Hello from Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Brady rating=2  
Great forum! I've been lurking for
a couple of weeks now and decided it's
time to post something.
I'm in need of M33 Ball FMJ type bullets
in the 650gr plus/minus 20 or so.
I guess pulled surplus would be ok
IF they were re-sized. I need 2-300 or so.
Need to load up some ammo for
my friends and me to plink with.
I have A-Max$$$ bullets but they are for
ME ONLY!!!
Any ideas/links?

Thank You––
T.Williams
Oklahoma City, USA

Bushmaster BA50
NightForce 3.5-15 x 50 (NP-R1 reticle)

Great choice in rifle and scope.  I particularly like the reticle you chose.

www.polygunbag.com
www.wideners.com

I'd suggest you go with the South African ball bullets which polygunbag has in stock.  They're new, unpulled bullets and more consistent in weight that i've ever known M33 ball to be.  If you really need ball and can wait for 2-3 months, www.patsreloading.com has them.

-David
Edgewood, NM

I ordered 500 from Widener's.
Might take a couple of weeks
but at least they're in stock.
$260.00 shipped.
Those were the last items I needed!
Now to find some reloading data for that bullet.

Many thanks––-

You won't find reloading data so i'll give you the long and short of it.

690 grain SA ball bullets
CCI#35A primers
H50BMG or IMR-5010 powder
Starting load of 215 grains of H50BMG
Work up your load until it gets accurate or the bolt gets tight.  Once the bolt gets tight on extraction, you are near max pressure.  Back off 2 grains and consider that your max load.

Maximum load can vary by the gun but I wouldn't suggest going past 235 grains.  IN fact, you might max out in the high 220's.  Again, pay attention to the force required to open the bolt.  Guns vary and their is little to no reloading data available from published sources on 50's.

-David
Edgewood, NM

David,

For working up .50 cal loads, what percent increase do you suggest?
1%, 2%, 3%...?

My 7th ED Hornady manual (for comparison) is very conservative compared to the Hodgdon data.

I like working up in 3 grain increments which works out around 1.5%.  That's what I did for my ALS and I ended up with a 224 grain best load with Amax's out of my gun.  I don't think a bullet can tell the difference in any less than 3 grains with a massive case like the 50 BMG.  In fact, you could probably rough workup a load in 5 grain increments.  Pick your best safe load from that and then do a second test in 2 grain increments either side of it.

Bottom line, there's no point to work up 50 BMG loads in 0.5 or 1.0 grain increments because the damn load is so big it's a tiny percentage.  Doing so is fine if you're rich but most of us don't want to spend a fortune on bullets doing load development.

Not to say i'd work up near max in 5 grain increments.  When you get to 230 grains or so, I wouldn't work up beyond 3 grains at a time.

And FYI to folks, most guys find 750 grain Amax's shoot best over 215 to 225 grains of H50BMG powder.  The top FCSA shooters I know that use Amax are running 215 and 218 grains of H50BMG.

Of course others may disagree.

-David
Edgewood, NM

Thanks, that is what I was thinking of trying approx 2%.

What muzzle velocity should I shoot for?
"shoot for"––-get it?

I just bought 1000 CCI-35 primers. Wasn't aware of the
35A. "FYI, these are the primers that HAVEN'T had any bolt cutting problems like a few lots of the CCI #35 blue box primers."
http://archive.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=3&t=237440
Mine are in white boxes of 500ea (5 boxes of 100 white).
I'll also use the H50BMG.
I hope I'll be OK.

White box CCI#35 is AKA CCI#35A (A is for Arsenal).

Don't shoot for a particular velocity.  Shoot for accuracy.  Obviously if you have two loads that are identically accurate and both are at safe pressure (no tight bolt) then take the faster one as it will beat the wind compared to the slower one.  In my experience, Amax's fly well around 2500-2700 fps.

ETA:  Out of my ALS, I'm getting 2560 fps out of 750 gr Amax over 224 grains of H50BMG, CCI#35A primer, TZZ 94 brass.

-David
Edgewood, NM

I was looking around and I foud the "unsized bullets" for 50bmg.  do you have to somehow size the bullet before you load it? how is it done?  what would happen if you don't?

To size the bullet (assuming its ball or AP) spray a box of them down with spray brass lube.  Then use a .510 sizer die from LEE, designed for cast bullets and a standard press and push the bullets through the die.   Then tumble the lube off.  Wipe off the Lube manually if you are sizing API or Tracer as you shouldn't tumble bullets containing pyro material.  These sizer dies are about $15 from midway.  

The reason you need to size pulled bullets is that sometimes they get mashed a bit out of round when pulled from the milsurp ammo they were loaded into.  Pushing them through a sizer die returns them to round and if there are any pull marks, it irons them out to where they won't be a problem.

Shooting bullets that are out of round can lead to overpressure problems as the rifle barrel will have to swage the bullet back to round in the throat.  Shooting out of round bullets will likely result in excessive copper fouling as more copper gets smeared onto one side of the throat than the others, leading to uneven barrel wear.

My motto is to always size pulled milsurp bullets.  I don't size NEW milsurp bullets like the South African ball but I do size all milsurp bullets, even if the seller says they are sized.  Afterall, i'm shooting them through my gun, not his.

-David
Edgewood, NM

thanks for the info