Hello fellows.

I shot my Beowulf for the first time the other day.  What a hoot!!  Ran into a few glitches however.  The recoil is so powerful, it broke my SureFire M900 Tactical flashlight bulb.  Looks like I won't be able to use a flash light on this beast.  If anyone can come up with suggestions for that fix, let me know.

Secondly, my bottom handguard would pry itself loose sometimes.  Wondering if there was a fix for that (i.e. a replacement for a more sturdy handguard/rail system.)  Any suggestions are kindly appreciated.

Oh, and who reloads?  I am thinking about doing this because $1 a shot is rather expensive.  Is relaoding easy?  I have never done it before.

P.S.  Would also like to add, that the hollow points were more accurate then the flat points while on the range.  I sighted in for 50 yards.  I didn't get a chance to shoot at 100 or more because my shoulder felt like it was getting tenderized!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Beowulf!

Yes, I consider reloading a necessity with the Beowulf.  It is quite easy, as long as you follow a few simple rules.

If you buy your .50 Beo dies from Lee, as I did, you will receive a sheet of load data.  I have only loaded Lil'gun, and I worked up to the data on the sheet.  This should give you as much punch as you will ever need.

Start out 10% under the listed loads, and work your way up slowly.   Load the cartridges to the length that they suggest.  Use the primers that they recommend.  Both Midway and Impactguns have the  brass and bullets available now.

No trouble at all!  If you own another, more conventional caliber, like 9mm or .38 Special, it might be best to start your reloading career there.  Still, there is nothing at all difficult about loading the .50 Beo.  Just remember to use their data.  I think that it would be hard to detect pressure signs in this cartridge.

Have a blast!

If you get tired of being spanked by those hot loads you can load some down a little. I'm a wuss so I put an Ace stock with recoil pad on my Beowulf and 458 Socom rifles. Enjoy

I have scanned the reloading data sheet from Lee, it can be found on my site at http://www.netassassin.com/reloading/50%20beowulf%20reloading%20info.pdf

I have loaded the 350 and the 325 at the suggested powder amounts.  Man what a blast this thing is to shoot.  Like the other guy I put the ACE stock with the recioal pad on it.  Sooo much better, I started shooting it with a colapsable stock and man it felt like someone punched you in the sholder every time with that thing.   So I switched the stock out... even the foam on the recoil buffer tube on the ACE is nice, cause that 50 will rattle you a bit if you don't have a good cheek weld.  The foam gives you a bit of  padding *duah* if shooting on the move and you squeeze off a shot when not in the best rifle welded position.

I shot a carbine competition with it a few weeks ago, about 120 rounds by the time the match was done.  I am 6' and 220# and it rocks me a bit when I shoot the beast.  But man can you see the holes on the IDPA targets.  Even wth the ACE stock I had a bruse that wend from my sholder halfway down my bicep.  The damage was done to the sweet spot you stick the rifle in, the rest of the uglyness came from the bruise simple spreading as time went on.  It was ugly, but oddly didn't hurt.  Using my arm for the next few days was interesting too.

The SO counted me a shot down on one stage because I hit the painted part of a target that was suppose to represent "hard cover" I dunno what that cover was made out of because a fully loaded 350 gr round out of that rifle will penetrate most anything and then keep going... maybe he was suppose to be standing behind a tank or something.  Cause a car, brick or cinderblock wall, tree trunk, etc would not have helped him much.   It was a zero shot though, all my shots that way were zero and ones... I had points down during the practical because I simply could not shoot that many rounds into several targets in the time given... all that having to aim again and force yourself to pull the trigger for the seventh time in a row kind of issue.  My time was dog slow, the reason for both was I had to force myself to shoot the targets after the first magazine or so, then everything went numb and I just was enjoying doing head shots at 15-25 yards and watching the burms explode behind the targets.

The range owner let me nail an old fridge he had.  *The old all steel kind that were rounded in the front, circa 1960s or so*  There were plenty of .223 holes in the front of the fridge, and none left the back... the beowulf put a good sized hole in the front, blew a big hole in the back, and then decimated some very large rocks that were on the hill behind the fridge.  I love this round!   I can't wait to use it on the wild hogs here in TX.

I use a dillon 650 to reload the rounds, you can't use the case feeder as the cases would lock into one another.  To use the dillion you will need the following parts from them (in addition to the Lee set for the dies)
1.) a 762x39 shell plate
2.) the same feed ramp used for 45 acp or 308
3.) the large powder funnel
4.) the 50AE powder die (you won't be able to use the lee powder die or funnel if you want to use the dillion powder charger.)

I can press out two hundred or so an hour simply because I treat the thing like loading a rifle case.  You will need to case lube the brass, and I clean my primer pockets but some may decide to skip that.  (it would sure speed things up.)

I would stick my light further back, or get the muzzle break for the rifle if you want to save on surefire bulbs.  and go with a free float rail system with a grip on it instead of trying to mount some of the plastic ones.  It will run you a bit more *well okay a lot more* but it is worth it and will allow you to mount your light anywhere along the forarm of the rifle.  So kind of a two birds with one stone thing.

Have noticed a couple of people have ACE stocks on their Beowolfs.  I'm in the process of getting  a .458 Socom, which I suspect is going to be pretty similar as far as recoil is concerned.  Just curious, why did you go with an ACE stock, rather than a standard A-2 stock?  I've been thinking of just adding a recoil pad to standard stock to cut down on recoil a little.

I don't think it's the ACE ARFX that they're attracted to, I think it's the fact you can easily attach a rubber buttpad to the ARFX...    On my .50 Beowulf I'm currently running a Shorty/Entry stock with a Bushmaster/Choate buttplate extender to get the proper length... I added a Colt H3 heavy CAR <5.5 ounce> buffer and a Wolff +10% action spring to help keep the recoil down.  I'm going to experiment with some mucho heavier buffers to see if recoil can be reduced further without shortstroking the action...



edited cause I kant speel...

Thanks for the replies, guys.  Looks like an ACE stock is on my list of things to get.

Mikeykid,

When I got mine the dealer threw in a red dot. 4 rounds blew the glass out. He replaced it with another of the same company, this one was killed in 10 rounds. I finally replaced it with a cheap Bushnell scope. That sucker is like a Timex, takes a lickin' & keeps on tickin'. I wish I had the ability to keep up with it, but at 65 years old & skinny as hell, it beats me to death. Gotta' sell it .
But I sure do love it!  

Quoted: Quoted: This is non-scientific, but my calibrated shoulder says it is true. YMMV.....

ROFL!!!  

Hello everyone,
new to teh site but Not new to the wonderful Black Rifle.
Saw where mikeykid was asking about reloads, I do alot of reloading for the firearms I heve.
Everything from .223 up to my newest baby the 50 Beowulf.
Took it out last weekend for the first time and I will agree, that thing is AWSOME!!
I haven't reloaded any rounds yet but the thing that interested me was that you could use the 348gr powerbelt aerotips. That is going to be an interesting round to try out , a 50 cal 348 ballistic tip.WOW.I can't wait to see what that will do.

Hey Swampman , I sent you an E-Mail about your Beowulf , I am interested in buying it, you did indicate that you wanted to sell it ,right ?    Thx ,  Pat

Quoted: Quoted: Have noticed a couple of people have ACE stocks on their Beowolfs.  I'm in the process of getting  a .458 Socom, which I suspect is going to be pretty similar as far as recoil is concerned.  Just curious, why did you go with an ACE stock, rather than a standard A-2 stock?  I've been thinking of just adding a recoil pad to standard stock to cut down on recoil a little. The foam padding riding next to your face does a little to eliminate cheek slap and therefore perceived recoil is cut a little.  The rubber pad is excellent for this design and even though it lightens the rifle it cuts recoil really well. The recoil pad to a standard A2 will set you back like someone who is 6'7" and has gorilla arms. 458 SOCOM kicks ass......Beowulf has a decidedly different and more "direct" recoil impulse.  This is non-scientific, but my calibrated shoulder says it is true. YMMV.....

Well my shoulders not too calibrated but I will definitely agree with you.
It is quite distictive isn't it ?
I tested mine out with the standard A2 buttplate and was just wearing a t-shirt.
had nice butt plate shaped brown bruise on my shoulderheHopefully it will, cause it a blast to shoot but after a while it takes it's toll on you.