Can anyone explain the situation with 50 Beowulf ammo?  Neither Cabelas or Midway have it anymore, is there a manufacturing break down, or similar?  I know there is some for sale on Gunbroker, but the prices are crazy.

Basically, yes the problems are on the manufacturing side.
If you buy pff gunbroker, you'll pay way too much and encourage the asshattery to continue.  There are people buying up beowulf stuff by the case and then cashing in on the supply shortfalls.  They are asshats, and so are the gottahaveitnows who perpetuate the cycle.

There have been rumors for a while about Wolf possibly producing ammo, but no fruit.
Starline is supposed to be making more brass, but again we will have to wait see.

check out 50beowulf.com if you want more detailed info, as there is more to be had there than on arfcom.

It would almost make me consider selling the beowolf now for way more then I paid and getting a .458S.
I just got more .458S brass from midway. plenty of bullets. Just no time to roll ammo and pull triggers

It may just be a blip.

I had a 50 beo and a 458S

1st I could not find any 50 beo brass.

Then I could not find any 458S brass.
Then marty hooked me up with some of his personal stock.

At that point I had hoped sombody would cook up a ar15 to shoot the 500 S+W magnum round.
Guess it wont happen though. Seems like if they could get a 410 shotgun shell to feed, somebody could figure out how to get a 500 S+W magnum to feed.

You have both the 458 and 50?  Which do you like better?  I have been thinking about the 458 or 450 lately.

You can just order it from Alexander Arms and settle in for the wait. In a response to me on another gun board, Bill Alexander had this to say:



That does make me wonder - does anybody have an idea of how many Beowulfs are out there?

yeah, but it was out of stock 15 minutes after the flyer left the press.  Beo stuff usually sell out the day it comes in.

Had both. I did like the 50 beo, but the bullet BC is lacking. Huge hole though.
I sort of like the even 1/2 inch thing.

I got a 458S next.Better bullets, better BC etc. Hawk spire points are very nice.

They are really both about the same as far as the end effect with the 458S winning out IMO
mostly due to bullet BC and SD. My 458 socom fed a little better too, and it has a shoulder to headspace off of.

If I do buy another heavy hitter AR15 upper it will probably be a 450B, just so I can maybe find ammo a little easier.
I used 50B and 458S mostly for CQ hog hunting so a 450B would work fine for that too.

I really wanted to do a 375, 416 or a 458 WSSM wildcat to get 2000 fpe at 200 yards, but I chenged my mind.
The platform is just too limited in mag length.

Ended up setting up a control feed savage 375 ruger that has tons of FPE and much better bullet selection thatn either.
Its a serious dangerous game round and the recoil is not bad at all. I do think I might up the anti though and swap to a 416 ruger.

.

"Seems like if they could get a 410 shotgun shell to feed, somebody could figure out how to get a 500 S+W magnum to feed."

Well, they really haven't got a 410 shotgun shell  to feed.  The "AR15" 410 really isnt an AR15.

That said, the problem with the .500SW in an AR15 isnt feeding.  It is bolt strength.

Couldnt you set it up in a modified oly wssm upper or the upper used in the 30rar with the big bolt head.

Aside from the bolt strength, feeding is the issue.  The S&W headspaces on the rim.  This means the chamber has to have a ring around it to support the rim, but small enough to still fall within the bolt face recess (the recess is deeper than the rim is thick).  Plus, this ring has to have a section removed to allow clearance for the extractor to rotate.  So you are now trying to feed a round into a chamber that has a sharp metal ring surrounding it and you are trying to do so with gaping hollow point stubby round bullets.  Note that the normal AR chamber has a chamfer to help guide the round into the chamber if it is not perfectly heading that way already.  Making the rimmed rounds feed is a BEAR, ask Tony, the 44 Mag uppers he built were finicky as all get go.

Then there is the minor mag issue, the 50B and 458S will single stack nicely due to absence of a rim (or a rebated one if you insist).  Having the rimmed 500 S&W stack will be a challenge, given the limitations and will require a dedicated mag.  While 22LR is cheap to shoot and folks can be persuaded to buy lots of custom mags for that caliber, the market for 500S&W will just not support that type of investment.

If someone REALLY wanted an upper in 500S&W, it COULD be done, but the cost would be outrageous and it would have to be someone's pet project.  A smith would end up having to charge way too much for R&D time...

Note on the 44 Mag upper from Tromix, you would think that with magazines available (from another platform) and a very well known and popular round, sales would have been outstanding.  Even following an article in Gun World, all of SIX were sold.  The .50AE far outsold it and after that arrived the .50B and .458S which vastly outsold the .50AE.

Interesting.

I did not think about that with the chamber and bolt with a rimmed case but the way you explained it makes
it clear why it would be such a bitch to build and at the same time make it reliable.