Gun Thread

[nhgunnut]

Originally Posted by Adeptus_Minor

So did .458 SOCOM and .450 Bushmaster lose out in the big bore AR market?

Bigbore AR15 (45 cal or larger) seem to break out (as far as I know ) as follows

The 450 Bushy (good solid round) has not made much of a dent in the market. Introduced after the Beo and the Socom had established themselves .Commercial Ammo can be challenge (like the Beowulf) and the gun itself is produced by only 1 manufacturer.

The 50 Beowulf, Developed by Alexander Arms, the .50 part of the description grabs everyone's attention and draws in guys like me. When introduced it had the advantage of being a customer ready product. Walk into your LGS put your money down and leave with an Upper and Ammo. The round itself is 12.7x42mm using a rebated rim that uses a mildly modified 7.62x39 bolt. As it currently stands Only Alexander Arms makes the .50 Beowulf. However a few other company's will sell you Barrels , and bolts in the 12.7x42mm caliber (wink wink) Load options, were initially pretty limited but because of the advent of the .500 S&W if you are a home loader you now have lots and lots of options.

The .458 Socom kind of lost out to the glamour of the .50. At its introduction this round one a tough one to get into and if you wanted one you went through custom shops like Tromix to get one or build it your self .But from the outset load options for the 458 were more plentiful. and while I don't own one I believe there a a few companies offering ammo This cartridge is gaining popularity as evidenced by Rock Rivers production of a affordable production carbine and Upper in this caliber.

Keep in mind than none of these rounds are long range cartridges. They all approximate, the old 45/70 round. is they are thumpers that work well inside of 200 to 250 yards.
Personally if I were entering this market today I woud be looking hard at the RR 458