Big Bore in AR 15

[Liberty'sSon]

If you wanted a big bore 45- 50 cal AR upper with reasonably low recoil, suppressible, reloads with cast, used as many standard parts as possible, what direction would you go and why?

[Oreo]

Someone with more experience may chime in here but...

There's the .50 beowolf. It fits your criteria. .458socom also I think. Not sure what other rounds are even an option.

[Coonazz]

+1 for the 'Wulf. Biggest baddest large bore AR on the market. That is until someone designs one on the 308 length AR action...

[warboar_21]

458 Socom gets my vote. Many more .458" diameter bullets to choose from. Several manufactures make the uppers or full rifles. Uses standard factory GI magazines.

[Curlymaple42]

458 Socom gets my vote. Many more .458" diameter bullets to choose from. Several manufactures make the uppers or full rifles. Uses standard factory GI magazines.

50 Beowulf uses standard mags too. There are lots of bullet choices too. I have run a 50 Beowulf for heck, i can't even remember how long! 10yrs or so?

[JeffinNZ]

Not an hour ago I got to shoot a 500gr boolit from a .458 Socom. Neat rifle with a BIG suppressor.

[Andrew Mason]

i have shot a .50 beowulf before.
recoil is not too bad, i would prefer it to the .458 socom

and no one has mentioned the .450 bushmaster yet, so i will.

its not a bad looking round, defiantly considers as much consideration as the other too

[xacex]

Another +1 for Beowulf. More energy, and better range than any of the other big bores due to the mass. Once you get that chunk going it is hard to bleed off that energy no matter what the BC is. You will find it does a touch more than a 458 socom, and brass is easier to find. The 50 cal bullets available will allow you to do anything you want it to due up to 200 yards. None of the big bores are good after that. I went with the big 50 myself because of the bolt compatibility with the 6.5 Grendel which is the long range gun, but as it turns out my Beowulf uses a type II bolt like all of Alexander Arms Beowulf's and the Grendel barrel I got uses a standard 7.62x39 type I bolt. Oh well... If you want to do a 6.8 SPC in the future go with the 458 Socom so you can share bolts. However, you wont have as much fun telling people you have a 50 cal AR and watching their eyes glaze. How many people can say they have a AR that you can hunt a MAC truck with.

[nhrifle]

To paraphrase a line from a recent movie, I prefer the rifle that only has to be fired once

70997

[Finnmike]

A friend has a .50 Ferret a bolt single shot on AR15 lower. 50 BMG that is...

[Intel6]

I had the same choice to make and chose the .458 SOCOM and have been happy ever since.

[koehlerrk]

Check the availability of brass... that's the big sticking point with these botique rounds. No useable brass means you have a poorly shaped club.

Also, I'm not a fan of rebated heads and the issues they cause, but that's me. If you want it, and can get yourself a "lifetime" supply of brass, then it doesn't matter, does it?

Sorry if I'm a little cranky here, but my dad got burned years back when he bought a Remington in 5mm rimfire. Great rifle, great round, and then the supply of ammo dried up. Got so bad he couldn't even sell the rifle, no one wanted it. He's thrilled that Centurion is making 5mm again, and this time he bought himself 5k rounds for it. He's 70 now, and figures that's enough for the rest of his life. So be careful with these one-maker rounds, like the Beowulf or Socom.

[Oreo]

What's the problems with rebated rims?

[Ed in North Texas]

Check the availability of brass... that's the big sticking point with these botique rounds. No useable brass means you have a poorly shaped club.
snip
So be careful with these one-maker rounds, like the Beowulf or Socom.

Yeah, it's too bad Starline is the only company which makes .458 SOCOM brass. I'm not sure whether any company other than Starline makes the .50 AE case, which is the base for the .458 SOCOM. Luckily, Starline isn't likely to go out of business real soon. When their production will catch up with demand on this brass is a good question though, right now they won't even take backorders.

[BD]

.450 Bushmaster. Sammi round, factory brass from Hornady and Remington, (or easily made from .284 brass so you have a choice of large or small primers), and the brass has a life similar to .45 acp brass. The largest bullet selection of any of the big bore AR chamberings, and can use a very broad range of powders. Standard magazines. It is more limited in bullet weight with 325 to 350 grains being about the max unless you ream the interior of the brass. I'm using 300 grainers at 2,000 fps with decent success. Loaded with the 250 grain FTX @ 2,200 fps this rifle will stay under 1 moa out to 300 yards all day, every day, and both Leupold and Nikon make BDC scopes that match the ballistics exactly. What's not to like?
BD

[BoolitSchuuter]

.450 Bushmaster. Sammi round, factory brass from Hornady and Remington, (or easily made from .284 brass so you have a choice of large or small primers), and the brass has a life similar to .45 acp brass. The largest bullet selection of any of the big bore AR chamberings, and can use a very broad range of powders. Standard magazines. It is more limited in bullet weight with 325 to 350 grains being about the max unless you ream the interior of the brass. I'm using 300 grainers at 2,000 fps with decent success. Loaded with the 250 grain FTX @ 2,200 fps this rifle will stay under 1 moa out to 300 yards all day, every day, and both Leupold and Nikon make BDC scopes that match the ballistics exactly. What's not to like?
BD

Yup, what he said!!!!!!!!!

And with a 300 gr solid, will stop any thin skinned vehicle comin at ya!!

[koehlerrk]

What's the problems with rebated rims?

Well, let me summarize:

Since the rim is smaller in diameter than the head of the case, rebated rims give the gun's bolt less area to push on to chamber the cartridge. Also there's less room for the extractor itself (read smaller extractor) and less rim to grab onto to remove the spent case. Rebated rim cartridges are thus more prone to feeding and extraction problems than rimmed or rimless cases. The rebated rim cartridges sacrifice reliability for action size, as the only reason for the rebated rim is to match a fatter cartridge body to a standard diameter bolt face. A better solution would be a bolt that matched the diameter of the case, but that would require a bigger action.

In short, they're okay as long as everything is working perfectly, but throw some dirt, mud, sand, or ice in the mix and you'll have problems much quicker than if you were running a cartridge with a "normal" case head.

[koehlerrk]

Yeah, it's too bad Starline is the only company which makes .458 SOCOM brass. I'm not sure whether any company other than Starline makes the .50 AE case, which is the base for the .458 SOCOM. Luckily, Starline isn't likely to go out of business real soon. When their production will catch up with demand on this brass is a good question though, right now they won't even take backorders.


I hear ya, Ed. Starline isn't likely to go anywhere, but it looks like it's going to take forever for them to catch up, so either way, you have the same problem, no available brass.

[rockrat]

450 bushmaster. Easy to load, plenty of moulds out there, and will do probably all you want. I find mine the most accurate of the three. 50 beo is fun to shoot, but you panic if you can't find all the cases, unless you have a good supply.