They are a new outfit. Seems worth the price but it says they bought out zel customs but it seems they also redesigned it and made a safer bolt which is nice since it won’t fire out of battery.....or atleast so they say. It says a free floated bull barrel but do not state what steel they use. I don’t see much info and I’m considering one of these vs a safety harbor 50. I only see 2 videos of the same guy so I’m curious if they will survive long.

I’m also curious if they Get barrel blanks and make their own or source them pre-finished.

Any info on mccutchen firearms MF-50?

No opinion, but here's a link for anyone who would like to look at them: link

$2,045 for the single shot upper, $2,545 for the mag fed (5rd mags) upper, $3,295 for the single shot rifle, and $3,795 for the mag fed rifle. Still reasonably priced.

What’s interesting is that this morning I sent them an email asking for info on the barrel. I look at the prices and they matched what you posted. Now I refreshed the page and they raised the price to $2,795 for the mag fed upper. I probably won’t be buying theirs now unless they lower the price back down.

That was an introductory sale which ended, apparently.

They honored the price. I don’t know how long they will do that but I think it was due to me waiting for answers and I was ready to buy over the weekend.

That certainly bodes well for customer service, going forward. Good!

I purchased the single shot upper and on my first outing I had a problem with the bolt (function and tolerances). One email to McCutchen and they 2nd day aired a whole new bolt free of charge. After receiving and making another trip to the range the rifle is grouping 1" at 100 yards. Finish and overall function now is awesome and I previously owned a Zel Custom 50 and I can say this one is better. I have been using PMC and no sticky bolt and have had excellent grouping out to 900 yards.

With what ammo? PMC 660gr? If so, that sure sounds like a winner!

Yes the PMC Bronze 660gr FMJ. Couldn't find many reviews online so I thought I'd go for it and McCutchen also recommended it as that's what they fire through them. I'll try and get some pics up tonight of the group and rifle.

I have had mine for about 2 weeks now. I looked at it once and haven’t take it out of the box yet. I’m excited to try it but I just found out the hard way that I have no outdoor range to shoot this at. All the outdoor ranges told me no so now I have to find private property. I’ll get it out to an indoor range just for function tests within the next few weeks.

What yards and ammo was that group? Scope?

Mine looks the same except I have a different stock and mine is mag fed.

100 yard zero with PMC 660gr. The scope is a Vortex Viper HST 4-16x44 VMR1 MOA reticle with American Defense AD Recon SL single piece quick detach scope base. When I leave the range and store the rifle I remove the scope and have no issue with it returning to zero when placed back on the rifle. Also that group was made with less then 20 rounds down the barrel.

So let me put it like this.......

I fired this beast today. Me and a buddy put only a few rounds thru it. I went to a local indoor range and we had to warn the other people in the range first.

I fired 3 rounds and my buddy fired it twice. It was just a function test only and it passed with flying colors. This is the mag fed model that uses 5 round accuracy international magazines. I love the mag fed version. I know the single shot would have been just as fun but I’m a big fan of mag fed bolt actions.

We weren’t trying to sight it in since the range had people on it and we were trying to be thoughtful of others and the time they paid to be there.

Of the 5 shots, 75 feet (25 yards), bushnell elite LRHS 4.5-14x50. You can see it looks like 3 holes but the top 2 holes, the rounds went through the same holes. I believe once I get my scope dialed in, it will be insanely accurate. The scope used to be on a .308 ar10 that was sighted in for 100 yards but I sold that and decided to put it on the 50bmg. Ammo used was hornady 750gr A-Max.

I think anyone looking for a quality and inexpensive bolt action 50 bmg should definitely purchase one of these. The free floating 30” bull barrels are definitely nice, it is a little heavier but it wasn’t even warm after 5 shots. I have fired different brands and they all work great but the quality and out of the box factory mods are awesome! The only thing I wish this had was an M-Lok rail instead of keymod. The built in lower rail for a bipod is nice.

I mated this to an spare lower and a plain A2 stock. Now that I have properly function tested this, I’m going to get a lower from mccutchen and put a different stock on it. I think I would like to look into aftermarket trigger groups.

I went with the PRS Gen 2 with the McCutchen 1" pad adapter. All I can say is the pad adapter is definitely worth it. Glad to see you had a great experience with it. I'll be taking my out to 800, 1000 and 1380 yards in a couple days, let ya know how is does with non match ammo.

So when I said non match ammo I was referring to not shooting Hornady Amax. I will be shooting PMC fmj and Freedom Munitions fmj remanufactured which I have at good luck with landing first round hits out to 850 yards on 12" targets (rocks) using StrelokPro and my weather meter. When I purchased this rifle I did not have the intention of shooting matches or purely precision shooting and I don't see how it is ever a waste of time or money to find out how a certain ammo will perform in my rifle regardless of the distance I'm shooting. Remember knowing is half the battle.

Elevation - 2956'
Temp - 65 degrees
Humidity - 53
Pressure - 25.88
Wind - 5 mph

PMC 660gr FMJ and StrelokPro said 19.8 MOA which was correct. Got a hit on the second shot, the rifle needs a better muzzle brake. When shooting on higher magnification the eye relief lessens and with the recoil gets extremely close to making contact with my eye so I currently shoot it at 5.3 power, luckily I have good vision. Other factor could be the PMC ammo, the manufacture states around 3080 fps but with my current MOA adjustment StrelokPro says it's actually closer to 3150 FPS, don't have a chronograph.

Just received my upper and built mine up yesterday (It's so nice to have a company with these in stock, ready for delivery). I have to say I'm very impressed with mine, and can't wait to shoot it this weekend (if my ammo comes in on time).

My one "complaint" would be that I notice a bit of dragging as the bolt goes back over the hammer. It does seem to already be easier after just a few times cycling the bolt back (maybe two dozen). Does anyone else have this issue?

Are you using a notched hammer or a rounded hammer?

I would use a rounded hammer and actually polish that radius area and smear a touch of rifle grease on the radius.

I'll have to take a look which hammer it is. Thanks for the advise.

What do you all recommend for an upgraded trigger? I’m using a regular ar15 trigger along with their included hammer. Spring combos are as recommended per the manufacturer. Basically mine is stock.

Since it doesn’t use a disconnector, I was thinking about getting the Taylor tactical trigger adjustment screw to remove takeup and the lighter springs but I’m wondering how those will react with Barrett 661gr ball ammo.

I like the standard trigger supplied by McCutchen. There is a little creep which I do not mind, once the creep is taken up I feel a click and just past that point with a real light pull... BANG.

I might get the Taylor tactical takeup screw removal with the lighter trigger spring and see how it works out. The heavy hammer spring doesn’t bother me so much.

Anyone currently owning one have any new range trips or accuracy information?

Bump

bumpity bump

Someone commented on the need for a better muzzle brake.

I highly recommend and have installed several ArmaLite AR-50 muzzle brakes on non-AR-50 rifles. Most users have reported a 30-50% reduction of felt recoil using this type tank brake. To install the barrel will need threading to a 1"-14 TPI, which most times can be retro-fitted without losing any barrel length other than barrel crown cleanup.

I shoot an used and abused AR-50 with a 1:14 SS barrel from K&P which I mount and fit myself. Most of the ammo I shoot is Match-Quality reloads that I manufacture. I use CCI#35 Arsenal Primers, Alliant Reloder-50 powder, Lehigh brass solids of either 800 or 808 grain configuration. Most loads are at a max condition to point of blowing primer pockets on some softer brass I obtained years ago. Most current brass will handle the pressures very well. I try to shoot 2800 fps but with WS2 testing I was able to achieve a 3185 fps average - DO NOT ATTEMPT without proper use of the WS2 coating material.

Point is - my rifle and loads generate massive recoil potential - with the AR-50 muzzle brake holding the recoil to about 2.5" max with my 36" barrel. A shorter barrel will allow for the hot gasses to reach the brake sooner further reducing the recoil pulse and distance.
Use a good quality muzzle brake and enjoy shooting your 50BMG rifles. On a 3 day FCSA Match weekend I will typically shoot about 120 Match prepped rounds including the first day being sight-in at 1000 yards.

Note: I've heard the AR-50 muzzle brakes are hard to find currently, but worth the wait.