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0.500 Whisper
Region
United States
Category
Ammunition, Missiles and precision weapons
The 0.500 Whisper is derived from the 0.460 Weatherby Magnum cartridge and is simply a 0.460 Weatherby cartridge casing shortened to a length of 57 mm and necked down to accept a 0.50 calibre bullet. It is belted, with a slight taper and bottleneck. The case is brass and Boxer primed. Bullets are streamlined and any of several varieties may be encountered, as some users custom-load to their own specifications. The most common configuration of this cartridge is with a 0.50 BMG bullet and it is for that loading with
an M33 ball bullet that specifications are given. The .500 Whisper was developed by J D Jones of SSK Industries to provide a cartridge that would deliver accuracy and good terminal ballistics at, below, or above the speed of sound. It is intended for use by snipers in suppressed weapons and is ideal for that purpose, firing a bullet of high ballistic coefficient with great sectional density, usually at subsonic velocities. When used with low-drag bullets, the 0.500 Whisper cartridge is little affected by crosswinds and retains over half of its muzzle energy at ranges of up to 1 mile (1.6 km). This cartridge reportedly is in use for long-range sniping by several European special operations organisations. Applications include suitably chambered rifles.