he .500 Jeffery was one of these that stood up from the dust and is now more popular than ever before. The controversy over who exactly gave birth to the caliber, will last forever - the 12.7x70 Schüler, introduced by August Schüler of Germany, or WJ Jeffery's .500 Jeffery introduced by the English firm in 1927. Most in the know believe it to be Schüler. There are differences between the two though — the Schüler's shoulder angle is listed as 23.54 degrees (RWS drawing M466, 1940) as opposed to the 12.63 degrees of the Jeffery (Kynoch drawing B82/132, 1928). There are also case diameter differences listed in some drawings. CIPC's accepted standard is according to the Jeffery dimensions, but many rifles are in circulation that are marked .500 Jeffery but do, in fact, have Schüler chambers. To complicate matters, Wolfgang Romey produced ammo with a 19.97-degree shoulder angle in 1997. Theoretically, a Jeffery cartridge will chamber in a Schüler chamber, but not the other way around. This is not always the case — my friend Phillip Venter's “Schüler” chambered rifle (but marked as a .500
