50 bmg!

[BT Sniper]

In what little spare time I have I get a bit more R&D work done on the 50 BMG dies. Here is some of my progress, Hornady 750 grain A-max, Empty jacket formed to test concept of using scrap 45-70 brass for jacket, and then my 725 grain boat tail and flat base all next to a 53 grain 22 cal bullet. I formed these bullets on a stock Lee Classic Cast press, the RCE Sea Girt didn't have enough ram travel.

These bullets I made in my custom dies, it has a 10s tangent ogive with a 9 degree boat tail. The Hornady has a secant ogive as you can see.








750 grain Hornady on left, my 725 grain on right next to 53 grain 22 cal






A look at the aluminum ballistic tips, recovered Hornady tip on left and the tip I use on the right, an aluminum insert for kids carbon arrows





A look at the production process for making my 50 BMG bullet. The lead core next to a 22 cal lead core, starting jacket then core seated and boat tail formed and finally the formed bullet with tip inserted. In future I will be swaging the cores to match the 9 degree boat tail profile.





As soon as it cools off a little and I get a bit of time I will make a few more of these and see how they shoot. I'll keep you all posted.

Good shooting and swage on!

Brian


p.s. by the way, the grid pattern is 1" squares broken down in 10th togive you an idea of the size of these bullets!

[MUSTANG]

I "LIKE" this. Keep us informed please.

[BT Sniper]

I plan too. Lots of ideas and concepts to try. I made a point form die to form ballistic tips that I haven't tried yet, buying 40 cent arrow tips isn't quite as cost effective as I'm looking for. Might try a heavier core. The core you see there is a lee 6 cavity mold with the bore cavity drilled all the way threw the bottom of the mold, I then attached a base to it and 725 grains with the AL tip was as heavy as I could get.

I also inquired with a US brass manufacture about obtaining drawn 45-70 brass before the rim and primmer pocket where machined. It was possible and available for purchase as long as I bought the entire 25,000 piece production run! That is a heck of an investment, don't know yet if a .010 think jacket will hold up in the big 50 though.

Also have yet to try .5" diameter copper tubing for jackets.

Just a matter of time and extreme caution of any bullet I place in front of 225 grains of powder!


BT

[captain-03]

I certainly admire your work ...

[just bill]

Those ballistic tips look great. Don't worry no 50 cal. For me. A.458 is enough for this year.
Bill

[BT Sniper]

It has taken me exactly 1 year to get to this point with the big 50 die concept. I just looked back at my first posts about the 50 on my vendor page. I expect I'll be shooting these bullets by end of year. I have a 1K match coming up in Sept but don't know if I'll be ready to shoot my own bullets in it or not?

BT

[falconpilot]

Any chance of something in the 645 to 650 grain size, with perhaps a hollowpoint? Something in the size of the M33 round?

[BT Sniper]

645-650 grains.... Easy!

Skip the 50 grain ballistic tip and bleed a little lead from the core and it will be a very good bullet in that weight range.

BT

[cpileri]

any chance you could make a frangible?
maybe use powdered ??? metal??? to fill the jacket and seal w the aluminum tip?
ive been looking for a safer practice round,
C-

[Gibbs44]

I have long given up my dream of owning the big 50, but this is interesting to say the least. Let us know how it turns out. What kind of press are you swaging these things with?

[BT Sniper]

I used the stock Lee Classic Cast to make these bullets! I haven't made very many yet but I'm certain I'll have no issues.

Frangible... I have heard of shooters filling jacket with lead shot for the 50s.

BT

[nhrifle]

Those are things of beauty, and the boat tails look great!

[MUSTANG]

any chance you could make a frangible?
maybe use powdered ??? metal??? to fill the jacket and seal w the aluminum tip?
ive been looking for a safer practice round,
C-

One could buy powdered copper, tungston, or... from a retailer such as Corbins: http://www.corbins.com/powder.htm


As you mentioned, sealing the copper/Tungston/... with a tip or "Plug" of some sort would be required. As seen in the drawings of 50BMG projectiles below, the nose must be sealed, but also the weight must be to the rear. To protect/fix center of gravity and bullet stability, the powdered metal would have to be fixed at the base section of the bullet with some sort of "Filler" to ensure the powder would not migrate to the void in the nose, if there is a void in bullet construction.

Attachment 110431Attachment 110432

[SOFMatchstaff]

I remember a swager in Wyoming? that was making lead shot frangibles from 338WM brass, A really big Glaser slug. Always wanted to try those.
Would the 338 brass adapt to your dies and proccess?

[scarry scarney]

BT
wow, and you did it on a lee Classic cast press?

[BT Sniper]

Yes I have seen the same posts about using the standard mag (7mm, 300wm, 338wm etc.) cases for the 50BMG jackets. You have to machine off the rim first, after that shouldn't be a problem to use for a jacket.


Tungsten Carbide powder is a big NO-NO to use for core material in my book. It is CARBIDE! As in very hard! Sure it is heavier then lead but it will get all over everything and when it does it will scratch the high quality finish on any set of dies. I had a bit of it that my custom carbide reamer shop sent me. As much as I may have wanted to try it out the risk to the dies finish was just to great.


BT

[cpileri]

Right, i understand.
I am not interested in any tungsten etc. just a 50bmg round that will turn to powder, o rlittle bitty un-aerodynamic pieces, when it hits a rock or even dirt. Makes for a safer round that is less prone to ricochet.

[nhrifle]

Not really along the line of thought for this thread and I apologize, but how about filling them with magnesium powder? Might make for some interesting fireworks!