DA 50BMG Range Report

[condomboy]

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.

I have a non restricted lower on it.

are you chambering a round in it or just air? a 50 is a different creature for sure and there is a definite difference playing with the bolt with an empty chamber and with a round in.

[stuckon308]

Yeah. I just read about it on a different thread. My Barrett doesn't do it so I was curious.

[EugeneLED]

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.



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

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.

One months ago in Russia 408CheyTac 2367 Yards under 0.7 MOA "Lobaev Arms"

[Gatehouse]

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.

There is no movement when a round is chanbered. Definite movement with empty chamber.

Are you just running the milspec stock DA trigger is that lower?

Trigger is stock, spring and hammer that came with the upper.

[stuckon308]

Have you had any issues with the IMI ammo sticking in the chamber? I fired ten rounds yesterday and it's almost like the chamber is too short and the last 1/32" of brass is getting stuck. I also tried a couple of American Eagle cheapies that I had and the same thing happened.

Other than the bolt issue, this gun is more fun than my Barrett.

[FirearmsEnthusiast]

Have you had any issues with the IMI ammo sticking in the chamber? I fired ten rounds yesterday and it's almost like the chamber is too short and the last 1/32" of brass is getting stuck. I also tried a couple of American Eagle cheapies that I had and the same thing happened.

Other than the bolt issue, this gun is more fun than my Barrett.

By getting stuck in the chamber - is the bolt hard to close on a live round, or does the bolt stick on extraction of the fired round? Also, to you know if you have the Gen 1 (pre early 2016) or Gen 2 upper - they improved the camming action to aid with extraction in Gen 2.

One thing that did help was to lightly lubricate the outside of the next only with Hornady One Shot case lube. Do not lubricate the shoulder or the whole case, as this may increase bolt thrust. Just want to keep the neck from sticking. My guess is that the chamber neck area isn't super-polished...but this quickly goes away and I love my DA50 upper!

I found that the bolt was stick with American Eagle as those round are notoriously loaded a bit hot. This got better after 20-30 rounds, but I also switched to handloads. I haven't used IMI brass, but I find the IVI brass to produce higher pressure than Hornady brass - a load using H50BMG that is fine with Hornady brass produces pressure signs in IVI for me, so start low and treat each .50 BMG brass head stamp as a separate load, tracked and developed separately.

[naktabar72]

In few weeks you fired three round????

[Above49TH]

I have one of the first run and it opens and closes like the others have said.

If the bolt is loose on an empty chamber the lugs are not touching the face of the breech.
So if it's tight closing on a round, does this not mean 0 head space.

Are these not tighter than a machine gun chamber, making it harder to remove.
Are Hornady Amax just as hard to remove.

[stuckon308]

By getting stuck in the chamber - is the bolt hard to close on a live round, or does the bolt stick on extraction of the fired round? Also, to you know if you have the Gen 1 (pre early 2016) or Gen 2 upper - they improved the camming action to aid with extraction in Gen 2.

One thing that did help was to lightly lubricate the outside of the next only with Hornady One Shot case lube. Do not lubricate the shoulder or the whole case, as this may increase bolt thrust. Just want to keep the neck from sticking. My guess is that the chamber neck area isn't super-polished...but this quickly goes away and I love my DA50 upper!

I found that the bolt was stick with American Eagle as those round are notoriously loaded a bit hot. This got better after 20-30 rounds, but I also switched to handloads. I haven't used IMI brass, but I find the IVI brass to produce higher pressure than Hornady brass - a load using H50BMG that is fine with Hornady brass produces pressure signs in IVI for me, so start low and treat each .50 BMG brass head stamp as a separate load, tracked and developed separately.

It closes easily on a live round. Extraction after firing is difficult. Loosening up a bit if I let it sit for a couple of minutes. But I still need to hit it with my fist twice for it to come out. It is a Gen I. I will get ahold of Canada Ammo after the weekend.

[FirearmsEnthusiast]

It closes easily on a live round. Extraction after firing is difficult. Loosening up a bit if I let it sit for a couple of minutes. But I still need to hit it with my fist twice for it to come out. It is a Gen I. I will get ahold of Canada Ammo after the weekend.

Had the same issue with my Gen 1 - they said it would loosen up after more rounds. Be extra careful to look for pressure signs, as a sticky bolt lift can be one of them. Look on the case head at the primer (cratering, etc) and for extractor wipe and for brass flowing into the ejector hole which leaves a raised circle on the case head.

Try lubing the neck (only) a bit as per my previous post.

If you handload, a reduced powder charge makes all of this go away (which to me speaks to a pressure issue with factory ammo) - less stress on the equipment and still send 647-750 gr freight trains downrange at 2,600+ FPS!