Oh no! Not another big bore!

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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby SAWMAN » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:58 am

I bought a complete AA upper from AA in about 2004 or 2005. I bought a spiral brake from them and installed it myself.
The upper was about $450 and the brake was about $70.
I bought one mag from them but wanted more.
I called AA one day and Bill answered the phone. He seemed nice enough and quickly explained to me how to adapt the steel bags to feed the 50B rds.
I joined the 50B forum and found a guy selling a full case of the AA brand of 300gr Gold Dots at a super price,so I swooped them up.
Never reloaded for the 50B but heard horror stories about others expierances.
The upper went on a Bushmaster lower with a 3.5lb trigger. I was able to shoot <1.5 inches at 50yds (5 shots).
I used the gun for hogs from a shooting house and ladder stand. My max shot was about 125yds. --- SAWMAN
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby plant_one » Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:45 pm

beowulf loads easy. i've done some test work with it for my buddy's rifle. no problems.


him and his friend tried to reload for it (translation he talked another friend into trying it) and goofed things all up and long story short i had to pull >300 rounds due to operator error.

no harder to reload than 450bm or any straight wall case though is my point. follow good reloading practices and you're GTG :)
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby SAWMAN » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:13 pm

IMO,reloading anything rimless and rebated rim is harder than the rest. With these that OAL is critical as is how you trim the brass and how it is belled.
Basically . . . headspace is critical and harder to maintain. --- SAWMAN
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:36 am

SAWMAN wrote:IMO,reloading anything rimless and rebated rim is harder than the rest. With these that OAL is critical as is how you trim the brass and how it is belled.
Basically . . . headspace is critical and harder to maintain. --- SAWMAN

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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby plant_one » Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:34 pm

SAWMAN wrote:IMO,reloading anything rimless and rebated rim is harder than the rest. With these that OAL is critical as is how you trim the brass and how it is belled.
Basically . . . headspace is critical and harder to maintain. --- SAWMAN



i guess i just havent had the same experience there. proper trimming is trimming. correct oal is correct oal. proper case belling and crimp to remove - same boat. as long as you're watching whats going on and not trying to take shortcuts - doing good brass prep and reloading is not very difficult. tedious, but not difficult. :mrgreen:

i've reload a ton of 450, beowulf was a walk in the park when i dabbled with it - and i was fixing up rounds that someone fubar'ed before me and making them work no issue. getting ready to add a legend to the stable too. load 9 and 40. actually about to load a whole pile of 9mm because i just built a 9mm AR pistol :)

and i mean.. you dont hear tons of bitching and moaning about the challenges of reloading 9mm, 40, 45 based on those same gripes. same thing though - all calibers that headspace off the case mouth.



and lets be honest, its as easy - if not easier - to improperly setup your die and get the shoulder wrong and goof the headspace on a bottleneck cartridge as it is working with any of the straightwalls. or i should say - just as easy to get it right with both if you follow simple standard die setup processes. :)
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby offrink » Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:14 pm

I have new star line 50 brass and a lee die set. It is known, not to me when I bought it, lee dies are very sticky when it comes to the beowulf. I actually ripped the head off the brass of two cases. Fully seated the cases will little stress and when pulled down 3 sides of the case head bent down. It seems to me the case head is much weaker than any other caliber I have reloaded. (9mm, 10mm, 44 mag, 45acp, 30-30, 308, 30-06, 33 win spl, 35 Remington, 8mm Mauser, 6.5 Grendel and creedmoor, 450 and now beowulf) I tried hornady one shot spray and it didn’t work. Real case lube made things easier but just like necked brass to much lube dents the cases.
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby offrink » Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:05 pm

My first real reloading issue came up with the beowulf this weekend. I loaded up ten 500 grain hornady bullets that were stated in the newest hornady manual. The length of COAL and brass was the exact length, down to the hundredth. It easily plunks into the Lyman round check gauge. Initially loaded rounds that I took out were a hair (.002”) out of spec and it wouldn’t chamber. Had to mortar the gun to get the round out. Came back and made everything exact to specs. A round with no powder or primer chambers but it is extremely tight and I had to mortar it once, instead of 4 times, to get the round out. 300’s, 325’s, 350’s 400’s all loaf, unload, and fire fine. The COAL is 2.240” and I took it down to 2.225” and it it still chambers and have to be mortared. Not sure where the issue is. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby MOOSE EARS » Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:13 pm

Cheap dies. Lee is junk...
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby offrink » Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:40 pm

I agree but there isn’t a whole lot of beowulf dies. With that said I have had no issues with the other weight projectiles. Just wonder why the 500’s are an issue. They fit the Lyman case check gauge.
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Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

Postby offrink » Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:16 am

After review posts online and reviewing the Lyman manual i believe the bullet is jamming into the lands. Hornady manual says to load 2.240” and Lyman says 2.165” with both using the same powder and loads. I found I can load it to 2.200”. I contacted hornady and would only restate what the manual says and won’t claim that it could be off but said to download 10% and good luck.
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