Does anyone cast for 50 BMG?

[dieguy59]

Recently had a chat with one of these shooters and I raised the question when the price of reloading was mentioned. I found a mold on the NOE site. Did Lyman ever make a mold for these?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[midnight]

I have been shooting cast bullets om the 50BMG for 4 or 5 years now. If Lyman made a mold for it, I am not aware of it. I have 3 molda that cast a 512 or 513 bullet for it: CBE 512965, a 1 cavity that casts a 833gr linotype bullet or 935gr with wheelweights
NOE 513850 a 3 cavity that I have not used yet
NEI 512760, a 1 cavity that casts a 709gr bullet with water dropped range lead

I have not shot the NEI bullet yet. My range lead is quite hard since I separate out the jacketed bullets for soft swaging lead. So the only shooting experience is with the 833gr CBE linotype bullet. When cast with wheelweights I could only keep 8 out of 10 shots on an 8 1/2x11 target but linotype was a different story. I load 190gr of WC872 under the 833gr bullet for 2100fps. I can get 2 out of 3 three shot groups into less than an inch @ 100yds. If I up the velocity to 2300fps groups open to 4in. I'll be shooting more when it warms up.

Bob

[dieguy59]

Great info and thanks for some tips on the molds!

[midnight]

You might want to browse the Primal Rights forum and search "cast bullets in the 50BMG" I wrote quite a lot there a long tine ago when we were all new at it. I don't go there anymore because that forum has changed into something I don't want to participate in. A few years ago if you googled "cast bullets in the 50BMG" My thread on that forun came up on top of the list. It still comes up on the second page. Lots of good info there as we all stumbled along in the beginning. It showed me that you have to be careful what you post because it never goes away. Some folks will read that stuff as gospel like I'm some sort of expert when I'm just some old guy fooling around in his basement. Check it out, lots to learn there but take it for what it is. Just a bunch of guys trying to figure out something we've never done before.

Bob

[Nobade]

Sorry if this is a bit of a hijack, but I have been wondering if anybody has tried building a barrel for their 50 BMG using a 1:24 twist blank? That should stabilize those same 800-900gr. cast boolits and allow them to be fired at a much higher speed with good accuracy. If I had a 50 rifle I would try it to see what happened, but I don't want to get into that game just to prove a theory.

-Nobade

[midnight]

I think 1:24 might be a little slow. Mine is a 30in barrel with a 1:15 twist and it is very accurate. All bullet holes are nice and round even with a 2.00 long bullet at 2100 fps. I would think cast bullet shooting would require a faster twist because velocities are 700-800 fps slower than jacketed bullets. Lower velocity means lower RPMs. I know that some 50 Alaskans are built with a 1:10 twist to stabilize heavy bullets at subsonic velocities in a surpressed rifle.

Bob

[Cast Bullet Engineering]

There must be a few casting for it, I've got a couple of these to make over this weekend.
A friend of mine is using one from his 50 BMG at our local range, he's shooting them at about 1600 fps or so, sort of a light plinking load?

http://www.castbulletengineering.com...-single-cavity

Regards,
David.

[JeffinNZ]

"Plinking" with a .50BMG. David, you're a funny man.

[Cast Bullet Engineering]

"Plinking" with a .50BMG. David, you're a funny man.

We have been shooting it without the muzzle brake (with these loads, not full noise loads) as well, 'cause it's too loud otherwise!

DC

[Nobade]

I think 1:24 might be a little slow. Mine is a 30in barrel with a 1:15 twist and it is very accurate. All bullet holes are nice and round even with a 2.00 long bullet at 2100 fps. I would think cast bullet shooting would require a faster twist because velocities are 700-800 fps slower than jacketed bullets. Lower velocity means lower RPMs. I know that some 50 Alaskans are built with a 1:10 twist to stabilize heavy bullets at subsonic velocities in a surpressed rifle.

Bob

Well, that's kind of my point - with a slower twist the cast boolit loads might not have to be all that much slower than full loads. I have been seeing this in other rifles, but don't have a 50 to try it out in. I know that 50 cal. BPCR rifles don't use anything near as fast a twist as regular 50 BMG barrels are, and they can easily use 700 grain and up boolits.

-Nobade

[midnight]

Back in post #2 I indicated I hadn't cast any bullets with the NOE 513850 mold. I remedied that situation last night. They turned out 780 +/- 2gr cast of linotype, all lubed and sized 0.512. They may not shoot too well because somehow I must have put a burr or a scratch in the Lee 0.512 push through size die. All the bullets and the checks have several scratches the full length of the bearing surface. I'll shoot them anyway and see what happens.

I'm not sure I would order a three cavity BMG mold again. The NOE mold is drilled for the temp probe. With all three cavities filled with 700° lead, the mold gets way too hot. It would get up to 425° to 430° and I had to wait 2 or 3 minutes to open the mold when it got down to 390° or lower. The first time I opened the mold when the sprue looked right and got a shell of lead left in the mold after the molten center ran out. I had to lightly play a torch back and forth over the outside of the mold to melt enough lead out so the mold would close again and then I refilled it. Never did that again & always waited til the mold temp got below 390° before opening it. I'll try using it as a 1 or 2 cavity next time.

Bob

[dieguy59]

Much appreciated,guys.

[Painless Doc]

Bob, have you changed your load since 2014 for the CBE linotype bullet and WC872? What primer? I bought the mold. It's on its way from NZ.
Thanks, Max