A braked .50 cal. from Elkman

[Richard]

Hi Richard!

Just got back from the range! I wanted to shoot this 50 cal again before I did any chopping on the barrel. Or go to the bother of bedding the gun. because this gun has a tapered recoil lug and it doesn't fit very well in the stock.

I thought I would try some H4198 because I had a pound of it. I loaded 70 grs of H4198 a Hornady SST 300 gr bullet and I used a orange sabot like the ones used on the .458 Barnes bullets also the black sub base and a CCI 209 Mag primer.. You need the sub base to shot a sabot gun with a muzzle brake.

The barrel is Green Mountain barrel and it has a tight bore. .500 x.510 S/S 1-28 twist. Unfortunately they don't offer a taper barrel its a straight 1.220 so I had to turn it down to the taper I wanted. The barrel is really well machined very smooth they claim .0002 on the bore It loaded very smoothly with the right sabot combo. which is also limited with a tight barrel.

.(Without the sub base the sabots shred and the bullets key hole ever time)

Well the test target shows a 3 shot group. No fouler shot or any cool down time simply shot and load. I believe if I bed the gun and knurl the bullets slight the gun would really shoot small groups.

There is still a big gap in performance between the 50 cal with sabots and a 45 cal without. the 45 cal will win hands down. But this test showed you can build a 50 cal with a muzzle brake that does work. I would caution anyone about putting a screw type brake and shooting sabots. Harrell's sells one but if you have to much of a gap between the muzzle and the entrance of the brake you could have serious problems.

This brake is part of the barrel and then I reamer the brake and polish the inside. the holes are 5/32" in this layout. I use a 33/64 reamer which only removes the lands . The brake does reduce the recoil quite a bit. If the holes were larger it would be more efficient . But you need small holes so it reduces the chance of any sabot petals getting snagged. Its funny the 45 cals require a wad of some type for best accuracy and the simple little sub base cured the muzzle brake problem.

I hope this test may help someone who is thinking about a 50cal with a brake.

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[onebentarrow]

Thanks for the post. You answered a lot of questions I had in the back of my mind.jow much did the brake lessen the recoil? Do you think a wad under the 50 would work to stop the shredding on the sabot?

[rangeball]

Elkman, with that tight a bore spec if you wanted to shoot sabotless I be the Thors would shoot lights out for you. You could then enlarge the brake holes even more but that would make it a sabotless specific gun.

[elkman1310]

I bet the Thors would work. But a lot of people have never heard of them. So the project gun was a way to see what would work and what won't. Its even possible if I experimented with larger holes on the rear of the brake more gas would get out of the brake quick enough that it would not harm the sabot.

The 50cal is still the muzzleloader of choice for the average shooter. When I first tested the gun I tried 5744 and it shredded the sabots even at lower velocity. So I believe sub base gives the sabot with the bullet enough time to get through the brake before the gases have a chance to blow it apart. The brake could be made a little shorter and that might help also.

Like I said this Green Mnt barrel is tight. But that's what Pac-nor and other list the 50cal barrels to be so As long as you use the orange sabot you can use most .451 or .452 bullets. the .452's fit a little tighter which should help accuracy.

I don't know how long I will keep this barrel on because I shoot all 45 cal guns now. And I only have two actions left to build guns on. I wish GMT would offer a 45cal 1-20 turned down to our spec's. I talked to them about it and so far they are not interested in making changes to the production. Oh well.