.50 Beowulf......Fuuuun conversion!!

[VTDefender]

Alexander Arms .50 Beowulf Entry upper.

Got this a while back. Have about 800 rounds through it so far. 150 of those were on memorial day and I'd be lying if i said my shoulder wasn't a little tender the next day.

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/beo2.jpg
*.50 Beowulf to 5.56 comparison

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/beowulf.jpg
Does about 1.5" groups at 100 yards....I've read it will shoot to 1" but I haven't been able to close it up that much yet. Haven't spent the time....It's so much more fun ringing steel gongs than shooting paper. I added an Ace skeleton stock to the lower, the foam overtube and rubber buttpad help dampen the recoil a bit. Scope(nothing special...just a bushnell) is set up on an ARMS #19 qd mount so I can swap it out for an aimpoint.

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/beoshorty1.jpg
CQB setup on a preban Bushy lower. The telestock has held up just fine to some lengthy range sessions. The manufacturer has stated that it's perfectly safe to use the Beowulf conversion with a short buffer tube and telestock.

I have found that thermold mags function very well if loaded right before shooting but if you leave them loaded for any length of time the upper portion of the mags will begin to bulge, making insertion difficult. It also has worked fine for me with unaltered USGI 20 and 30rd mags but they scratch up the brass pretty good :( The 7rd mag that comes with the conversion is about perfect. *10rds will fit into a thermold or USGI 30rder.

Next project is to acquire one of those MWG 90 rd snail drum mags and see if I can stuff 30 rounds of .50beo in it ;)

[RJ Shooter]

That is Out-Freaking-Standing!!!! :D

Very nice!!! Got a close up of the rim on that case?

[imanaknut]

I got a chance to handle a .50 Beowulf at Cabelas last month. The WOW factor is beyond belief. The upper was mounted on a standard Bushmaster lower. The down side was not the $685 (or so) price of the upper, but the $25, 25 round box. I couldn't afford to continue my habit at a dollar a shot.

Nice rifle, VTDefender !!!

[308]

A couple questions:

1] Is the ammo readily available...how expensive?
2] How are the rounds made to fit in the AR mags...different followers?


I was also thinking that a ported barrel (like the new USCG .499 LWR) would help tame the recoil and send some love to daddy's shoulder. ;)

[RJ Shooter]

Originally posted by 308
I was also thinking that a ported barrel would help tame the recoil and send some love to daddy's shoulder.:lool::rotflmao::lool:

[VTDefender]

There isn't that much muzzle climb....it's more the straight rearward recoil impulse that gets you. It's really not an issue unless you're going to shoot a couple hundred rounds in a day. Probably be the same if you took that old .45-70 out for a 150 round range session.

I think AA is coming out with a break for it but I'm not going to bother with it. Would rather keep it on the preban lower and ship it off to KKF to add a flash suppressor of some sort.

I don't have a closeup of the rim but I can tell you it is dimensionally identical to a 7.62x39 rim and the upper uses a 7.62x39 bolt.

Apparently, some have had to bend the feedlips on their mags a bit to get them to function reliably but I haven't run into that. It feeds from all my mags without problems. You use the same follower..the rounds just single stack in your existing mags.

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/beo3.jpg

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/beochamber.jpg

[VTDefender]

Been paying about $18/box for 325gr. JHP's

Have to start reloading for this sucker soon. Good part is I already have a nice big pile of brass ready to go :)

You should see the looks on peoples faces when they see you pull your "mousegun" out of the case then notice .50 brass whizzing by them. It's a showstopper.

As far as the recoil goes.....I had already put 1800 rounds through an HK51 that day which didn't help.

If you've got a broadband connection you might like the video:

http://freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/hk51fun.mpg

Right click "save as".

And don't give me any crap about spray and pray. The guy who owns the gun is disabled and his joy in life is having people dump mags through that thing while he snaps pics...in search of that elusive "perfect muzzle flash" picture. Every weekend he has me run 3-400 rounds through it. Things prety much a MG shoot showoff gun anyway :D

[Gr8Scott]

I doubt that anyone here is gonna give you crap about spray and pray when you are shooting a class 3 weapon. I would be hammering on the thing myself if I were in your shoes.:D

[Gr8Scott]

Could someone get a pre-ban version of this upper? I would definitely be interested in that. What kind of muzzle velocity can you get out of those babies?

[VTDefender]

Last time I posted the video I was called a turkey for not shooting nice little 3rd bursts(that was on a different board ;) ). It is pretty damn controllable though for close range. At 25 feet or so you can keep a full mag of .308 in about a 2' square area. Not what you'd call a tackdriver but cutting something in half at close range is easy.

You can tell from the video.....I shoot it a lot better standing than squatting.

Here's a shorter clip of a video he shot after knocking the barrel extension off. (SBR paper finally came through)

freesites.pshift.net/~vtdefender/images/55.avi

Re-encoded the vid.,...should work in media player now.. Right click "save as"




As for the beowulf ammo:

325gr @ 1940fps
400gr @ 1800fps

More here:

http://alexanderarms.com/beoammo.html

I always though it would make a perfect guide gun or Alaskan Pilots survival rifle. Things very light and weildy and packs a hell of a punch!

I don't think AA is making a preban version but I would be very interested in one as well. It does throw a pretty mean fireball that I would love to be able to reduce. I bet Kurt's Kustom could figure something out though. I haven't contacted them yet about it.

[VTDefender]

BTW.....Pretty sure the .499LWR and the .50beowulf are the same round.,.....although I haven't seen .499 ammo available anywhere. Two of my local shops stock tons of .50beo ammo so availability has not been a problem yet.

Apparently the company split and some folks from LW started Alexander Arms.

[Vampire]

Originally posted by VTDefender
Re-encoded the vid.,...should work in media player now.. Right click "save as"

First video worked great, this one just shows black screen (with sound)for me :(

btw, where are you shooting? is that LONG grass area an open range?

[VTDefender]

Weird....video works for me with media player and XP.

The range we were on is about 2600 yards from the shooting area to the farthest target.

[AC_Pilot]

And the links do not work

Personally I don't see the advantage in the caliber against humans, vs an AK which has more penetration and much higher capacity. Or even my AR15 .45 ACP CAR, excepting lower penetration. It would make a nice deer or feral pig round for brush hunting tho