Back when Hornady decided to stop making the Hornady 410 gr Great plains bullet. I was already trying to come up with a replacement. I had used the Hornady flat point bullet on several deer and to be honest I was not happy with them. They were probably the most accurate bullet I had ever shot. Both of these bullets came out of a buck I had shot.
While it can be argued that the bullet performed well because it mushroomed out and the animal was dead. I felt that it was too soft and it over expanded reducing the depth that it penetrated. Some guys like the bullet to stay in and put all the energy into the animal. Some like an exit hole with the last of the energy digging into the dirt and a blood trail on both sides of the animal. I fall into the last category.
If the bullet can not punch through a deer how could I trust it with penetrating an elk?
So I started to look for a replacement. I tried the Lee REAL, the Lyman great plains. And to be honest at that time I didn't have a lead hardness tester. If I were to test those bullets again I would do it a little different. Both the REAL and the Lyman didn't shoot well enough to make me want to test them more.
That was when I started to think about paper patching. My first paper patched bullets were tested in 2007. The Lee 500 S&W bullet, and the RCBS North South bullet were the two I started with. The Lee 500 S&W bullet quickly showed promise.
After seeing some of the groups I was getting I switched gears and started to try different alloy. That was where the 500 started to shine. My groups were sub 2" at 100 with a peep sight. Ya I had some that were better but as an average they were solid 2" groups.
2009 was the first year for me to hunt with the Lee 500 S&W bullet. I had tested it and tested it. I was testing groups, and water jugs, even wet news paper. I tried putting elk shoulders inside wet news paper. From what I was seeing the slightly hardened 500 bullet was a monster.
The first animal killed was a mature muledeer buck.
That same year a friend of mine also too a buck with his TC White Mt carbine and the Lee 500 S&W bullets.
The bullets plowed right through and the animals went straight to the ground. The WHOOOP that those bullets make is loud. The large wide Meplat send a shockwave through the animal.
That bullet for the next dozen years racked up an amazing number of animals. All of them were one shot kills. All of them fully penetrated the animal from ANY angle.
In 2012 I shot a calf elk. Again that one plowed trough, but that was not unexpected. In 2013 I had the chance to take a Large adult cow. The shot was 60 yards. I shot the cow high in the shoulder
The bullet crushed the shoulder.
The bullet went through the shoulder and was found in the flank.
That was the first bullet I had ever found. At 288 grains I was at first a little worried that maybe they were not as hard as I thought. That bullet crushed the shoulder and still plowed through 3 foot of elk.
Still I kept using it and my son and I put more game on the ground. I was selling a few and other guys were pounding game and the penetration was incredible.
Finally in 2020, 11 years after I started shooting them I found my second one. I shot this bull with my lee 500 S&W bullets.
It was a high shoulder shot that took out the shoulder and the spine. The bull hit the ground where he stood.
They started out at 458 grains and this one was at 454.
Those bullets have killed a truck load of Deer, antelope, and elk, for both my son and I. Like I said I have several friends and guys that I have sold bullets to that have also killed a lot of game with them.
I couldn't use a PRB. I just don't have the faith in them like others have. I also have NO faith in the Hornady 385 gr bullet.
I have taught a lot of guys to paper patch the Lee 500 S&W bullet. Those that have taken game will never use anything else. They are a dang good bullet on game. What they do after they hit hair is what you can count on.