I have just bought my 2nd CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery, I also have the CZ 550 in 416 Rigby and 375H&H. Just returned from Zimbabwe where I used the 500 Jeffery on 2 elephants with amazing results. Both elephants were knocked off thier feet with the first shot. My PH with 30 year experince never saw a 500 Jeffery used on elephants before and was so impressed in the power that he now owns my rifle, that's why I bought a replacement. I also shoot a Weatherby 460 but the 500 Jeffery difinitly has more knock down power. The first elephant I shot was at 15 yards in very heavy brush, frontal brain shot, I missed the brain becuase the bullet had to travel thru a lot of lims and branches but still knock the elephant off his feet and gave me enough time for follow up shots. I would have never chanced a shot thru that heavy brush with any other caliber. The second elephant was a heart shot at about 100 yards in a dry river bed, he was knocked off his feet and the 500 passed clear thru his chest, he ran aboy 50 yards and colapsed. The 500 Jeff is brutal to shoot at the range and dangerus to use with a scope as the scope cut I have proves. But when using the 500 Jeff on big game, you realy don't notice the recoil and I was very pleased. I do not enjoy shooting it at the range though. I'm good for about 7 rounds a day. Accuracy is less then 1 MOA shooting from a lead slead. If you use a scope, you need more then 4" of eye relieve to be safe. If you shoot right every time 4" eye relieve is fine, but just hold on to lightly one time and you will get hurt. It's too much gun for any thing but elephant and it is the only gun I'll use in the future for elephant. I love my 416 Rigby CZ too. It worked perfect on a nice cape buffalow at 60 yards and a Giraffe at 200 yards. If you want the maximum elephant stopper, you can't do better then the CZ in 500 Jeffery. The barrel is 24", the gun is a bit heavy to carry but when you are getting close to your game you don't notice the weight. I loaded 570gr Hornady DGS at 2350 FPS, not bullets were recovered. You can push 600 gr bullets at 2400 fps second if you want but that was too much recoil for me and realy not needed. Penatration was more then needed and energy tranfer was faster and more dramatic then a 460. My first 500 Jeff had a littel rough action, but broke in quickly, my 2nd one was class smooth. My other 2 CZ 550 are some where in between. These CZ 550 are real clasic big game rifles and have a top reputation in Africa as dangerus game rifles. One note on brass, I strongly recommend you only use Norma brass with this caliber. It works perfect in both my guns and a freind of mine has a 500 Jeff in a Blaser rifle who was having extraction problems with other brass but not the Norma brass. No need for expensive monlithick bullets either, the Hornady DGS are very tough thick steel copper clad jackets. I tried to crush one in a vise and could not. I have used a 300 win mag, 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, 460 Weatherby and 500 Jeff in 3 countries in Africa and they all have thier place. For most game, I'll use my 375 H&H, for elephant I'll use my 500 Jeff for all other dangerus game it is my 416 rigby.
