Lake City 50 BMG primers

[50 Shooter]

Lake City is going to start selling primers to the public for those of you that reload for the .50 BMG. They will initially be offered thru Graf & Sons, $74 - 500 and $340 - 2500.

Graf & Sons will also be selling CBC Brazil/MagTech 50 BMG virgin brass for $1 a piece. The only thing that I've heard about this brass so far is that the primer pockets are shallow. For better results when loading it, you might have to ream all the pockets out! K&M and CH4D offer the tool for this, you can chuck it up in a drill to make it easier.

 

[dan newberry]

A question or two...

We're getting ready to break in an LAR Grizzly in the next couple of days.

I have some Bosnian made 50 BMG ammo that I thought I'd use for break in. I don't know the bullet weight, or the BC.

What is the BC of the average 750 grain bullet?

Do you have any experience with the Mitchell Arms (700 grain?) ammo?

Lastly, we don't yet have a good scope for this rifle, but I'm gonna put an old Bushnell Trophy 3 to 9 on it for break in. I'm doubting the scope will last more than a dozen rounds, but we'll see!

Any comments for a newbie 50 shooter would be appreciated...

Dan

 

[50 Shooter]

The Bosnian .50 is also known as Yugo. Keith Pagel from the FCSA had it tested and some of it is "mildly" corrosive, it took about 10 days to show signs of rust. The stuff from Mitchell's Mauser's is made by the same factory that makes the Yugo (Bosnian) ammo. I wouldn't waste my time on it, at $3 a round theres better stuff out there.

The BC for M33 ball is about .62 and the avg. weight for the Yugo stuff is 682 grs. +/- a few. I have shot some and it's on the warm side but you have to remember that it's been loaded for an M2.

I would assume that when you ask the BC for a 750 gr. bullet, your asking about a match grade bullet. Most .50 match stuff runs .9+, Hornady claims the 750gr AMAX is 1.0+.

The bushnell will probably last for a couple hundred rounds or more, one of the guys I shoot with has a Grizzly with a $50 scope on it and it hasn't died yet. When you plan on getting better glass PLEASE don't buy an ATN, I've heard nothing but horror stories about their scopes that are rated for .50 use.

Try www.thehuntingshack.com for some loaded AMAX or www.ammoman.com for some Talon surplus .50 BMG.

 

[dan newberry]

Corrosive?

Since the Bosnian (Yugo) stuff is somewhat corrosive, does that mean that a hot soapy water bore bath is in order?

And thanks for the tip on the Mitchell's stuff. I'll skip that.

Now,

What ammo can you steer me toward that won't harm the bore, and won't shoot shotgun patterns, and won't break the bank? (I ain't askin' much am I?)...

Dan

 

[50 Shooter]

Hot soapy water will work fine, don't forget the bolt. Make sure to oil afterwards.

Talon ammo from Ammoman is what alot of people use, it's good plinking ammo and shoots around 2 MOA or better. I'll say better because most people get it to stay a little over 1 MOA. Plus shipping from Ammoman is FREE!

Watson's Weapon's makes some good remanufactured ammo at a decent price, www.watsonsweapons.com and you can get some fun stuff from them also.

Stay away from Maine Cartridge Co.'s .50, TNW's plinking .50 (some say it's been dug up from military ranges) and Dominican Republic .50 (has a yellow tip). All of these have been known .50 BMG bolt gun destroyers and most guys won't even run it thru their M2's. Dominican is so bad that the FCSA won't let you into any of their matches if you have some.

One last word of advice, seeing how you have a shellholder style bolt, NEVER attempt any gunsmithing on it. If you have a problem with the bolt or trigger send it back to LAR. The shellholder design is safe but I have heard about a couple bad incidents with them, these were caused by someone other then the factory messing with them. Be safe and let us know how you do, your face will look like this for a few days after shooting it.

 

[dan newberry]

Thanks!

I appreciate your time, very much. Good info for sure...

I'll let you know how things go. We're gonna put my Bushnell Trophy on the rifle and get to the field tomorrow afternoon.

Dan

 

[dan newberry]

...

Well, we got the rifle into the field this afternoon...

We zeroed the scope for 1000 yards this afternoon. This is a Bushnell 3 to 9 Trophy Mildot in Burris Signature Zee rings. (Temporary, okay? ) There weren't any good targets of opportunity on the hillside where the 1K mark was, so we settled on some stones in the 700 to 800 yard arena.

We fired 20 rounds. I shot a half dozen times at a 15 inch rock at 720 yards. Using the mildots in the Bushnell as hold under marks, I fired a couple of sighters (it ain't no problem seeing where those 750 grain bullets hit ground! ) and found that the top mil dot was pretty much right on at that range. Four shots, four solid, devastaing hits on that one. The Yugo ammo is better than I figured it would be.

My friend shot once and hit under that rock and actually brought it up off the ground a bit! Sparks would fly, and shards of rock would go airborne... It was incredibly addictive.

By the way, we were shooting into a mountain side which bent around our shooting position. Safe from ricochets, etc...

The Bushnell held up for twenty rounds through "Cold Ethyl." Yep, we christened that rifle on the way to the field while that old Alice Cooper tune played in the tape deck. It seemed fitting.

A good scope is definitely on the "buy next" list. I will probably pony for the optics since Rex bought the rifle.

Recoil was reported by Grizzly to be "like a 12 gauge magnum shotgun." They probably meant "like a 3 1/2 inch magnum side by side 12 gauge firing both barrels." My opinion...

The scope almost got me twice. It didn't bother Rex.

The muzzle blast coming from the break actually blew small objects we had on the shooting mat off into the grass.

Mucho fun!

Dan