AR-50 Velocity. I need to know what velocity i should be getting with my new AR-50 50 BMG
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DanM55
Member
I finally was able to get around to shooting my various factory loaded and reloaded 50 bullets in my new ar50. It was awesome.Here is a link to see velocities related to barrel length for the 50bmg.
Each gun and barrel will be different anyway
Barrel Lengths & Velocities for the 50 BMG - Lilja
Bullet velocity is a very important ingredient of successful long-range shooting. This is especially true if that bullet also has a high ballistic coefficient. The higher the velocity, the flatter the bullet will shoot, with less wind drift, more energy when it reaches the target, and an...riflebarrels.com
In my 30 inch ar-50 at 20 yards i was able to achieve:
- w/ Factory match Amax magazine length 750 grain: 2760 FPS wi
- hand loaded Amax 750 grain w/ 215 grains RL-50: 2582 FPS
- I then loaded one with close to max charge 235 grains RL-50: 2785 FPS
I hope this helps anyone. It will at least give you insight if your using the new RL-50 powder. I have yet to try my h50 or us869. but i will update the information when i get around to it. you can really feel the power increase just from the 8% +/- extra powder.
Additional info: temperature 79 F. 59% humidity. bullets and rifle were at room temperature for the first shot. the next two after being shot and in the sun for 10 minutes where considerably warmer.
DanM55
Member
I finally was able to get around to shooting my various factory loaded and reloaded 50 bullets in my new ar50. It was awesome.
In my 30 inch ar-50 at 20 yards i was able to achieve:
- w/ Factory match Amax magazine length 750 grain: 2760 FPS
- hand loaded Amax 750 grain w/ 215 grains RL-50: 2582 FPS
- I then loaded one with close to max charge 235 grains RL-50: 2785 FPS
I hope this helps anyone. It will at least give you insight if your using the new RL-50 powder. I have yet to try my h50 or us869. but i will updat the information when i get around to it. you can really feel the power increase just from the 8% +/- extra powder.
Additional info: temperature 79 F. 59% humidity. bullets and rifle were at room temperature for the first shot. the next two after being shot and in the sun for 10 minutes where considerably warmer.
In my 30 inch ar-50 at 20 yards i was able to achieve:
- w/ Factory match Amax magazine length 750 grain: 2760 FPS
- hand loaded Amax 750 grain w/ 215 grains RL-50: 2582 FPS
- I then loaded one with close to max charge 235 grains RL-50: 2785 FPS
I hope this helps anyone. It will at least give you insight if your using the new RL-50 powder. I have yet to try my h50 or us869. but i will updat the information when i get around to it. you can really feel the power increase just from the 8% +/- extra powder.
Additional info: temperature 79 F. 59% humidity. bullets and rifle were at room temperature for the first shot. the next two after being shot and in the sun for 10 minutes where considerably warmer.
Dan: Thanks for circling back and updating this thread...
DanM55
Member
Your welcome 
i hope that info helps. That thing is a blast to shoot. And incredibly accurate. You can defititely tell if u use too much or too little powder. One time i actually did shoot a slightly over charged 50 round. Out of a 20 inch berrett i got the same velocity as a 29 lol. And u could feel that it was too much! I cant believe scott from kentucky ballistics had his serbu blow up from a massively overcharged slap round. He even blew up a second one with the same ammo. But this time with a string from far away.
i hope that info helps. That thing is a blast to shoot. And incredibly accurate. You can defititely tell if u use too much or too little powder. One time i actually did shoot a slightly over charged 50 round. Out of a 20 inch berrett i got the same velocity as a 29 lol. And u could feel that it was too much! I cant believe scott from kentucky ballistics had his serbu blow up from a massively overcharged slap round. He even blew up a second one with the same ammo. But this time with a string from far away.Yes, I watched the entire drama as it unfolded. However, the second RN-50 was blown up by an intentionally overloaded ("spicy") round, not by any of the remaining SLAP rounds. Same for the Barrett M-82A1. There were no SLAP rounds fired out of the M-82, just regular rounds and then the overloaded round.
I was interested to learn that a few of the SLAP rounds still exist, supposedly for lab analysis. I wonder what's taking them so long to do that...?
I was interested to learn that a few of the SLAP rounds still exist, supposedly for lab analysis. I wonder what's taking them so long to do that...?
DanM55
Member
Ah i didnt know that. It was my understanding that u have to remove the muzzle break to shoot slap rounds. Or at least if u dont it could be dangerous. Is that true?
I'm not completely clear on the "rules" for SLAP rounds. Some reference the "The Complete 50 Caliber Sniper Course" as the bible on this; basically, don't shoot a SLAP round out of a barrel with a muzzle brake. I'll have to take a look through my copy later today. However, there is apparently a barrel with specific dimensions that should also be used. Again, not clear on the details.
Except for the novelty of it, I don't see any reason why anyone should shoot the things...
My understanding is that they were part of his original slap rounds....Not altered in anyway. If a person watches that episode NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN MUZZLE FLASH between every shot....extremely scary stuff! I purchased 100 rds of APIT's while working South they are REFURBISHED is what they say. Supposedly...tips pulled, powder dumped, re-filled....seating depths are all over the scale....powder charges too....now my delimna...probably pull them all and re-load them here .....makes the cost considerably higher but SAFETY FIRST! Thanks to his show I quit using them. Mind you....there's no way in Hello I'd shoot a Serbu even before the show came out!
At a cost of 100.00 + per round....not many would!
DanM55
Member
I thought they were unaltered too. U know 50bmgsupply bough all of the remaining api,apits and stuff (loose bullet not loaded already) they then burned up in a fire unfortunately. I got about 600,700 of em before that happened. Idk if they will go up in price in the future. Yea slaps are so overpriced. I wish i had bought some raufoss from cdvs before they ran out. And i wanted to get a 20mm white phosphorus round just cuz. I dont even have a 20mm.
@skipglo : To each his own, but I think this is an over reaction. IMO, Serbu knows how to design and like all firearms, the RN-50 is safe if used responsibly with properly loaded ammunition. 50 BMG is a powerful caliber, and needs to be treated with respect and an appropriate amount of caution. As Scott so graphically demonstrated, even an M-82 can fail in a potentially lethal way.
...I'm perfectly happy with an ordinary A-Max or FMJ...
Amen, brother...
