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.500 A-Square

Rifle cartridge

Field	Value
name	.500 A-Square
origin	United States
type	Centerfire/Rifle
designer	Arthur Alphin
design_date	1976
manufacturer	A-Square Company LLC
production_date	1978–2011
parent	[.460 Weatherby Magnum](460-weatherby-magnum)
case_type	Belted, bottleneck
bullet	.510
neck	.536
shoulder	.568
base	.582
rim_dia	.579
rim_thick	.063 in (1.6 mm)
case_length	2.900
length	3.74
case_capacity	141.45
max_pressure	63860
rifling	1 in 10"
primer	Large rifle magnum
bw1	600
btype1	Monolithic Solid
vel1	2470
en1	8127
bw2	600
btype2	Round Nose
vel2	2470
en2	8127
test_barrel_length	26 in
balsrc	http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=551454 and

The .500 A-Square is a belted, bottleneck rifle cartridge, developed by Arthur Alphin in 1976. The cartridge is based on the .460 Weatherby Magnum necked up to accept the .510 in (13.0 mm) bullet; the same as the .50 BMG cartridge. This was Col. Alphin's first commercial sporting cartridge and was designed in "response to some severe problems experienced with the .458 Winchester on safari in Mozambique."

The .500 A-Square was a proprietary cartridge and the world's most powerful commercially available "sporting" cartridge. However, the .50 BMG is the world's most powerful commercial cartridge for any shooting purpose. The .500 A-Square is used specifically as an African, thick skin, dangerous game, rifle cartridge for the hunting of elephants and Cape buffalo as well as a backup gun for professional hunters and guides.

Overview

The .500 A-Square cartridge was commercially available from both A-Square and Midway USA as loaded ammunition. The ammunition comes in three loads: 600 grains (38.9 g) Monolithic Solid; 600 grains (38.9 g) soft nose thick jacket and 600 gr (38.9 g) soft nose thin jacket. All bullet/cartridge combination are advertised with a muzzle velocity of 2470 ft/s (753 m/s) and muzzle energy of 8127 ft lbf (11019 J).

In comparison: the parent cartridge, the .460 Weatherby Magnum as commercial loaded with a 500 gr (32.4 g) Monolithic Solid has a muzzle velocity of 2580 ft/s (786 m/s) and muzzle energy of 7389 ft lbf (10018 J). The .50 BMG as commercial loaded with a 661 gr (42.8 g) FMJ M33 ball ammo has a muzzle velocity of 2750 ft/s (838 m/s) and muzzle energy of 11102 ft lbf (15052 J).

Although there is limited hand-loading information, bullet weights (hunting) are from between 300 gr (19.4) to 647 gr (41.9).

A-Square Company

In October 2011, A-Square ceased all ammunition operations.

References

Alphin, Col. Arthur B.. (1996). "Any Shot You Want". On Target Press.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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