50 Beowulf Woes, Again

[kmk1012]

I gave up on my first attempt of an AR chambered in 50 Beowulf that was assembled with premium parts, twice. Multiple barrels, bcc's, upper receivers, tons of different mags, gas blocks, buffers, buffer springs, ammo, I'm sure I've missed something else. So, I decided to try a BCA complete factory built rifle just to give one last shot. I now FIRMLY believe that this cartridge will never be reliable in any AR platform. The issue, always, every time, has been that when a mag is inserted and the bolt dropped it will not go into battery. I try both methods, bolt release and pulling charging handle to release. Here's a pic of what happens, alway, every time regardless of brand of ammo, gun, BCG, magazine.

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[kmk1012]

Here is a pick of then brand new rifle in the garbage. Almost left it there but was told it's be a crime to leave it there, LOL.

 

[Xaevian]

You are persistent, I will give you that.

 

[Erick]

So you tried a complete rifle from the bubblegumtiest manufacturer on the planet, and it doesn't run... Hmmm, well color me surprised

 

[kmk1012]

So you tried a complete rifle from the bubblegumtiest manufacturer on the planet, and it doesn't run... Hmmm, well color me surprised

I knew that was coming, surprised you beat the other guy to it. Anyways, I'm looking for actual experience, have you tried one of these? If you read my post this was pretty much a throw away attempt, Hail Mary if you must, thinking if quality parts didn't work FIRST then I'd try as you call the bubblegumiest (is that a word) company out there. I appreciate your lack of help, just surprised you were so quick and beat them to the punch.

 

[Erick]

I knew that was coming, surprised you beat the other guy to it. Anyways, I'm looking for actual experience, have you tried one of these? If you read my post this was pretty much a throw away attempt, Hail Mary if you must, thinking if quality parts didn't work FIRST then I'd try as you call the bubblegumiest (is that a word) company out there. I appreciate your lack of help, just surprised you were so quick and beat them to the punch.

When I built my 458, I knew it was a finicky caliber so I wanted the best odds of having a trouble free experience. I bought a VLTOR lower and a WC upper, barrel and bolt from Tromix. It runs like a Swiss watch. I see people using BCA, radical, etc and have nothing but issues. If you want to have a gun that will just run when you need it, buy better parts. When messing with the oddball calibers, spend the extra dough... It's not just a roll mark

 

[Capn Jack]

Had problems with my .458 SoCom going 98% into battery, far enough that the hammer would drop, but nothing would happen. The action would then be locked up and I would have to , "Mortar" a live round out of the chamber, Hairy Business".

I ordered a chamber die from Marty and found out my new sizing dies were out of spec.
I replaced the dies and now I give each round a, "Plunk" test before and after loading. No more problems.

 

[TTSX]

When I built my 458, I knew it was a finicky caliber so I wanted the best odds of having a trouble free experience. I bought a VLTOR lower and a WC upper, barrel and bolt from Tromix. It runs like a Swiss watch. I see people using BCA, radical, etc and have nothing but issues. If you want to have a gun that will just run when you need it, buy better parts. When messing with the oddball calibers, spend the extra dough... It's not just a roll mark

That was also very helpful

 

[dinky450]

I did a cheap build on a 80 lower. Only issue I had was short stroke due to too heavy of a buffer weight. If you were closer you could take a look at mine. You have the correct bolt right grendel type 2?

 

[Mike7b]

You said you changed bcg, who makes the bolt? Also you said ammo, I'm assuming store bought, not hand loaded. There's a group on Facebook, 458socom misfits, misfits means all the bubblegummist brands out there. Lots of good information there on how to make them work that's applicable to 450bush,458socom and the Beowulf. I bought a bca Beowulf, just to see if I liked the caliber, I do and it ran good so I bought another in pistol length. Both run very well, over five thousand rounds thru each of them. Only hiccups I've had was fine tuning my handloads, some bullets were finicky, trial and error. As mentioned, a plunk test is a good idea.

 

[Member 66298]

I use and Alexander 50 beuwulf case guage. Its spendy at $50, but works well. I have some fired brass that won't resize no matter how many attempts and won't chamber after loading. I now use the case guage after sizing and then again after completing a loaded round. Never had a problem with my BCA with ammo that passed a plunk test.

 

[kmk1012]

When I built my 458, I knew it was a finicky caliber so I wanted the best odds of having a trouble free experience. I bought a VLTOR lower and a WC upper, barrel and bolt from Tromix. It runs like a Swiss watch. I see people using BCA, radical, etc and have nothing but issues. If you want to have a gun that will just run when you need it, buy better parts. When messing with the oddball calibers, spend the extra dough... It's not just a roll mark

Better parts is exactly where I started, as I wrote in post #1. I gave up on them and thought I'd try it out. Thing was $400, that's not even as much as I spent on my let barrel. I don't want to keep going around with someone only looking to bash a company vs actually reading the first post.

 

[kmk1012]

Had problems with my .458 SoCom going 98% into battery, far enough that the hammer would drop, but nothing would happen. The action would then be locked up and I would have to , "Mortar" a live round out of the chamber, Hairy Business".

I ordered a chamber die from Marty and found out my new sizing dies were out of spec.
I replaced the dies and now I give each round a, "Plunk" test before and after loading. No more problems.

You just described what happens to both of my rifles with factory ammo. This is with three barrels and matching bolts now. What are the odds that three are out of spec? That is my kind of luck. I have a case guage but I'll try a chamber checker now.

 

[kmk1012]

I did a cheap build on a 80 lower. Only issue I had was short stroke due to too heavy of a buffer weight. If you were closer you could take a look at mine. You have the correct bolt right grendel type 2?

All bolts were headspaced with barrels purchased. Even my Critereon hangs up and doesn't chamber. That's with factory ammo, even Alexander Arms.

 

[titsonritz]

I gave up on my first attempt of an AR chambered in 50 Beowulf that was assembled with premium parts, twice.

Define "premium parts".

If my goal was to have a reliable .50 Beowulf I would order a complete upper from Alexander Arms and be done with it.

 

[titsonritz]

When I built my 458, I knew it was a finicky caliber so I wanted the best odds of having a trouble free experience. I bought a VLTOR lower and a WC upper, barrel and bolt from Tromix. It runs like a Swiss watch. I see people using BCA, radical, etc and have nothing but issues. If you want to have a gun that will just run when you need it, buy better parts. When messing with the oddball calibers, spend the extra dough... It's not just a roll mark

When I get around to a .458 SOCOM, I'll call Tony at Tromix and have him build me an upper.

 

[kmk1012]

Define "premium parts".

If my goal was to have a reliable .50 Beowulf I would order a complete upper from Alexander Arms and be done with it.

Basically it is now a hodge podge of parts, including AA and then on to far more expensive pieces. This has been close to three years in the making, trying to diagnose the issue and replacing this or that. Reading a lot of what prior posters have recommended and going with what was found. Really doesn't make sense, at least to me. I'm not just some person who blindly replaces things or will not put thought into something. People who are close to me come to me to help with issues, I tend to be a problem solver, I'm just stumped on this. I'm about to trade both rifles for a set of sewing needles, just so I can have a new challenge

 

[osprey]

The problem with the 50 beowulf and other big bore cartridges like 458 socom is they are not saami spec cartridges. Therefore, nobody has the exact same set of drawings to build chamber reamers or ammo with correct tolerances. Your ammo is out of spec for your chamber or your chamber is out of spec for your ammo. I would start with using a sharpie to black out a cartridge and figure out where the interference is. You could possibly try different ammo that will work with the bca chamber. If you are a reloader and you can find dies that will adequately size the brass you may be able to make ammo that will chamber. That is assuming the neck, throat and leade areas of chamber are not cut grossly undersize. I know you don't want to hear it, but bca had to reverse engineer their 12.7x42mm reamers to start with and the also may use them to chamber too many barrels and not replace them often enough. This will lead to a chamber with tight dimensions and bca's reputation for qc is not stellar. They are an AR puppy mill. I do subscribe to the buy once cry once theory and if i ever decided to get a beowulf it would be a Alexander arms complete upper or built with their barrel and bolt. I have built 2 458 socoms, a 16" rifle and a 10.5" pistol, and they both run great. I of course used Tromix barrel and bolt combos for both. You could send it back to bca and hope they replace the barrel with one chambered on new reamer day by their best underpaid employee. Or, you can punt and order a barrel and bolt or complete upper from Alexander.

 

[Mike7b]

One of problems with bca is the bolt. Needs to be massaged a little for reliable feeding. The guy who runs 458misfits has a video or two posted there. Or buy a bolt from one of the recommended companies on their list. I have a 450bush that was doing the same as yours, that's when I found the 458misfits, trying to find reliable information. I didn't have much time available to mess with it and I wanted it to work, so I took their recommendation and bought a Sanders armory bolt. That was the problem. Now it feeds reliably.

 

[kmk1012]

One of problems with bca is the bolt. Needs to be massaged a little for reliable feeding. The guy who runs 458misfits has a video or two posted there. Or buy a bolt from one of the recommended companies on their list. I have a 450bush that was doing the same as yours, that's when I found the 458misfits, trying to find reliable information. I didn't have much time available to mess with it and I wanted it to work, so I took their recommendation and bought a Sanders armory bolt. That was the problem. Now it feeds reliably.

This is the kind of info I'm looking for. Later today I'll swap my AA bolt over and head out to the back yard and test. Thank you! Also, I'll look into the "misfits" LOL