Okay...this question is only out of curiosity, but are there any BMG .50 cal Wildcat rounds or experiment type rounds out there? What's the thinking on how much lower a caliber round that one could neck down too...if any?
BMG .50 Wildcats
- Thread starter 345 DeSoto
- Start date
- Status
Yes, there are. I once saw a 50-224 chamber reamer for sale.
I can't fathom necking down a 50 BMG to 224 bore diameter, but it's been done before. The velocity must be something near hypersonic, I doubt you'd find a projectile that would stand up to the forces unless it was solid copper CNC'd. I imagine barrel life would leave a lot to be desired, too.
I can't fathom necking down a 50 BMG to 224 bore diameter, but it's been done before. The velocity must be something near hypersonic, I doubt you'd find a projectile that would stand up to the forces unless it was solid copper CNC'd. I imagine barrel life would leave a lot to be desired, too.
Klaus Horstkamp who used to own/run State Arms prior to his untimely death used to build what he called the "Mach V" which was a 375/50 and he sold custom made bronze 375 bullets for it.
Here's one a the Firearms Blog: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/09/08/50-bmg-necked-down-to-22/
Barrel life? I don't think barrel life even exists in a 50-224, by time you sight it in you are calling your gunsmith, what kind of powder could you even use for such a thing, necking a cartridge down nearly always calls for a slower powder since it no longer has the original cross section to push against, and RL50 is already about the slowest burning commercial powder out there. Probably have to call the Army and get those bags of 155mm howitzer propellent that throw a huge fireball out of a 12 foot barrel.
You got quite a few, 50 DTC, 50 BMG Improved, 50 Fat Mac, Anzio 20/50, 14.5mm JDJ (larger bullet), 460 Styer just to name some.
A local rifle smith I use has a wildcat he has developed off the 50 BMG. Necked it down to .375, changed the shoulder angle, set it back and shortened the OAL a bit. He includes two sets of dies. Die one necks it down and reforms the shoulder angle. It is a hardened die so you take a file or fine hacksaw and cut off amount of neck necessary. Load a forming charge, fire form the case then load using the final loading dies he supplies with the rifle. The gun is kind finicky. Basically a few very specific bullet/powder combinations that if you vary too far from the results tend to be poor. But if run the way he has designed it, the combo is amazing. While I am generally not a fan of overbore cartridges, sometimes certain combinations can be found that will do stunning things. His design is right on the fringe of being so overbore that it is a flip of the coin if you seat the bullet just off the lands or use a significant amount of free-bore. The few users of it are doing both and I think he may be redesigning the reamer for a slight change of length and shoulder angle in the future. Usually his second generation offerings are something to behold and if you have the cash, a gun to own.
Of course with half inch being fairly standard size for sabots, you can take a stock chambered rifle and do some interesting research on your own. Didn't the military do a version of this in a .355 SLAP round. I had the opportunity to fire some .308 Win SLAP rounds out at Rocky Flats in Kolo"rad"o years ago. It was amazing what a 308 turn bolt or M1A would burn a hole through with a SLAP round. The ones I fired were some form of "depleted" material that was a by product of another process unrelated to the gun industry. You can either figure that out on you own or not, eh? They actually let me hold one to the 50/.355 saboted versions but inventory was so controlled that they had to document every one fired and who pulled the trigger. I was not, nor will I ever be, on that list.
Of course with half inch being fairly standard size for sabots, you can take a stock chambered rifle and do some interesting research on your own. Didn't the military do a version of this in a .355 SLAP round. I had the opportunity to fire some .308 Win SLAP rounds out at Rocky Flats in Kolo"rad"o years ago. It was amazing what a 308 turn bolt or M1A would burn a hole through with a SLAP round. The ones I fired were some form of "depleted" material that was a by product of another process unrelated to the gun industry. You can either figure that out on you own or not, eh? They actually let me hold one to the 50/.355 saboted versions but inventory was so controlled that they had to document every one fired and who pulled the trigger. I was not, nor will I ever be, on that list.
Yeah I want to see the load data on that one, 5.730" 55gr JHP over four charcoal brickets and 12gr of standard JP lighter fluid with a marine flare in place of the primer LMAO!
No I think you would need something that burns slower then a Texas summer to push that one.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
