Reloading the .50 Beowulf in .50 BMG

[Armati]

Years ago, a friend of mine build a single shot .50/70 pistol. He had loading data for loading the .50/70 with a .50 BMG bullet. It had ballistics along the lines of the .38 Special and recoil like firing a 12 gauge slug. When loaded with a .50 BMG tracer it looked like a flaming basketball going downrange.

My question is, can the .50 Beowulf be loaded with a .50 BMG bullet? Anyone know if this has been tried? Is there loading data for this?

[dewatters]

My question is, can the .50 Beowulf be loaded with a .50 BMG bullet? Anyone know if this has been tried? Is there loading data for this?

The thing that you have to remember is that the .50 Action Express, .500 S&W, and .50 Beowulf use 0.500" diameter bullets, while the .500 Linebaugh, .50/70, and .50 BMG use slightly larger 0.510" diameter bullets. Barrels are cut accordingly.

That said, J.D. Jones (SSK) has offered a modified .50 Action Express case loaded with .50 BMG bullets for suppressed applications. He calls it the .50 American Eagle. However, I suspect that the .50 American Eagle barrels are rifled to the larger diameter.

[Armati]

Thanks for clearing that up. Damn, I can't believe there isn't a larger market for this sort of thing. 'Cmon, who doesn't want to rapid fire .50 BMG tracers out of their AR?

[Ron S.]

Not I. I hate having horrendous headaches. :D