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Less Than 50 BMG .510 Rifle Cartridges

375rifleman

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 7, 2014
Messages
344
Location
North East Missouri
I was wondering if rifle cartridges such as the 50 Alaskan,50-70 and the like using 50 BMG bullets for long range precision shooting with VLD/ULD bullets @ ~2000 meters with the same relative energy as a 338 Lapua, 338 RUM out of a bolt action rifle ?
 
With lesser cases you will only get so far then transition to subsonic will cause a problem. That slow you get killed by wind and scope elevation adjustment also.
 
Basically I want to shoot an accurate .510 caliber cartridge thats not going to destroy anything it hits and can still get to extreme ranges 800+ yards any reccomendations? Thanks in advance for any thoughts,opinions,or answers.
 
I think Kirby did a 510 allen mag, based on the 408 case. I would call him or search for info on that round.
 
Roughly half the powder of the BMG.

Google 50 allen tactical

The 510 AM is bmg improved.
 
375rifleman,

Apparently you need an answer which is simple and brief even though you haven't really defined the question.

Here's the problem:

This bullet is 2.705" in length, which if you think about it for a minute, you'll realize that this is just a tad shorter than complete (loaded) short action cartridges!

Finding a cartridge which can handle this length of bullet properly is more difficult than you might think. The straight wall cases such as the 50-90 will require an extremely modified reamer to cut a chamber long enough to accommodate the bullet and case. Then it won't have enough capacity to get the bullet up to the velocity you want.

Years ago there was a cartridge developed on the .460 Weatherby case which was named the .510 Wells Express. The only change to the case was necking it up for the .510 diameter bullets. The throat was lengthened necessarily for the bullet to be seated out of the case properly.

This combination of the 750 grain AMAX and the .510 Wells Express case will yield approximately 1800 FPS using a full case of IMR3031 when the OAL is 4.250" with the bullet seated 1/2 it's length out of the case mouth. At 800 yards you have nearly 4,000 ft/lbs of energy remaining. This uses and very manageable 24" barrel.

Now the problem is what bolt action to use? This is probably limited to the Chey-Tac length actions just for convenience sake.

These last two cartridges are set up with a standard reamer and throat length for 3.600" cartridges.

Conversely, for practice and for a hunting load for younger hunters, I used the Woodleigh 440 grain BPE bullets which worked great out to the 300 yard max I set. It yielded 2700 fps/7150 ft-lbs at the muzzle.

For Cape Buffalo we worked up a load using the 600 grain Barnes Solid RN and full case of IMR3031 for 2,200 fps/6,600 ft-lbs at the muzzle.

This is the best all-around cartridge for the bigger .510 diameter bullets.

Regards.
 
Basically I want to shoot an accurate .510 caliber cartridge thats not going to destroy anything it hits and can still get to extreme ranges 800+ yards any reccomendations? Thanks in advance for any thoughts,opinions,or answers.
I'm not being critical just trying to understand you expectations.

For me 800 yards is not extreme. It's where long starts. Extreme for me starts at 1200. So.. Is 800 a regular distance you can practice at and extreme comes as it can? How far?

As far as I can determine, a Hornady 750 grain 50BMG A-Max will be very hard on anything it hits at super-sonic speeds. My JMB estimate puts over 2000 lb energy at the transition barrier. I have a design that fit a Mark V action and with a 36" barrel, a nominal velocity of 2250fps, the projectile will leave the gun with ~8500 lb energy, remain super-sonic past 1 mile. That will probably exceed your parameters.

Another design that will go 2350fps and make 2000 yards.

There are other accurate bullets besides the A-Max but as I understand it, it is the benchmark for 50 cal long range.
 
jfseaman I agree that 800 yards is not extreme it's just where temperature,barameteric pressure, ammo temperatures and a variety of other things start to become needed to compensate for. I'm just looking for a lighter 50 cal but still maintains at least 2000 ft pounds at 1000 yards. A 50 BMG will be used for anything ~1250 yards and further. I'm also looking for a legal (those not considered a destructive devive .510 and under caliber except a few exceptions) large caliber (to take full advantage of the knockout power Taylor's index) lighter recoiling long range target cartridge.
 
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The Thumper is cool. I ran numbers for it but it may be more than you are looking for. Something that will throw the 750 A-Max at a MV of ~2250fps will do exactly what you describe.
 
Thanks looks pretty cool what cartridge is your wildcat based on and what actions are compatible with this particular cartridge? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts,opinions,or answers.
 
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