DA 50BMG Range Report

Gatehouse

Gatehouse

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Location
Pemberton BC
I have had the DA50 BMG for a few weeks now, and here's what I have so far:

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DA50 upper, DA lower. Magpul butt. Leupold MK2 3-9 scope. Bipod is mounted backwards so it doesn't collapse under recoil. :) The bipod system works fine but it's probably at it's limit. When Mystic Precision has their Mpod bipod available again I'll probably get one. Our range is only 475 yards so no need for a bigger scope than the 3-9 right now. If I get a NR lower when they become available, I might put a more substantial scope on it. The Leupy was just sitting in my shop so it got called into service.

We've been whacking some gongs with it, but figured I should also shoot a group, so I set up a target at 200 yards and shot 3 rounds. First 2 shots were good but last one was a bit off. Usually when I feel the shot not going correctly, I stop before completing the trigger squeeze, but it was too late. Still landed within the group but I'm not sure if it would have resulted in vertical stringing had I done better.

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Ammo was IMI 661gr bullet, also from Canada Ammo

Just over 1 1/2" at 200 yards, center to center. Next time I use the long range I'll probably put up some paper at 475 yards just because I'm curious of the results, and 200 isn't very far for a .50 BMG. One 3 shot group doesn't definitively mean anything, although I was pretty happy to see that this rifle should do MOA. Not bad for a (relatively) inexpensive rifle with relatively inexpensive ammo. Although to be honest this rifle is mostly just for my guests to ring some gongs and experience something completely extraordinary, and it's DAMN capable of that!!! :)
 
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Very cool! so that's almost a $20 group,with "cheap" ammo...yikes!

Are you typically a great shot? Perhaps better ammo and a vice or bag, rather than a bipod could yield better results. For the price tag I wouldn't expect anything comparable to high end .50's, though, it still ain't cheap by any means.
 
I'm a decent shot from bipod, tripod, bags etc. Nothing special, just someone that has tested many handloads and rifles. I'm sure using a rear bag would have helped too, but I didn't have mine with me today and I really was just playing around. Still, it's a sub-MOA group. I think anything around MOA is adequate for this rifle. But no doubt, a sturdier bipod, better scope and premium ammo or handloads rarely hurts anything.
 
Thanks for the range report!

I've been slowly doing load development for my DA50 Gen2 upper using 647gr pulled surplus bullets and am up to 227.5gr of H50BMG (in Hornady brass - this load is too hot for IVI brass) and it's looking like sub-MOA is consistently possible. I'll post some of my experiences in the next few weeks.

Super-fun to shoot, and always a "blast", so to speak!
 
Have any of you other DA50 owners attempted to measure the chamber with a .50 modified case and OAL tool? I tried with both 647gr surplus bullets and the amazing (and amazingly expensive) Hornady 750gr AMAX and they didn't touch the lands until the base of the projectile was almost out of the case mouth! Not sure if all other .50s like the HS-50 or the LRT-3 have such long shoulder to ogive measurements...

Any thoughts?
 
FirearmsEnthusiast said:
Thanks for the range report!

I've been slowly doing load development for my DA50 Gen2 upper using 647gr pulled surplus bullets and am up to 227.5gr of H50BMG (in Hornady brass - this load is too hot for IVI brass) and it's looking like sub-MOA is consistently possible. I'll post some of my experiences in the next few weeks.

Super-fun to shoot, and always a "blast", so to speak!
Click to expand...

Looking forward to your report! Although I'm a long time handloader, I don't know if I will end up loading for this. It's cool to read others reports though!
 
FirearmsEnthusiast said:
Have any of you other DA50 owners attempted to measure the chamber with a .50 modified case and OAL tool? I tried with both 647gr surplus bullets and the amazing (and amazingly expensive) Hornady 750gr AMAX and they didn't touch the lands until the base of the projectile was almost out of the case mouth! Not sure if all other .50s like the HS-50 or the LRT-3 have such long shoulder to ogive measurements...

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Just a guess but I would think standard chamber and throat specs eould be generous due to being designed for a machine gun. It would make sense for rifke builders to use tighter tolerances but maybe not due to increasing the pressure when using standard ammo
 
Still haven't got it out for a longer range accuracy test, but the rifle has been getting quite a work out! I simply HAD to share this pic of a gal after she shot it. Gun was only a couple of inches shorter than her! :)

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Gatehouse said:
Still haven't got it out for a longer range accuracy test, but the rifle has been getting quite a work out! I simply HAD to share this pic of a gal after she shot it. Gun was only a couple of inches shorter than her! :)

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Click to expand...

Thats an amazing pic haha, such a badass rifle
 
Finally shot a group at 475 yards. Wind was running right to left, but gusting a bit. It's rarely perfectly calm at our range, but it wasn't crazy today, either.

Ammo is the IMI 661 gr that Canada Ammo sells.

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First 2 shots were fairly close to each other, ok, good. Then I messed up the third shot :mad:

Then the fourth shot went back into the group.

The 3 shots together form a 4.5" group. I'm reasonably sure that if I changed a few things, there wouldn't have been a flyer.

First, the orange dot I painted was too small. As you can see in the pic, it's just a 3-9 Leupold scope. The crosshairs completely obscured the orange dot at that range, so I had to hold on where I thought it was, but no way was it precise. So, bigger aiming point and/or bigger scope would have helped. This is not my first rodeo, and paint is cheap, so I should have known better. :)

The bipod works pretty good, but I'm waiting for Mystic Precision to have the M-Pods ready again. They look very sturdy and would provide a rock solid platform.

On the plus side, the hammer/trigger spring provided with the upper is pretty darn good. I should actually measure it's poundage on my pull scale, but it's nice and light. It makes shooting much easier.

I am keenly aware that one group (especially one with a flyer) is not definitive of anything. However, the group at 200 and this three shot grop at 475 were both slightly under MOA, so I would say that this rifle will shoot. Slightly bigger scope, beefier bipod and better target would be easy improvements. I assume the ATR non restricted lower could have an even better trigger, so that may improve things, too. And if someone wanted to handload for this rifle, that could make it even better. This ammo seems accurate enough though, so I'm going to stick with it.

It's funny, I never really wanted a 50, but now I couldn't imagine not having one. Especially the DA50, that offers this performance at a fraction of the price of many other 50's. After shooting the group, I cracked the gong a few times and finished off the 10 round box, and giggled that I just spent $60.
 
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Does your bolt have play in it? I haven't shot my da50 yet but it seems like there is an incredible amount of slop when the bolt is closed. I haven't contacted CA yet. I'm just curious if everyone else has the same thing.
 
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