A STRANGE CUSTOM WINCHESTER MODEL 70 - 50 BME CAL ? Descriptio

buckstix

buckstix

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Maybe a .50 Beowulf? ".50 Beowulf" is trademarked by the inventor, so anyone else modifying a rifle to this spec would need to mark it something else. The action length appears to be in the right range.

en.wikipedia.org

.50 Beowulf - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
That reminds me of a gunsmith I met years ago, that was loading 300 wsm with .500 bullets and I believe he called it the 50 BME, but then again that was years ago. Could be similar to the B&M cartridges, or maybe something different. Good luck on figuring it out!
 
Buckstix,
Contact Dennis Olsen up here in Montana, he built at least 2 50Bm express riffles. One o posted on here and a member bought it. I believe he can steer you in the right direction. As far as I can remember brass was 50 BMG shortened and the rim rebated.
 
I don't believe a parent 50 bmg case would function in a short action model 70. I think it may use one of the fat short mag cases. I will do a chamber cast as soon as I get it.
 
Check out LRH and search for "box monkey express". Member there did a 375 BME (he named it). Possibly someone took that idea and made a 50 out of the 375 RUM case that he started with.
 
buckstix said:
I don't believe a parent 50 bmg case would function in a short action model 70. I think it may use one of the fat short mag cases. I will do a chamber cast as soon as I get it.
Click to expand...


My apologies, I was thinking of the wrong animal, the rifle I was talking about was a 700 Express built on a McMillan action.
 
Wyfox said:
@michael458
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
No Thoughts..... Other than, it is not B&M related that I know of. With the cartridge based on a Short Action Winchester, and if correct a WSM action, then I would guess it would be a WSM or RUM based cartridge of some sort, similar to either the 50 B&M Super Short (WSM) or some variant of the larger 50 B&M (RUM). My guess only. Now, I do recall someone a few years ago doing a WSM based cartridge in .510 caliber as well, I do not recall what they named that?

I thought something might be listed on AmmoGuide, but a couple of searches came up with zero. Another broader search came up with nothing as well, only the B&M and the 50 BMGs........

No dies, no brass, no info, no nothing........... I find that odd with something like this, almost always there is something to go with it.

Buck, if you find it is indeed WSM or RUM based, and indeed .500 caliber, not .510 caliber, then it is possible some of my .500 caliber B&M dies would work for you. Happy to loan out a set if you need to try it out.
 
It'll be interesting to see just what you have bought @buckstix
Weird caliber rifles can be a lot of fun!
 
michael458 said:
No Thoughts..... Other than, it is not B&M related that I know of. With the cartridge based on a Short Action Winchester, and if correct a WSM action, then I would guess it would be a WSM or RUM based cartridge of some sort, similar to either the 50 B&M Super Short (WSM) or some variant of the larger 50 B&M (RUM). My guess only. Now, I do recall someone a few years ago doing a WSM based cartridge in .510 caliber as well, I do not recall what they named that?

I thought something might be listed on AmmoGuide, but a couple of searches came up with zero. Another broader search came up with nothing as well, only the B&M and the 50 BMGs........

No dies, no brass, no info, no nothing........... I find that odd with something like this, almost always there is something to go with it.

Buck, if you find it is indeed WSM or RUM based, and indeed .500 caliber, not .510 caliber, then it is possible some of my .500 caliber B&M dies would work for you. Happy to loan out a set if you need to try it out.
Click to expand...

I have a .510 WSM it is the .300WSM or one of the short mags cut off at the shoulder.

I use a set of .300WSM dies to reload but recently have been messing with my .50/70 dies.
 
Well, it looks like the mystery is solved. One of the forum members found the link below showing another 50 BME rifle that sold back in 2017. The listing said it came with 2 sets of Hornady dies. I called Hornady and they confirmed that they made the dies. They said the caliber was 50 BRIGHT MOUNTAIN EXPRESS. - 50 BME. They said they also made form dies that used the 338 Lapua case as the parent cartridge. Apparently shortened at the shoulder to 2.2" and opened to hold a .500 dia bullet. They said they could make me the same 50 BME loading dies for $265 with a 4 - 6 month delivery. I will wait to get the rifle in hand to confirm all this info.

 
buckstix said:
Well, it looks like the mystery is solved. One of the forum members found the link below showing another 50 BME rifle that sold back in 2017. The listing said it came with 2 sets of Hornady dies. I called Hornady and they confirmed that they made the dies. They said the caliber was 50 BRIGHT MOUNTAIN EXPRESS. - 50 BME. They said they also made form dies that used the 338 Lapua case as the parent cartridge. Apparently shortened at the shoulder to 2.2" and opened to hold a .500 dia bullet. They said they could make me the same 50 BME loading dies for $265 with a 4 - 6 month delivery. I will wait to get the rifle in hand to confirm all this info.

Click to expand...
Could you enquire if rock island could get in touch with the purchaser to see if they still have a spare set of dies you could purchase
Gumpy
 
Well, dies are ordered - 5-6 month delivery. I have 338 Lapua brass and .500 dia bullets coming. I bought some 338 Lapua ammo and made a single cartridge to see how it would look. I added a Karl Kaps Asslar/Wetzlar Ziellux 2.5x. German scope that I had laying around. Looks good.

50BME CARTRIDGE.jpg

50BME SCOPE.jpg
 
..... UPDATE ....

The first time I went to the range I wasted 10 shots trying to zero the Karl Kaps Asslar/Wetzlar Ziellux 2.5x. German scope. It has backwards dial makings. ->R means Left and ^U means Down. .... by the time I discovered this, the 10 rounds had been shot and all I had were velocities.

I went to the range again today to test a load that I found for the B&M Alaskan which has less case capacity. The load listed 65g Reloader 7 ... I started with 60g to stay conservative and expected 2,000 fps with a 350g Speer bullet. However, when I went to put the powder container away, I discovered I loaded with Reloader 17 - not Reloaded 7. (75 year old diabetic eyesight) Rather than pulling the bullets and starting over, (and since 17 is slower burning than 7) I shot it anyway. Velocity was only 1425 fps average and fire formed the brass nicely. The target is shown below.


50-BME-TARG.jpg
 
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