.50BMG surplus powders

[CanonNinja]

Got my setup complete and should hit the door on Tuesday. All I need is powders now. Looking at either the Hodgdon H50BMG powder, or the following:


5010
WC860
or IMR 7383


What do the pros recommend for milsurp ball and "flavored" ammo?

 

[RecoilRob]

Sorry, I'm NO pro, but have burned a lot of 5010 in the BMG. I use 225gr. under the Blue Tip, API and Ball. 220gr. with the AP and A-Max and 175gr under the Spotter/Tracers.

The stuff seems pretty consistant with weighed charges and I have shot 8" groups at 1000yds with the Hornady 750gr A-Max out of an AR-50.

It makes NO noticeable muzzle flash, though. If flames are your goal, something else would be better.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I've played around with 5010 quite a bit and while it is cheap the only cartrige it even comes close to having any decent velocity is 300WBY with heavy bullets. Anything else is pretty much fill case seat bullet get between 1600 to 2000 FPS.

 

[CanonNinja]

so, you're saying the 5010 is the way to go to get decent velocities? or stick with commercial-grade stuff like H50BMG?

 

[R.W.Dale]

so, you're saying the 5010 is the way to go to get decent velocities? or stick with commercial-grade stuff like H50BMG?

It depends what cartrige you're loading for.

 

[CanonNinja]

It depends what cartrige you're loading for.

I wont be loading any match/AMAX/etc high-weight rounds yet. just ball and "fun" rounds

 

[R.W.Dale]

.308 , .223, 6.5x55?? what cartrige?

 

[CanonNinja]

.50BMG bullet weights between 640gr and 730gr, with the occasional 830gr spotter/tracer

 

[R.W.Dale]

.50BMG bullet weights between 640gr and 730gr, with the occasional 830gr spotter/tracer

OH Well heck it oughta work great for that! Sounds like you're all set to have some fun.

 

[50 Shooter]

I'll bring back up RecoilRob's post, if you plan on shooting the Spotter/Tracer DO NOT load them hotter then 190 grains of 5010. The S/T's were never intended to be shot at .50 BMG velocities. Start out with 175 grains and don't go over 190 grains.

On the Blue Tips you might get some that detonate a few feet out of your barrel. The consenus was that when they were demilled and then resized some of the jackets had seperated from the core. This allows the hot gases to find a path between the two and detonate the cores. It doesn't happen that often but it does happen, haven't heard of any going off in the barrel.

 

[CanonNinja]

That is the first time I've hear about the blue tip rounds before, I'll definately keep that in mind. I have some stuff from Talon, and only S/T, API and ball to hand load for now. I didnt even think about the powder for the S/T stuff being less because of the different rifle it's meant for. Thanks for the head's up.

 

[50 Shooter]

Here's a word of advice on the S/T, a friend was shooting some out of his .50 and it sounded strange. Seeing how we both own AR-50's I noticed that there was a difference in the sound of it being fired. Funny how you can tell when someones shooting a HOT load out of their .50.

So I leaned over and asked him what load he was using for the S/T? He looks up and say "220 grains of 5010"! Myself and another friend took a few steps back while he shot the last couple that he had. I will say that seeing an 800+ grain bullet shoot flat is rather impressive.

He then say "what" after he's done! I asked him where he got the load info and he just said he figured he would load them like all the others. So we told him to keep them down between 175-190 as it would be safer for him and everyone else shooting around him.