$900 50 bmg?

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Wreck n Crew,

Look up Bob Stewart and the Maadi Griffin, all this went down in 2000-2001 time frame. Total fiasco, all of which could've been avoided.

Thanks wil do!

 

[H&R Glock]

spend a few bucks

get yourself a decent 50 caliber. Ours weighs about 32 pounds and the recoil is very tolerable. When you shoot it:

You will have a smile on your face. We got this one for about $2K. I can load it for about $1.50/round with G.I. pulled bullets and surplus powder.
True the loading equipment can set you back a bunch, but commercial rounds from the ammunition depot dot com are very affordable.

 

[50 Shooter]

In the picture above, that's basically what a Maadi Griffin looks like.

Personally I think LAR bought the rights to build them, other then some minor changes.

 

[barnbwt]

I guess Serbu got together with a YouTube celebrity Royal Nonesuch. If your a Youtuber and follow a few of the gun guys out there you have probably seen a few of this young kids builds. Fun and easy slam fire shotguns made from iron pipe and the "such" including a homemade 4 barreled, chest mounting 12 gauge slam fire shot gun.

I guess that's the reason for the RN designation in the RN .50. Serbu known for building more affordable BMG rifles figured hey this kid has something to give. So he brought him in for advice on building a functional bare bones and easy manufactured 50.

The reason Serbu got involved was after Royal Numbnuts tried to make a 50BMG out of a Mossberg barrel some grade 8 bolts, and used some keystock for 'locking lugs.' Well, guess what the keystock sheared like it's designed to, and the kid would have been killed had he not fired it remotely. This kid is actively encouraging people to replicate his builds, and was getting increasingly reckless and/or illegal in his builds (his little 'shotgun arrows' are almost certainly classifiable as SBSs).

Regardless what some people may say about Serbu as far as his production schedule, he is as far as I and everyone else can tell, a very nice guy who cares about his work. Numbnuts was about to make the evening news building the same caliber of rifle that Serbu is famous for, so Serbu decided to 'collaborate' (i.e. design, build, test, and produce entirely himself) with the kid on a cheapish BMG that at least wouldn't kill anybody for exploding. It's a screw-on breech affair, very much like the notorious Hesse/Vulcan/Blackheart rigs, only I'm sure Mark will bother to actually heat treat the bolt unlike them.

Mark Serbu has a history of weighing in on homebrew heavy-cal builds on some of the gun forums, graciously lending his expertise where he is able (and in my personal case, in the form of a 'drop' 50cal barrel cutoff for a very generous price). This is basically what he is doing with Numbnuts, helping him build something worth building, rather than getting impaled by a tubular bolt member keystocked to a much heavier BMG barrel (even firing the gun remotely, the fact he was behind it was incredibly stupid, and that bolt could have easily made it back to his position)

Personally, I don't get it. The kid is obviously high or something in most of his videos, but he does get lots of views (as do many stupid things) and was threatening to become someone of 'prominence' in the build community. I can't tell all of you how destructive that is, so I'm glad he found a mentor/guidance counselor in the form of Mark, who will hopefully steer him to more impressive and productive pursuits (like a job, maybe )

Like the idea of a 50 BMG under $1,000. It basically looks like a barrel with a firing mech though,,,

Pretty much all it is. That's why it is cheap, and wildly impractical for anything but noise making (okay, maybe hunting I suppose)

You're basically putting a pipe bomb a few inches from your face.

Welcome to firearms, specifically high power firearms. The only difference from a pipe bomb is only one end is constricted, and things are much thicker/stronger. That's it! Which is why you can't afford to be close with a 50BMG; it will kill you if that breech fails. It was clear that Numbnuts was eventually going to jerry-rig something that held for one, two, or three shots, then try to fire it up close & kill himself or someone else when it grenaded.

Mark had an accident early in his career and swore he would never let it happen again. So if he's getting involved in someone else's design, I'm sure it will be 100%.

I didn't know that; I'm positive that's exactly what is motivating him here. It was clear as day to everyone paying attention this kid was gonna end up hurt, probably within a matter of weeks, playing with this stuff. For chrissakes, a BMG held closed with 1/4" keystock on this one, and a black-pipe overbore 'barrel' in another (Destructive Device, btw)

Not sure what the fascination with garbage guns is, must be like a rat-rod thing. All I do know is that a lot of newbie builders without any sense started promoting this stuff as viable right around the run up to and release of Fallout 4. Total coincidence, to be sure.

TCB

 

[jmorris]

A photo of the one I built is in this thread, post #29 and it was built using maddi plans for the most part.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=704762&page=2&highlight=maddi+50+BMG

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Anyway here's the full video review of Nonesuch's shorter version that weighs about 3 lbs less.

Either that thing is killing his shoulder or it isn't that bad to shoot. Also it seems to be more functional and easier to load than i thought it would.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DLK1pY3zu3g

 

[Swampman]

Anyway here's the full video review of Nonesuch's shorter version that weighs about 3 lbs less.

Either that thing is killing his shoulder or it isn't that bad to shoot. Also it seems to be more functional and easier to load than i thought it would.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DLK1pY3zu3g

An info box pops up partway through the video that says the rifle as shown weighs 12 pounds versus 17 pounds for the 29 inch barrel version.

But that's OK, because as TRN says about 4:50 in: "This particular gun doesn't have very much recoil because of the short barrel..."

So obviously the secret to making a light recoiling .50 BMG is to cut the weight to 12 pounds and trim the barrel back to carbine length.

I'm sure everyone on THR will agree that making the weapon lighter and shortening the barrel is the most effective way to reduce recoil in a heavy kicking rifle.

I'm certain that the lack of recoil in the video has NOTHING to do with seriously downloaded ammunition.

 

[RecoilRob]

No...it's true that the short barrel DOES kick less than the longer ones! Counter-intuitive for sure, but what's happening is the bullet gets to the muzzle brake sooner. Sure, less weight means the same amount of power is going to smack you harder, but with the really short barrel that huge powder charge doesn't get used efficiently so much of the potential power is wasted which cuts down on the kick.

If you're ever dug into 50's and how they recoil, and how hard they are on scopes, it's interesting. My AR-50 will come back at about 40G's (from some testing I saw on the rifle when I got it many moons ago) and this takes place as the bullet is going down the 31" barrel. When it hits the brake all rearward acceleration stops and it's then pulled forward with almost equal G force...and this is what hurts many scopes. Just about any good one will take the rearward forces but the forward ones pull stuff loose inside sometimes. Mine has lived for a few hundred rounds (knock on wood) so far!

The short barrel Serbu's are lighter but shooting them side by side with the longer tubes just don't kick as hard. Of course, they start to kick the same but it ends sooner so less total energy is delivered before the brake comes to the rescue. I'd not want to shoot one without the brake!!! OK, maybe ONE just to say that I did...but it would be brutal. The AR-50 will move my heels back about 4" shooting prone and there's nothing I can do to stop it...so it does thud a little. On the bench it's nice...so long as you don't crowd the scope and let your shoulder move back that 3-4" it's going to...then it stops all by itself. Very weird sensation and lots of fun, accurate too!!

Mark Serbu does build some good stuff from what I've seen, but I'm not sure I'd be so comfortable with a screw-on cap like that. Back in the late '80's there were some single shot screw breech rifles around and they took like a dozen turns to get the shell holder out of them....lots of thread engagement. That looks to be about 3/8" or so. ?? Would hope the metal is properly heat treated and the thread engagement very tight to try to avoid wearing out. Fingers crossed.

 

[mrkubota]

Well... after reading about Mark's RN50 project earlier this year, I decided I was intrigued enough to order one... (875.00 w/22" barrel)

The rifle is shipped in a padded hard case, without a buttstock or bipod, though I believe those items can be ordered as accessories.

I have a lot of AR spare parts, so I attached an A2 buffertube and an old POF .308 skelentonized aluminum stock that I like the look of with the RN50 design.



I make ammunition as a side business and needed to test some subsonic 50 cal ammunition anyway, so I used the RN50 to do it.



Recoil is negligible with the light subsonic loads (44gr TrailBoss w/750gr AMAX) and they were pretty accurate too!



Full power 743gr brass solids were pretty stout, though still manageable. Rather like a shotgun with 3" mags.

Screwing the breech cap off and on wasn't as tedious as I'd imagined it might be.
My loading/shooting routine was:
'break' the action open
pull hammer back
set safety on
screw off the breech cap
remove empty shell if nececessary (can use the case rim of another cartrige to pry out if it's 'stuck' any.)
insert loaded cartridge
screw on the breech cap until finger snug
lock the break action closed again
sight the rifle/disengage the safety (I used my left hand for the safety due to the way it's shrouded by the action)
shoot
repeat


The buttstock could be thicker if shooting from the bench... offhand, it's really not an issue as your whole body then tends to move with the rifle.

With a scope, it'll likely need about 4" of eye relief to be on the safe side..

 

[Acera]

Nice set up mrkubota. Thanks for the report on them. I like that stock you put on it. How long did it take to get it from when you placed the order?

May be time to add another .50 BMG to the stable. Getting really interested in that 16 inch version.


.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

.50 BMG is the last cartridge that should ever be chambered in a break action.

It's not a break action. Threaded breech.

Mike

 

[Varminterror]

Finally, somebody said it!

It's not a break action, breaking the stock only allows access to remove the threaded breach cap.

Sticky extraction is one of the fun hurdles of any thread breech rifle... Gotta be careful with the loads in this one, othwrwise bring a ram rod with you to the range.

There shouldn't be a market for this kind of product, but I know there are people who will buy one. The average buyer of this isn't a reloader, so he'll spend the total cost of the rifle in ammo within a few boxes of factory fodder. Even a reloader wouldn't even get the barrel broken in before they'd spent the purchase price again on ammunition. Kinda like wanting bacon then buying a pig who only eats caviar...

 

[Acera]

Finally, somebody said it!

It's not a break action, breaking the stock only allows access to remove the threaded breach cap.

Sticky extraction is one of the fun hurdles of any thread breech rifle... Gotta be careful with the loads in this one, othwrwise bring a ram rod with you to the range.

There shouldn't be a market for this kind of product, but I know there are people who will buy one. The average buyer of this isn't a reloader, so he'll spend the total cost of the rifle in ammo within a few boxes of factory fodder. Even a reloader wouldn't even get the barrel broken in before they'd spent the purchase price again on ammunition. Kinda like wanting bacon then buying a pig who only eats caviar...

Really? It was explained in Post #10.


Got a reply to an email to them, 6 month lead time and they are not currently making the 16 inch barreled version or the folding stock. Quoted factory prices quite a bit higher than what the poster above paid for it.


Plus varmet your answer about the price of ammo is typical of those that don't like others having one of these types of rifles. Ammo can be found reasonably priced if you look. I've got plenty of rounds for my .50 BMG that cost me only about $2 each. And, no those are not reloads. Not worth it to me to reload for it right now when I can find cheap ammo easily.

Love how these threads will always bring out the haters, who don't have or can't afford something someone else enjoys.

If you don't like it, move on.


FYI, factory ammo, < $2.80 each, https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/57678
(I got Weatherbys I spend more on to feed factory ammo.)


So varmet, you think 400 rounds would break in the barrel??? LOL.




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[Varminterror]

It's ok - justify your new toy. I'll lay down a proper 50 any time you want to come to west KS and see who got their money's worth.

 

[Acera]

It's ok - justify your new toy. I'll lay down a proper 50 any time you want to come to west KS and see who got their money's worth.

Ok, so you ain't against a person having a .50, your just a snob about it. Got ya,

So what exactly can your (if you do in fact have one) rifle do that one can't??? Can it shoot farther? Is it more accurate? (If you think so, explain yourself with that.) Is it a semi? Are you basing all that because it is more expensive?? And, why would anyone want to go to west KS? I already live in gods country, Texas. Why do I want to go slumming?

No need to justify anything. I will get one if I decide to. May just be a need to have a back up to the back up, LOL.



.

 

[jmorris]

It's ok - justify your new toy. I'll lay down a proper 50 any time you want to come to west KS and see who got their money's worth.

Qualitative, if he is happy and you are happy, you both got your money's worth.

Inches and dollars don't matter in such comparisons.

 

[mrkubota]

mrkubota. [/B]Thanks for the report on them. I like that stock you put on it. How long did it take to get it from when you placed the order?

May be time to add another .50 BMG to the stable. Getting really interested in that 16 inch version.

Qualitative, if he is happy and you are happy, you both got your money's worth.

Inches and dollars don't matter in such comparisons.

Nice set up mrkubota. Thanks for the report on them. I like that stock you put on it. How long did it take to get it from when you placed the order?

May be time to add another .50 BMG to the stable. Getting really interested in that 16 inch version.

.

I ordered mine back on February 15, 2016, and I received it on October 19, 2016... there was some delay too, by UPS, due to that big storm that went through the FL area.
I've got other 'proper' fifties to play with too. They're all fun!