yards. I was just getting the reddot sighted in.

In other words, I have not been able to confirm whether it will regulate well at 50 yards at the average FPS of the factory ammo.

In my original post, I was only saying that the Heym rep here in the US had told me that factory ammo I was shooting is what the gun was regulated with at Heym.

I plan to shoot the rest of the box at 50 yards to get a better average FPS and see how the barrels regulate and then go from there.

 

[franzfmdavis]

Gday franzfmdavis
On the tsx if you go that way add beeswax or a like substance to the hp cavity & will all but stop the issue like @Hunter-Habib showed

I’ll second the look @ ceb as these in particular the 475 raptor

Cheers

Could that negatively affect its flight trajectory or stability?

 

[BonUm16]

Looking around for something else this evening I stumbled across these Federal 500 NE loads. Priced right if in need of solids.

Federal Premium Safari 500 Nitro Express Ammunition 570 Grain Woodleigh Hydro Solid - P500NWH

Federal Premium Safari 500 Nitro Express Ammunition 570 Grain Woodleigh Hydro Solid - P500NWH at Target Sports USA with free shipping a|^||^|

www.targetsportsusa.com

 

[ftrovato]

I recently purchased a 500 Nitro Express double rifle (Heym 88B PH).

According to Chris Sells at Heym, my gun had been regulated with the DGX factory bullets. So I purchased some bullets and chrono’ed then at the range. They averaged 2,178 fps. I was going to try and load bullets to this target FPS.

I had originally purchased Hornady DGX (570g) bullets, and then read that there were concerns about these bullets.

So then I purchased some Barnes TSX (570g) bullets, only to subsequently read on a post that there are some concerns about these bullets reliably expanding.

I have not read any concerns about Swift A Frames, but there are none available on the market at the moment.

Northfork does not make soft points for 500NE.

What to do, what to do?

Is there an FPS that I could aim for (assuming it regulates in my gun) at which I can expect reliable expansion of the TSX and/or DGX?

570 grain A-Frame Swifts in my Heym 89B regulate very close at 50 yards (under 2") around 2100 fps.

The bullet to the right is out of a buffalo shot at 40 yards.