.500 vs. 50 bmg

[just bill]

I've been wondering, when I started my quest for .458 boolets for my socom I was in the weeds kinda. The beauties that come from BT's dies and .45 acp cases were just not what I could use to get the OAL needed for my reloads, however with his diligence and help he got me on the right track. I have been looking at .50 bmg rifles out of curiosity, and if the bug got me to try to swage some (boolits not rifle's), has any one attempted this? To start with using .308/30-06 family casings they would have a built in boat tail of sorts.
Just curious,
Bill

[aaronraad]

From what I've read the 30-06 case heads tend to form slightly under .510" closer to .507 to .508". I suspect it's hard to get a solid brass case head to expand like we do with a normal jacket even when fully annealed?

Richard Corbin recommends starting with a standard belted magnum or a WSM/416 Rigby case - http://rceco.com/img/RSBook7.pdf - see chart on page 7.

Copper tubing is also popular. Possibly as a raw material, copper tubing is something that would be easier to standardise given the effort required in forming operations.

I would also consider using 6.5x55mm Swedish with the 0.480" case heads (apparently some factory brass is made using the smaller 30-06 case head). The extra 0.007" difference might help getting to .510?

284W brass would also be worth investigating, the boat-tail is already started given the case uses a rebated rimless design. I predict a lot of Lapua brass being consumed by F-Open shooters over the next 2-3 years; and you would probably find there is already a reasonable amount just going straight to metal recyclers.

[midnight]

It's a whole lot easier buying jackets from Richard Corbin but I can appreciate the desire to be independant of any supplier. With the way they seem to be able to monitor everything we buy, under the radar is a nice place to be. I have made a few 50 bmg jackets from copper tubing. They were ok but I will improve them with the next batch. I had heard of using belted magnum cases for BMG jackets. I believe you shear the belt off first and then draw to the needed diameter and trim. Trouble is, you don't find too much magnum brass just laying around so I thought copper tubing was the way to go.

Bob

[just bill]

Midnight, I bounced the idea of trimming 44 mag brass for jackets, RCE is willing to make a special die, but said only a hydraulic press is strong enough, I guess belted magnum cases could fall in that category.

GRUMPA did some special cases with .308 mil brass, 3030 or 35 Rem I believe, by thinning the walls to get close to sammi tolerance for reloading. I had thought to thin the walls of Berdan mil .308's, but it's easier to balance the cores and group weigh the casings.
I was just thinking about the possibility of .50 bmg swaging. I think the idea was bounced around before and it was just a wild thought.

[aaronraad]

I've thought about swaging 50 BMG...that the common swaging swaging as in copper, brass or nylon olive/ferrule/end cap onto a 30 cal projectile ala artillery driving band style to suit a larger bore.

1/2" Brass olive to suit nylon tube

115438

11mm Hose ferrule
115437

Just depends what price yon can get them for.

You could also consider drawing down a 15mm copper/brass end cap into a jacket for .510 cal, but that is just one step ahead of using tubing.

15mm copper end cap.
115436

[DukeInFlorida]

BT Sniper has posted in another thread that he has made some 50 BMG swaged bullets. Hoping that he'll chime in, and advise what he used for raw materials, sequence of operations, etc.

I'm currently casting 50 BMG boolits out of linotype, and happy with the way they look. I don't even have the 50 BMG gun yet, but hope to some day get there. The castings work well with other's (Bob J most notably!) guns, and I expect that it would also work well for me.

My plan (please DO NOT TURN this thread into 50 BMG gun choices... I'm merely reporting what I hope to buy for shooting these) is to purchase a SHTF Upper from Safety harbor:
http://www.safetyharborfirearms.com/index.php/products/shtf-uppers/shtf-50-mag-fed-upper-conversion-detail

Quite a few of the bigger gun shops have started carrying these, including Red Jacket in Louisiana. Lead times have come down. My budget isn't such that I can do this right now. But... getting back on the specific subject at hand.. swaging projectiles for this gun is a dream of mine.

[midnight]

Nice to hear that wait times have come down. Back in 2008 when I bought my BMG wait time was measured in years. Cast bullets shoot very well in the BMG as long as I don't exceed 2100-2150 fps. ¾ to 1¼in groups are the norm. I've got a bunch of 750 grainers swaged up but they will have to almost punch one holers to beat the weight sorted South African ball bullets. It's hard to believe how accurate such a huge rifle can be.

Bob

[BT Sniper]

I have almost perfected my big 50 cal bullets. I'll have plenty of info to post soon. They are looking very good. Very similar to the amax but possibly better :) the ones I'm making at the moment seem to form best at 850 grains yet still exact same length as the A-max! I'm still working on it in what little spare time I get.

BT

[BT Sniper]

My bullet on the left and the famous 750 grain A-Max on the right. More info to come later. Got a lot on my plate as you can imagine but it is looking very good so far! I haven't even shot one of my big 50 cal bullets yet. Got to be carful when your loading up to 250 grains of powder! That is more powder then what was in a standard grenade back in the day!



http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/433f58c0-118d-43ff-876f-044c3d5e2f34_zps89c29999.jpg (http://s636.photobucket.com/user/BTSniper/media/433f58c0-118d-43ff-876f-044c3d5e2f34_zps89c29999.jpg.html)



Here is a pic of a 4 shot 1.65" group I shot the other day with some solid brass 50 cal bullets at 400 yrds! The black is a 2" square.

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/69f6ddb7-1680-4c6d-b021-a0cf7610f2cb_zps5020490b.jpg (http://s636.photobucket.com/user/BTSniper/media/69f6ddb7-1680-4c6d-b021-a0cf7610f2cb_zps5020490b.jpg.html)




Good shooting and swage on!


Brian

[MOcaster]

Brian, those look great! That's some nice shooting, too, by the way.

[BT Sniper]

Thanks... I'm getting closer on my 50 cal bullets. Been a long process working on them only in spare time.

Brian