Cheapest non-restricted .50 Cal?

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kolkim

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Are there examples you could give me of non-restricted .50 calibres. Hopefully under $2000. Cheaper the better.
I wonder why the common bolt actions like Rem 700 don't make .50 calibre versions of their rifles.
 
If you want a rifle in .50 BMG $2000 isn't even close to getting you anything. Shooting 50 BMG and cheap do not go well together. I'm assuming since you are posting this in "Hunting and Sporting Arms" you are looking for a hunting rifle. What do you plan on hunting with a 50 that you can't use a lesser caliber.

Do a search over in "Precision Rifles."
 
Blackpowder 50s or the 50 alaskan in a lever gun. The 500sw all count as 50cals. If you want a 50 bmg take a shoe box and fill it with $100 bills. When its full. Then you can afford to get set up and shoot for a year...maybe. I've seen the basic rifle for as cheap as $3999. No kit no optics. But I've never really shopped for one
 
So the 50 alaskan lever gun shoots .50 cal BMGs and is black powder?

To Homer, I was thinking about having something to kill bears and was thinking about having a .44 magnum but found out that you can't bring a restricted weapon when hunting even for self defence so I just got curious.

I saw a couple 50 cals with scope for 2k at the cheapest level, I was just wondering if there was any other guns. So far the cheapest I found was the AR-15 with 50 cal Bohica upper but that's restricted.
 
kolkim said:
So the 50 alaskan lever gun shoots .50 cal BMGs and is black powder?

To Homer, I was thinking about having something to kill bears and was thinking about having a .44 magnum but found out that you can't bring a restricted weapon when hunting even for self defence so I just got curious.

I saw a couple 50 cals with scope for 2k at the cheapest level, I was just wondering if there was any other guns. So far the cheapest I found was the AR-15 with 50 cal Bohica upper but that's restricted.
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time to refresh your memories with the PAL and CORE again.

my question is... have you ever shot other calibers for bear???? have you ever shot a 50BMG under $2000 with scope?? i am sure you are talking about the .50 cal MuzzleLoader.

you are better off buying a precision rifle in other calibers for bears or whatever your need is. if you are somehow talking about the 50BMG under $2000 with a scope..... it does not exist... if it does it is a disposable rifle.

how far yould you want to hit a bear at? because .50 muzzleloader wont really hit the spot if you were looking for a LR and 50BMG is clearly out of your budget. which i wll spend at least $8000 on it with a scope for BMG.

its always better to "google" the information before posting
 
45-70 is .457 inches. Rifles are inexpensive. No need for a scope. Cheap to reload and will kill any game in North America up to 150 yards. Report is loud enough to get other shooters at the range to stop and let you finish :)
 
I guess the question should have been.
What is the largest calibre I can hunt conventionally with

I don't have my core yet, I just finished my PAL test, and while taking my RPAL course yesterday, I found out about hunting with restricted firearms. I am taking the RPAL test tonight.
So Kimmer I haven't shot a muzzleloader, or 50 calibre so I wouldn't know but http://vulcanarmament.com/cgistore/...1&ida=163&idp=85&his=0|85&cart_ id=9583129.73 comes with a scope and doesn't look "Disposable"
 
Ah ... ok ... so a few questions then ..


1) Have you ever shot a rifle?

2) Have you ever hunted?

3) What and where do you intend to hunt?
 
I note that the Vulcan rifle weighs 30 pounds without scope. Don't think that you would be hunting conventionally with a rifle that heavy.
Somehow I suspect that you have never seen a .50BMG cartridge. In your first post in this thread, you wonder why there isn't a Remington 700 in .50BMG. Look at the round, and you will see why.
 
I don't think he is looking for a 50 BMG, from what he has posted so far, he should be looking at a Ruger #1 in 505 Gibbs or something.

Unless he has edited his posts and I just didn't see that.
 
tiriaq said:
I note that the Vulcan rifle weighs 30 pounds without scope. Don't think that you would be hunting conventionally with a rifle that heavy.
Somehow I suspect that you have never seen a .50BMG cartridge. In your first post in this thread, you wonder why there isn't a Remington 700 in .50BMG. Look at the round, and you will see why.
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I understand that it's too big, but I would imagine if a gun like the savage 110, goes from .223 to 338 then couldn't they modify it even more to fit a giant bullet. I guess not but that's just my thought process.

I have shot a rifle, I have never hunted, and I intend to hunt variety of things. I'd like to start with deer and eventually work up to the cougars or bears in my area if they are huntable.
 
kolkim said:
I understand that it's too big, but I would imagine if a gun like the savage 110, goes from .223 to 338 then couldn't they modify it even more to fit a giant bullet. I guess not but that's just my thought process.

I have shot a rifle, I have never hunted, and I intend to hunt variety of things. I'd like to start with deer and eventually work up to the cougars or bears in my area if they are huntable.
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savage 110........ save hassle and buy savage 308 or 338. dont think you know the actual "size" of the 50BMG. and no you are not going to find anything at your pricerange.

and just a pointer. 50BMG will blow the whole deer up and any game in canada which is waste of good meat and also $8-10 dollar a shot.
338LM will even be too big of a caliber.

i think you just got your PAL and been looking at youtube too much to be excited on those long range big calibers. My advice is for you to go do some research on hunting in canada or even follow a hunter if he does not mind.

Next, hunting cougers... unless you have "Trained" many of the many dogs with you to sniff out cougers.. you are out of luck.. The shooting and hunting is not all about $$. Its about ethics, knowledgy, experience, and research which you lack of.

i would really recommand you to join a local rifle range, and go there with your friends to try out and "see" what calibers are right for you. if you live around okanagan and kootenay, i can always help you out.
 
i would agree with the other post on the 45 -70. plenty of rifle, and they make em short/light verses 50 BMG.
 
A 50 cal is not needed to kill deer or bears. Since you are new I suggest a lot of reading and try to get to a local range and handle as many different firearms as you can. For north american game a 3006 is hard to beat. Cheap found every where is many different action types and has the power to kill humanely. If a big bore is what you are looking for a 4570 should be a great start. Factory loads are mild but if handloaded it can be a very serious round. A hunting gun shouldn't weigh more then 8-10lbs for comfort and handling. A 6' long 35lb rifle is not what you want to haul around for hunting
 
kolkim said:
I have shot a rifle, I have never hunted, and I intend to hunt variety of things. I'd like to start with deer and eventually work up to the cougars or bears in my area if they are huntable.
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Ok, so I expect then that you don't have any experience reloading either? In that case, you want a rifle with a good variety of off the shelf hunting rounds. Also, will you be walking around in thick brush with shots of 25-100 yards or hunting on open plains with frequent shots over 200 yards? One requires a light agile rifle the other will be much heavier and you may be stationary for half a day or more.

30-06 is still one of the most versatile rounds available, good to 200 yards on most North American game and ammo is easy to find in store. You can also shoot it at a bench for 20+ rounds without getting a sore shoulder or developing a flinch. Suitable ammo can easily be found for everything from accuracy rounds for target, light rounds for deer or heavy rounds with bonded bullets for bear and caribou.

Bears vary immensely in size throughout the continent. With a well placed 30-06 shot and good quality bonded bullet, it will take down any of them (so I'm told) and in fact so will a 30-30 at the right distance. Guides in Alaska tend to go for a 300 Mag, but there aren't many factory light loads for the 300 suitable for deer. I wouldn't want to practice for a few hours every weekend with a 300 Mag. For one my shoulder would hurt and two my wallet would start to complain. I rarely shoot more than 10 rounds of 45-70 when I target practice sitting on a bench, with about 35 ft-lbs of recoil it gets uncomfortable rather quickly. I've seen experienced shooters take the 45-70 and start to shake before pulling the trigger! :)

When you budget for your rifle, don't forget to factor in a good scope and rings. There's no sense using a $1000 rifle, with $3 rounds with a $150 scope that fogs up and has POI shift at every shot. Often a scope over 10X justifies an adjustable optics (AO) in order to avoid parallax errors at longer ranges, but that's not a good thing to have when shooting at closer ranges as you may not have the time to focus the scope as the deer hops by 30 yards away. So you see, determining what, where and how you'll be hunting is really the first thing you need to consider.

So let's say you go with a 300, and you practice at 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 yards ... you'll also need a good spotting scope, that's another $300-$1000 to factor-in to your budget. Up to 100 yards, you can certainly do without one.

Sounds to me like .50 is probably not the round for you.

Are you buying new or used? There's tons of good used 308's on the market, which will probably cover 98% of what you want to hunt, with decent accuracy up to about 150 yards.

Do you have a mentor or someone you know that's been hunting for a long time? Are you a member of a fish & game club?

Here's my best advise: get a 22LR, get very good at shooting in various positions (bench, prone, standing, kneeling). You can even hunt rabbits and partridge with a 22. Once you're down to a consistent 2 inch group at 100 yards with a scope in all shooting positions, then it will be worth upgrading to a larger centerfire rifle. Otherwise, you're just wasting expensive ammo.

1 shot 30-06 = $2.50
$2.50 = 50 shots of 22 LR

$400-500 will get you a nice used quality 22 and scope.
 
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