50 Beowulf info?

[mattri]

New member, tried a search, sorry if this has all been covered before.

Just picked up an AR15 in 50 Beowulf and would like to look into possibly casting for it.

Anyone here having any success with something like that?

Would like to use a bullet with as flat a meplat as possible but still feed from a mag, what are the options/considerations for that?

Keep the lead pretty hard to prevent fouling?

Gas checks I'm guessing?

Load data?

What else? Open to any and all suggestions/ideas.

Thanks, Matt.

[Tatume]

Hi Matt,

50 Beowulf is not a cartridge I load, I just wanted to welcome you to the list. Somebody will help you. Have fun.

Take care, Tom

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a mold that was a custom buy here for a 400 grain lfn that shoots well in it. Ive gotten 2.5 inch 100 yard groups but truth be told the reineers shoot groups half that size and are cheap enough that I shoot them a lot more then cast in it. They work real well on game too. Especially the solid nosed one. the hp can be a bit destructive on deer.

[mattri]

Thanks for the replies! Like I said, tried a search but didn't come up with anything, then did a google search to this site and got 2 pages or results. Will be reading through those and asking more questions so stay tuned! BTW Lloyd Smale I'm a journeyman electrician, not as high as the stuff you worked on but still a lot of fun.

[Lloyd Smale]

keep monitoring the group buy section. Eventually someone will do a mold for the 501 again. That and check with the mold makers on those sections. Lots of time they have molds in stock that were left overs from the group buys.

[leftiye]

Mountain molds! Copy the boolit you want, or modify it as you want. Prices are very reasonable, and brass molds are available.

[Dryball]

I have the brass one from Mountain and love it... I think it's a 440gr tc w/gc. I may be wrong but IIRC can't you use 500 Smith data?

[mattri]

Interested in this as well, is 500 Smith data comparable?

[sparkeyu]

no,no,no do not use 500 smith data much higher preasure

[mattri]

Good catch thanks.

Eventually I would like to look into hunting with this round and am interested in cast as I have read they penetrate well.

Here's an example of what I DON'T want:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3042906223&feature=iv&src_vid=B-AG4taEAUo&v=4f38nCF_OUM

Neat vid and can see applications where it would be handy but not what I'm looking for.

[frankenfab]

I'm with Lloyd. The Raniers are just too cheap and accurate to mess with casting for the Beowulf. There is load data on the Alexander Arms site for many different projectiles.

http://alexanderarms.com/images/pdfs/beowulf_reloading.pdf

Be sure to start with the starting loads. I stopped at the starting load of 36 grains Lil gun with the 335 Ranier because it was plenty hot.

Here's a forum search that has posts concerning cast boolits:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/search.php?searchid=3800361

[mattri]

Will definitely check out the Rainiers, thanks for the heads up on the load data.

Link to search results doesn't pull up for me, sorry.

Re casting for the Beowulf I'd like to try some heavy for caliber rounds like these:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1988165624/cast-performance-bullets-50-caliber-500-diameter-440-grain-lead-flat-nose-gas-check

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1988182264/cast-performance-bullets-500-s-and-w-magnum-500-diameter-500-grain-lead-long-flat-nose-gas-check

Especially the 500gr, I'd like to see it, or something similar being shot accurately out of a semi auto carbine- lots of practical uses for something like that.