anyone else here own a Beowulf 50 cal?

[2zero6]

I hate the way Bill Alexander has a license on all his ammo. This is the only thing holding me back from the 6.5 Grendel. Now that Les Baer has his version I am a little more inclined to dive in when I get back on my feet, but more than likely I will wait to see what happens between both designs. I was really interested in the Beowulf when I was first looking at the big bores, but once I found out it uses untrimmed .50AE brass I threw that notion out the window. Then it was a real toss up between the .458 and .450 as two big names were backing them (Rock River vs. Bushmaster), the .450 won out with these reasons:
1. Factory ammo is readily available at 3 out of 4 of the gun shops near me.
2. Parent .284 cases if needed.
3. Multiple .45 caliber projectiles to choose from. Which is a plus as I have two .45acp 1911's.
4. With the Cerberus Corporation purchase of Bushmaster, Remington, and DPMS, I figured they would jump on board as well (Rem has so far). Along with Hornady's initial backing.
5. After all the forum browsing between the cartridges I found that the original designer of the .450 (Wildcatter=Mr. Tim LeGendre ) was the most active on the net helping answer questions and exploring other avenues with the cartridge.

My reasons may not be for everyone but they were my own reasoning behind my own decision. Not to mention all the nice well mannered gentlemen here on 450bushmaster.net. I have been on alot of firearm forums and this is the most friendly non cartridge/platform/idea bashing boards I have ever been on.

[wildcatter]

206,

Don't forget the many, many companies that make the 6.5/284 for the untold Hundreds of Thousands of Match Guys and Long Range Hunters/Shooters, that shoot it, and some of those brass styles have either small or large primer pockets, so you can have your pick of brass styles.

So let's see, there is Hornady & Remington, who make the straight up 450 brass (there are several others, about to come on board), Winchester makes the .284 brass, I don't know of others but would not be surprised to hear that there are many others, and Winchester tells me that the 284 is making a come back, huh, with all the 284 availability, I'd of never guessed there was a shortage, I've never seen it and neither have you (I suppose the 450b custom loaders are making a difference in the 284win bottom line, but I could be mistaken.). Lapua, Hornady, Norma, Nosler, make the 6.5x284 Brass for your 450b custom work and this says nothing of the plethora of custom outfits that make both calibers of 284 brass! Hey how 'bout all those wildcats that are based on the 284, they all have brass we can use too, in our reloading processes! These are loading Processes that have given us sub-sonic, Bench Rest accuracy, or better than 458 WinMag Performance, with the cheapest or most expensive bullets in the world, processes that give us Plinking or Godzilla possibilities! So tell me guys, am I just too bold to say that, .."you'll never not have brass available to make your 450b, no never, not ever, period!"

So, against my better judgment, I went over to arfcom (I really dislike their vulgarity and thus less professionalism), after hearing that their FAQ's in the Variants Section, list every kind of factory/wildcat for the AR platform, but the 450 Bushmaster, guess they think that if they just dismiss you, you'll just go away, what do you think?

Looks like the BrassKnuckles has opened a can of worms, just by expanding the original question, but further understanding always comes from such BrainStorming..t

[2zero6]

206,

So tell me guys, am I just too bold to say that, .."you'll never not have brass available to make your 450b, no never, not ever, period!"

So, against my better judgment, I went over to arfcom (I really dislike their vulgarity and thus less professionalism), after hearing that their FAQ's in the Variants Section, list every kind of factory/wildcat for the AR platform, but the 450 Bushmaster, guess they think that if they just dismiss you, you'll just go away, what do you think?

Brass shortage for .450? Not likely around here as there is already so much factory ammo around here, all I have to do is just keep saving my once fired brass. At the rate I use it I should be set for life. I will give Bill Alexander one thing and that all his designs are great for one reason or another but the option of using 7.62x39 brass for the Grendel makes it a more likely contender than his .50 Beowulf. For that reason alone makes the cartridge more viable in the long term for me. Mudder owns a couple Grendels IIRC, and from his posts he hasn't dealt with any brass/ammo shortages with that cartridge. As far as arfcom, it was one of the sites I initially visited when I started looking at the AR platform and I was really put off from "the better/smarter than thou attitudes" and ended up spending more time just trying to filter out all the opinions to get to the facts. Sorry to go so far off topic. To the OP, if you get the .450 you will be pleasantly surprised. If you really want a .50 cal, I believe that the Mad Scientist Wildcatter has something up his sleeve that will come to fruition shortly.

[thebrassnuckles]

surprised. If you really want a .50 cal, I believe that the Mad Scientist Wildcatter has something up his sleeve that will come to fruition shortly.

[2zero6]

http://450bushmaster.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=858&start=0&hilit=510

[wildcatter]

Another reason to switch from the generic low pressure 50 to the 450b case is...To the sounds of trumpets blaring and a long drum roll.. I completed the final paper work that was started more than a year ago, to protect a large series of cartridges based on the 450b, which is sure to further convince anARchist's and to totally tweak the 206's sensibilities. The first one will be a 6.5, shooting Sierra's 140gr W/.535BC or Hornady's 6.5mm .264 140 gr A-MAX® W/.585BC, either bullet at speeds well in excess of 2800fps and I've seen speeds over 3000fps with the longer barrels..and Now the Clash of Symbols!!!!

Watch, 206 is gona start bellyaching (wink) or he's gona start making withdrawals for the local liquor stores (wink-wink)..t

[2zero6]

Darn...now I really do have to sell the race car. Funny thing is I was actually thinking about the possibility of a necked down version of the .450 just 2-3 days ago.