.50 Beowulf or .458 Socom AR

[Bad13Luck]

Thinking about building a .50 Beowulf or .458 Socom AR. Any one every put one of these together? Is there an advantage to one or the other? Any tips, tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bad13Luck

 

[MassMark]

No, but that sounds awesome! Looking forward to seeing this come together...I think KMM696 may be building a SOCOM, so perhaps he'll chime in...

 

[vellnueve]

I believe Fooped has a .50 Beowulf... I think it was his that I shot at the last car shoot.

 

[whatluck]

I've never heard of .458 SOCOM, so I looked it up. It's got some interesting ballistics.

2405 ft/lbs on 300 gr at 1900ft/s
2664 ft/lbs on 600 gr at 1000ft/s!

Over a ft-ton of energy from a subsonic round!

I imagine you would have to reload, I've never seen .458 on the shelves.

 

[Chris]

Vellnueve,

That was my .50 Beowulf. (^_^)


Can't comment on which one would be a better choice. BOTH are exceptionally difficult to find ammo for right now. Even brass is a royal PIA.

Don't know much about the SOCOM loading, so I can't comment on it. If you search, you'll find a few posts I've made on the Beowulf loads.

This one was probably the most info packed about the round.

Eye Candy:

Treasure....

 

[Cuda444]

Fooped's AR is in 50 AE, I believe. I'm dying to get to the range with it and him - Apparently it packs QUITE the punch

 

[Fooped]

Yup, mine is in .50ae, and makes a significant bang. Uncle Fester has a .458 Socom AR PISTOL.

Yup, you read that right.

It's every bit as unwieldly and insane as that sounds.

 

[Snapshot]

458 socom takes standard unmodified AR magazines. The others require modifications. So if you already have a pile of AR mags, you won't need to buy more or modify them.

Uncle Fester has a .458 Socom AR PISTOL

Must try!!!

 

[jrbtzx12r]

I have no experience with 458 Socom, but I do own a 50 Beo. The 50 Beo is quite a beast and will do wonders for your shoulder .

Finding brass and loaded ammo is tough, but bullets and powder are pretty easy to find.

458 socom takes standard unmodified AR magazines. The others require modifications. So if you already have a pile of AR mags, you won't need to buy more or modify them.!

This isn't correct. There are plenty of people out there using preban 20 and 30 AR round mags (if your in MA) in unmodified condition. The feed lips on a Beo mag are barely noticeable. The only real difference is the color of the follower and the plate.

 

[boston_007]

Have you considered the 6.5 Grendel?

 

[Bad13Luck]

Have you considered the 6.5 Grendel?

No tell me more!!!!!!!!

 

[jrbtzx12r]

No tell me more!!!!!!!!

Go here to learn more about the Grendel.

I think the obtaining ammo and reloading components for the Grendel would be even tougher, but then again you'd have a really nice long range AR with some punch to it even though the round itself is seriously fugly .

 

[boston_007]

http://www.alexanderarms.com/grendel.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwtMo5-NU1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgrkp8N0HUs

 

[EddieCoyle]

You reload, right?

 

[boston_007]

Go here to learn more about the Grendel. I think the obtaining ammo and reloading components for the Grendel would be even tougher, but then again you'd have a really nice long range AR with some punch to it even though the round itself is seriously fugly .

It's a lot easier than you might think. Alexander Arms, Wolf, and most recently, Hornady manufacture ammunition. Components can be purchased from the usual suspects, Alexander Arms, Redding, Lee, Forster, and Hornady. The prices are comparable to shooting/reloading the .50 Beowulf or .458 SOCOM. The end result is a versatile, flat shooting AR.
Haven't you ever heard about beauty being in the eye of the beholder?

As with the .50 Beowulf and .458, reloading is a must. You'll have to figure that into your final cost.......

 

[Acme.Armament]

Have you looked at the 450 Bushmaster? I shot mine for the first time the other day and liked it . The round has nice balistics and is similar in size with the .460 S&W XVR.