50 GI. Review, with pictures.

[Trey45]

Guncrafter Industries has released a 50 GI conversion for full size Glock 20 & 21. I am not a fan of Glocks, I had a G17 for about 6 months and traded it for another gun. I received a call sunday from a shooting buddy, inviting me out to his range to shoot his new 50 GI conversion he bought for his Glock 21. I jumped at the chance, I've been intrigued by the 50 GI sonce it was released, I just couldn't justify spending almost $2500 for a Guncrafters 1911 chambered in it. I'm sure it's a great gun, the quality of the conversion is top notch!

Compared to the standard Glock slide, the 50 GI is only slightly wider. The 50 GI barrel is stainless steel, the 45acp slide below is on the right.



Here's the underside of both slides, the 50 GI slide is on the right.



The next show the 50 GI slide on top.




Here'es the business end, it's obvious which one is the 45acp and which is the 50 GI from this angle!



Due to how wide the 50 GI slide is as compared to the stock 45 acp slide, an extended slide release was installed, if you're Glock guy, you already know how easy this is to do, if you're not a Glock guy, take my word for it, it's easy, I watched them replace the slide release while I was taking some of the above pictures, it took about 7 minutes total time.

I didn't take a picture of the extended slide release, But I have this one of the 50 GI slide fitted on the G21.



The 275gr solid copper HP bullets and the 300gr truncated cone bullets have as much recoil as a 45acp +p does in this gun! I was expecting a lot more recoil, but it was a pleasant surprise to learn it kicks less than a 10mm does! Below will be a comparison of 50 GI and 45 acp cartridges.
From left to right are:
270gr jhp 50GI, 230gr solid copper HP 50 GI, and a 230gr 45ac- golden saber.


With an expanded in ballistics gell 50 GI 230gr CHP. That's a hair over an inch fully expanded.








Here's just the 50 GI cartidges



The 50 GI shoots point of aim with any of the ammo we tried, I have some of our targets here, I'll take some shots of them and post them in a while. I was really surprised at how well the gun with the conversion performed. The surprising recoil, the accuracy, not to mention it's a fat honkin' 50 caliber bullet!.
the 185gr SCHP travels 1200fps and penetrates ballistic gell to 9"
the 230gr SCHP travels 1000fps and penetrates to 11".
I don't know as of yet what the 275gr and 300gr performance is, but I am finding that out an will post results here.

All in all, I liked the conversion on the Glock, it makes sense to do it on a 45acp simply because you can practice with 45acp and swap to the 50 GI and have just about the same recoil characteristics as the 45acp has.

Hope you all enjoy this review as much as I enjoyed shooting that gun! More to follow as I get more information and pictures.

[Trey45]

Load data sheet they sent with the conversion.



2 50 GI's with a 45acp golden saber

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Cool! Any idea what one of those conversions costs? How many rounds does the magazine hold? How is accuracy?

[Trey45]

275gr from 15 yards. Offhand.



Not bad for a first flight with w new gun!

300gr from same distance.



I think he spent a little over $700 for the conversion, he has 2 9 round magazines and 2 10 round magazines. Ammunition is either your own handloads, or what Guncrafters sells. They sell componants at Guncrafters as well. Brass is propriatary but it looks like a pregnant 45acp case, I have 3 pieces of brass, I'll post dimensions later if wanted,

It's about as accurate as the 45acp is on the same frame, no real difference. You have to keep in mind, neither of us will win any accuracy contests, and we didn't shoot off a bench rest. He feels the same way about shooting this kind of gun as I do, we want real world accuracy, I don't carry a shooters bench around with me where ever I go, neither does he.

Compare to 45 acp groups on right, and 50 GI groups on left, both calibers were shooting 230gr JHP's.





These were done at 15 yards.

[rockrat]

Does it use .501" bullets?

[Trey45]

Yes, .501 bullets.

[ronterry]

I assume it uses a conventional rifling? Have to be able to run cast to save money for sure, and at those velocities you can run them full power.
I love 50's, and on a Glock platform is just awesome! However I don't think I'll give up my G20 with nuclear loads as a night stand companion, but as a range gun ~ heck yea sounds fun!

By any chance did you notice the barrel to slide fit? Was it match grade tight, or standard Glock-Slop...Be nice to amp it up to something like 50 Super, cause I know the G20/21 frame can handle 750 FP/E easily even though I've bent a few locking block pins.
I've run some mean sh** through a G20 & 21 with KKM barrels...

[Trey45]

I would compare this 50 GI barrel to a KKM fit and finish, if not better! It's conventional rifling so lead is not a problem. He has a G20 with a KKM barrel to compare it with, he;s got a Wolf barrel too, I don;t recall which barrel is 10mm and which is 9x25 Dillon. That 9x25 Dillon is another hot cartidge!

[runfiverun]

hope ruger is reading this.
i would love a revolver hint,hint, on a similar type case [rimmed]
you know a 50 ar [45 colt length would be nice] case in a 5-6 shot 4-to 6" bbl on like a gp-100blackhawk,hunter type frame.or even an auto.
throwing a heavy type bullet at realistic velocities,1,000 to 1,400 fps.
oh yeah i like the 50 g.i. too.
just waiting for the cash flow to get the 1911 conversion.

[exile]

Great review! Thanks for the information. Great excuse to buy a new Glock 21SF, since I do like Glocks and I am not afraid to admit it. I wonder if you could buy a Thompson Contender barrel in 50GI? Thanks again.

exile

[AZ-Stew]

I wonder if you could buy a Thompson Contender barrel in 50GI? Thanks again. exile

Fox Ridge Outfitters, the access point for the T/C Custom Shop (http://www.tcarms.com/customShop/), does not list .50 GI in their caliber list. I believe most of the cartridges for which T/C chambers are dictated by the standard bore sizes of their barrels. For instance, their .32 H&R barrel has a .308 groove dia. Their largest barrel is .45 rifle caliber. I have one in .45-70, but I've never slugged it. It shoots fine with .45 rifle bullets, leading me to believe it's a .457-.458 groove dia., rather than a .451-.452 pistol bullet dia.

Other than just to find the capabilities of the .50 GI cartridge, why would you want to go out of your way to get one, when the .45 Colt and .45-70 cartridges are available in standard barrels?

BTW, there are a number of custom T/C barrel makers who just might be able to make what you want.

Regards,

Stew

[Wayne Smith]

Fox Ridge Outfitters, the access point for the T/C Custom Shop (http://www.tcarms.com/customShop/), does not list .50 GI in their caliber list. I believe most of the cartridges for which T/C chambers are dictated by the standard bore sizes of their barrels. For instance, their .32 H&R barrel has a .308 groove dia. Their largest barrel is .45 rifle caliber. I have one in .45-70, but I've never slugged it. It shoots fine with .45 rifle bullets, leading me to believe it's a .457-.458 groove dia., rather than a .451-.452 pistol bullet dia.

Other than just to find the capabilities of the .50 GI cartridge, why would you want to go out of your way to get one, when the .45 Colt and .45-70 cartridges are available in standard barrels?

BTW, there are a number of custom T/C barrel makers who just might be able to make what you want.

Regards,

Stew

Mine's not Fox River Custom, but I have an Encore Katadin in 500 S&W so they do have a .50 barrel.

[AZ-Stew]

Wayne,

The original question was about a Contender, rather than an Encore.

Fox Ridge doesn't do their own custom work, but they're an acceess point and outlet for the T/C Custom Shop.


Exile,

SSK and Van Horn Custom both offer .50 caliber barrels. They'd be a good place to start looking for a .50 GI barrel.

Regards,

Stew

[Lloyd Smale]

im not a glock fan but thats high on the cool scale!

[exile]

Another question. How about suitable bullet molds for the 50 GI? I reread John Taffin's article on the 50 GI today and you can buy a 230 grain semi-wadcutter from GI, but he did not say anything about molds. No, I wll probably not go out and buy anything chambered in 50 GI anytime soon, but a Contender or a Glock 21SF are looking better all the time.

exile

[ronterry]

The way I see it, the 50 GI sounds fun on medium to large frame pistols and would make a fine addition to my 50 collection, however with anything bigger than a 1911 grip size I'm all 50AE on the semi & revolver, 500 in the revolver, and the 50 Beowulf is just insane in the AR platform!!!




BTW: That's great news about the barrel!!! I'm sure there's some molds out there, and if not it's time to dust off the mill and make one! I would expect 270ish grain cast would take about the same volume as a FMJ 250gr or so... Right now the only 50 cal mold I have is a 440gr GC, which works great with the 500 S&W, probably a bit on heavy side with 50AE (and there's no real way to clean a DEP gas system easily), and certainly would not play to well with the rough feeding gas system on the 50 Beowulf AR platform...
A .501/275gr Cast round nose would be MONEY for the 50 G.I. running around 850FPS!!! Dang the hairs on the back of my neck are sticking straight up Time to sale some guns!!!
I'm going to mess around with QuickLoad, and see what kind of internal & external ballistics I get from it...

[Lloyd Smale]

it would be a hoot in a AR platform too. Just like a big 9mm AR15. What a cool thing an ar in this chambering with a suppressor would be!!!