AR in 50 Beowulf

[Sure shot wv]

So after my range trip this Sunday I just had to share a quick story.

A wonderful gentleman was there shooting his ar chambered in the 50 Beowulf. As soon as he saw me look at it he loaded a mag and handed it to me and says you can't not shoot the 50!! Try it out

So of course I accepted, and all I can say is wow! It was a little heavier than I expected but man did it shoot great. Super smooth and almost zero muzzle rise. After my second shot I said my AK jumps quadruple what this does. It did have a nice brake on it which he said did wonders, but I have nothing to compare it to. Ok so besides this thing being very easy to shoot it is an absolute tack driver. You can literally cut bullet holes at 100 yards with open sights. The recoil surprised me as well. I was expecting a lot more but it was like shooting a 308 with a little faster "thump", if that makes any sense.

So needless to say I now want one! Now I just need to justify one to the wife. But I think the way his was set up, add a nice optic and you've got one sweet hog rifle!

 

[srfisher3]

I'm looking at a similar project but I can't decide between the beo or the .458 socom...any thoughts?

 

[Sure shot wv]

Well unfortunately I don't know much about the socom. Both would be cool, but I'd lean towards the 50. Here's why, the 50 Beowulf cartridge has the same head as a standard 7.62. So the AR is using a 308 bcg. From what I understand its basically a 308 ar with a 50 mag and barrel.

I haven't had the pleasure yet to see the socom. Is the 458 round designed similar to the 50? Hopefully someone with more knowledge can shed some insight here! I also don't know about trajectory. The 50, this guy said is similar to a 45-70. Again I have no idea about the socom.

Hope some of that helps, have you shot them both?

 

[mxsailor803]

I'm actually beginning to toss around a Beowolf build idea myself. I'm still debating on buying a complete upper or build it myself. First things first, gotta finish my 6.8spc upper. Gonna use it on deer and hogs

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I looked into the 50 a while back, even bought a box of ammo to study & then decided it was not for me... I have several guns chambered for cartridges with rebated rims ( 50 A.E. for example ) but if you do a search for 50 Beo case failures, you'll find several incidences that the severely rebated rim of the Beo caused case failure with all but very light loads...

personally I think the 458 is a better cartridge in that type of platform

 

[Technosavant]

Don't forget the .450 Bushmaster too.

Between them all, I'd say it depends greatly on how much reloading you plan to do. If you plan to reload nearly all your ammo, the .458 Socom is probably your best bet. It has the widest array of projectiles, even if cases are hard to come by. If you want factory ammo options, you're looking at .450 BM... with the Freedom Group and Hornady behind the cartridge there's more availability of factory loads, but there's far fewer options out there (even with reloading) than you'd get with .458 Socom. .50 Beowulf seems to me to combine the paucity of factory ammo of the .458 Socom with the lack of reloading options of the .450 BM. IMO, unless you just want to have a .50, I would go with one of the other two options- ballistics end up being pretty similar.

Interestingly, I found that the Leupold Ultimate Slam riflescope intended for muzzleloaders works GREAT with the .450 Bushmaster. The BDC is intended for a 250 grain projectile moving at about 2200fps... which is pretty much exactly what you get with the .450 Bushmaster out of a 20" barrel.

These thumper rounds are all kinds of fun to shoot- not near as much recoil as you'd expect and it's just neat to drill holes that large out of an AR.

 

[Achilles11B]

.50B is a fun cartridge. I owned one for a few months, but ended up selling it. It was a blast to shoot. The one issue I had was finding optics that could hold up to the recoil. I ended up running irons on it because the Trijicon reflex sight couldn't hold a zero. It's also an expensive beast to feed, ammo usually starts at $30/box and goes up. Haven't seen much in the way of reloading supplies, either.

 

[Txhillbilly]

All of the big bore AR15's are fun to shoot,and very accurate. They are a hog/deer worst nightmare.
If you handload,either the 50BW or the 458SC are great.
If you want to shoot factory ammo,get the 450 Bushy.

I've shot the 458SC for a couple years now,and it is what I like best out of the bunch. I have a Weaver Super Slam scope on mine,and other than the rings getting shook loose once,the scope has held up fine. I also use an Eotech on it at night sometimes.

 

[Bacteriophage]

I've done a lot of research on the .50 Beo, .458 SOCOM, and .450 BM, and here's what I've found:

The .450 is the weakest of the three, but has the biggest selection of factory ammo. However, "biggest" isn't saying much here, so if you're not going to reload, I wouldn't go with any of the three. If you are going to reload, you get more flexibility and power out of the .458 SOCOM than the .450 BM.

The .50 has fewer makers of uppers and a much smaller selection of bullets because it uses true .500-inch bullets, which are only used in very few calibers, none of them popular. The most common .500 caliber is the .50 AE, which is chambered in one major model of gun (the Desert Eagle), if that tells you anything. Feeding from unmodified mags is apparently problematic.

The .458 can duplicate or exceed .45-70 load performance with shorter bullets like 350-grain HPs. There are TONS of bullets available in .458 of all constructions in weights up to 600 grains. The .458 is designed to work with heavy, subsonic loads as well as regular ones. It's designed to work reliably with unmodified AR mags. You can also get uppers for less than the other two, at least as far as my shopping research found.

IMO, the .458 SOCOM wins, hands-down.

 

[Sure shot wv]

Thanks all for the input. I've been doing some research as well. The guy who owned that 50b does reload. He told me that he usually only gets a few reloads before the brass cracks or splits near the head. I would definitely reload myself, so with everything I've learned the 458 would be the way to go for me. As much as I want one at the moment it's not very practical for me. Nor would the wife like me dropping that much money at the moment! I'm still waiting for the opportunity to shoot the 50bmg. That's next on my list. Shooting that 50b may have started a new passion for big caliber rifles.

 

[loose_holster_dan]

I had a similar experience last year, except the one i shot recoiled like a 12ga. that muzzle brake must have really helped.

 

[chewie146]

My buddy has a Beowulf. Shoot a bowling pin sometime and see what happens. He loads a 325 grain bullet at 1900 fps (data--not chrono). My H&R .45-70 spat out a 350 grain bullet at 2050 fps (chrono). Basically, it's a light weight, semi-automatic, Level II .45-70-ish rifle. If I were to buy one, I'd get the 458 Socom for bullet availability. The .450 bushmaster is another thumper in the AR platform, though that one uses .452 bullets, which can be cheaper. At the velocities you get out of the rifle, though, the .458 bullets will hold up better. One thing to keep in mind with the big bores...don't put your nose on the charging handle!

 

[Ben Dover]

The availability and cost of bullets would cause me to lean toward the ,458 SOCOM.

.45 Caliber bullets in various weights are readily available. Fifty caliber??? Not so much.