Crosshair
Member
I figured I'd brainstorm here before I bothered the nice people at SSK with my ideas.
I've liked the idea of a 510 Whisper, but it has always been so cost prohibitive. Even today, cases are made by cutting down 338 Lapua cases. Surely there is a cheaper alternative. I would mainly shoot cast bullets, but figured I might as well try to have the capability of 50 BMG bullets.
I came across a Howa 1500 in 7mm Magnum for very cheap and I decided to see how well a 50 Action Express case fits. Turns out it fits the bolthead perfectly. Jamming a 50 AE dummy into the 7mm mag chamber, it extracts it without issue. It obviously doesn't feed, but we don't care about that yet.
Since the 50 AE is a slightly tapered case, it can be opened up to .510 bullets. I figure someone HAS to have tried this idea before. Doing some research, I find that SSK has done it and called it the 50 American Eagle. So I email them, but this is the relevant portions of the reply.
SSK has done this, but it was not entirely successful. The internal dimensions of the case taper sharply causing bullet seating issues with bullets longer than standard 650 gr ball.Seated bullets bulge the case body. Also the gun would be a single shot. These case types require a straight line feed set up... The bolt face could also be a problem, they are slightly different. My recommendation with this is to steer clear of it, as it is normally an expensive conversion with a host of issues.
I already know that the bolt face won't be a problem with the Howa, but from the sounds of it, the capability of using 50 BMG bullets isn't worth the trouble. So no real downside to using .500 bullets then.
So I COULD go with a 50 AE with a .500 bore and a long throat to allow me to throw some of the heavy 500 S&W bullets. Though I would likely get a custom mold with a more spitzer shape. 500-600 grains
However, I knew about the existence of the 500 Auto Max. Doing some research, it uses a .520 case head. Larger than the .514 of the 50 AE but smaller than the .532 of the 7mm magnum. So it should work just fine in my Howa.
Since the 500 Auto Max is just a 500 S&W without the rim, this wildcat could be made in either version. Rimless for bolt actions or rimed for single shots. Obviously we don't care about fitting in an AR-10 action. Nope, long magnum action OAL for this.
So, what do people think? Just get a 50 AE with a long throat or see about going with a .34" longer case with the 500 Auto Max? I see pros and cons for both. The 500 Auto Max would be more capable, with more powder capacity and better bullet hold, but more work to develop chamber/throat dimensions and with a case of more questionable availability. The 50 AE wouldn't be able to play with slower powders, but overall subsonic will be fine and I can just use SSKs existing work with the 50 American Eagle. Cases will be more available too.
I've liked the idea of a 510 Whisper, but it has always been so cost prohibitive. Even today, cases are made by cutting down 338 Lapua cases. Surely there is a cheaper alternative. I would mainly shoot cast bullets, but figured I might as well try to have the capability of 50 BMG bullets.
I came across a Howa 1500 in 7mm Magnum for very cheap and I decided to see how well a 50 Action Express case fits. Turns out it fits the bolthead perfectly. Jamming a 50 AE dummy into the 7mm mag chamber, it extracts it without issue. It obviously doesn't feed, but we don't care about that yet.
Since the 50 AE is a slightly tapered case, it can be opened up to .510 bullets. I figure someone HAS to have tried this idea before. Doing some research, I find that SSK has done it and called it the 50 American Eagle. So I email them, but this is the relevant portions of the reply.
SSK has done this, but it was not entirely successful. The internal dimensions of the case taper sharply causing bullet seating issues with bullets longer than standard 650 gr ball.Seated bullets bulge the case body. Also the gun would be a single shot. These case types require a straight line feed set up... The bolt face could also be a problem, they are slightly different. My recommendation with this is to steer clear of it, as it is normally an expensive conversion with a host of issues.
I already know that the bolt face won't be a problem with the Howa, but from the sounds of it, the capability of using 50 BMG bullets isn't worth the trouble. So no real downside to using .500 bullets then.
So I COULD go with a 50 AE with a .500 bore and a long throat to allow me to throw some of the heavy 500 S&W bullets. Though I would likely get a custom mold with a more spitzer shape. 500-600 grains
However, I knew about the existence of the 500 Auto Max. Doing some research, it uses a .520 case head. Larger than the .514 of the 50 AE but smaller than the .532 of the 7mm magnum. So it should work just fine in my Howa.
Since the 500 Auto Max is just a 500 S&W without the rim, this wildcat could be made in either version. Rimless for bolt actions or rimed for single shots. Obviously we don't care about fitting in an AR-10 action. Nope, long magnum action OAL for this.
So, what do people think? Just get a 50 AE with a long throat or see about going with a .34" longer case with the 500 Auto Max? I see pros and cons for both. The 500 Auto Max would be more capable, with more powder capacity and better bullet hold, but more work to develop chamber/throat dimensions and with a case of more questionable availability. The 50 AE wouldn't be able to play with slower powders, but overall subsonic will be fine and I can just use SSKs existing work with the 50 American Eagle. Cases will be more available too.
. I think they are both cool ideas, considering neither case is very cheap I'd go with the more versatile option and do 500 Automax.
