Long range .50 ideas

Casull

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Guys,
I am thinking this winter I will put together a long range gun. I have a 30" .50 barrel that is 1.5" in diameter. I have a P14 action. My intention is to put it together and get a rifle weighing 20-30 lbs. for long range bench fun. I will chamber it in .50/460Wby as I have the reamer and gauges and another gun.
I am not sure how to get the weight up there but the barrel alone is over 10 lbs. I would like a good heavy stock that is setup for bench work and a good trigger. I have some ideas on muzzle brakes I might try making a few and rails for the top. Any suggestions on this rifle, stock, trigger, contour and so on.
I read that the round gives about 88% of the .50 BMG ballistics in a 26" barrel. This could give me my long range .50 at a saving over the BMG and less powder and so on. The bullets are the same and I have a number of cast bullet moulds in this caliber too.
Just looking for any input, thanks.
 
Several versions of that round.
,510 Wells
50 Peacemaker
.500 A-Square

all basically the same thing, slight dimensional differences.
 
Contact winchester_070 on this board to build you a steel barrel block. he just built me one for my 6.5 Mystic and his work is good and affordable.

That can easily add 10lbs to your project and will be a huge aid in controlling that barrel. The action is strong but that much barrel weight will not be supported well. You will need to bed under the barrel (tricky to do with that much barrel) so why not just throw it into a barrel block.

For trigger, the Timney is the best and can be adjusted very low. If you decide to change to #### on opening, you will need to modify the cocking piece so that it will engage the trigger sear. The orig bolt needs no modification and works just fine.

For a stock, you can build one out of plywood. Hollow out the butt area and you can fill with lead shot to really get the balance where it should be.

For the foreend, you can make a big block of steel to act as ballast. My 300RUM based on a P14 action weighs in at 35lbs ballasted. You are also going to need a very large muzzle brake even at this weight. I put a 3/4" hole in the front of the barrel to work as a brake. Really works well.

Recoil is very mild.

Although the action is very strong, you need to make sure that there are no cracks. Magnaflux the action and work up slowly. That much bolt thrust is going to tax any action.

You can use any full length belted magnum case to make what you want. You don't need to buy Wby brass as it is very expensive and not all that durable. I have found Win 300H&H, 7STW brass to work wonderfully. Use cream of wheat to fireform.

If you mean the super sized 378 Wby case, then you are really stressing that action at full pressure.

I think the biggest problem with the 50cal is quality of bullets. There are lots of pull downs FMJ of varying quality. I have yet to hear anyone shoot better then 1.5 MOA at moderate ranges. The Amax are superb but bring alot of money.

If you are planning cast, you may want to look at a barrel made specifically for that. Most jacketed bullet barrels have very shallow lands which don't always work well to hold cast bullets at elevated pressures.

Let us know how the project goes.

Jerry

 
Jerry,
Describe this barrel block. If I put one on, I will want to try to build it myself.
I am okay with #### on close, as long as I get accuracy and not terribly affected by lock time.
The standard magnum case will not go up to .50, the .475" bullets are about as far as they go so I will be using the .460 case which is the .378 or originally the .416 Rigby case with a belt. The first Weatherby rifles for .378 were P14 actions, I am not concerned about pressure or thrust on this action. I agree that it's a good idea to magnaflux though. Also I am thinking that the barrel needs some sort of support, it's just too heavy to leave floating all the way from the action. I am going to think more of this barrel block idea as well as some sort of forward support.
I am pretty well fixed for .50 bullets as I've been shooting them about 12 years now. I have gathered lots, A-Max, Wildcats and military too. I also have some moulds and will try them at lower velocities. My barrel is a 1 in 15" twist which though not perfect will not be bad. As I say, I have a couple of others in this barrel and have tried them.
I am not really sure what to expect for accuracy. 1.5 MOA would be on the edge of acceptable though and I hope it does better than that. We'll see.
I have some ideas for brakes, some like the large fan style brakes like on BMGs and artillery pieces. To simple porting like you suggest. I will thread the muzzle and can try out anything I can come up with from there. I have been making some smaller versions and trying them on my smaller guns already.
I am at a lose for the stock though. I might end up making a plywood handle of some sort. I hope to get it well bedded with some help from a friend(please Ted). From there, I am not too concerned about looks. As you say this thing will have to be heavy to tame recoil. My other gun in this caliber goes 12 lbs. It's not bad to shoot standing but it not a bench gun at all. I hope to get this bench gun 2-3 times that weight.
Thanks Jerry. I will post anything I do. Let me know about the block if you don't mind.
Rob
 
A barrel block is a very big clamp. It can be split top and bottom like I have or in the middle on the lower half (called a split block, the whole unit is one piece). There is a hole bored true with the sides and bottom equal to the diameter of the barrel. The barrel would have no taper for the length inside the block.

You can make this block to any length or dimension. The block in the pic is approx 2" wide, 2 1/4" tall, 6 1/4" long. I don't think you will need more then a 12" block. Just make it big and heavy and there is your ballast and barrel support.

The block can be bolted to an open design stock like on my Mystic. No inletting except for the trigger. I just used flat pieces of plywood and pieced the stock together. Read my 6.5 Mystic #2 post for details and pics.

SSK industries has a very similar wildcat they call the 50 Whisper. I doubt it is quiet. You might want to look up their website for ideas. Definitely a big sail, multiport brake. Bigger better.

All the 50BMG's I have seen, even the match ones, could not shoot as well as a small bore. 1/2MOA is definitely possible but this was a full up rig. I am getting 1/2 MOA with my 300RUM and have many P action rifles that shot as well if not better. So much depends on the barrel, its support, and bullets.

Jerry



 
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