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The .510-caliber 50-140 Sharps 3.25" aka .510 Nitro Express: Something for Everyone
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This is an attempt to revive a sadly dead forum.

There is something for all interests in this cartridge.

BPCR competitor:
Do it in a hammer gun and use only cast lead alloy bullets with bare bases and SPG lube with black powder.
Shiloh Sharps are .509-bore for 50-140, Pedersoli Sharps are .512-bore for 50-90.
Surely a .510-bore would be legal.

Non-BPCR-competitor and bon vivant (yep, that's me):
Use a Ruger No.1, and load it like the BPCR competitor for smokepole fun,
or use BP and gas-checked cast boolits,
or use smokeless and gas checks,
or load it with the same loads as a 500 Nitro Express 3-Inch.
All 500 NE 3" loads will be safe in it, it is a few grains bigger in case capacity.

(Below is a brief excerpt from the 7th Edition of CARTRIDGES OF THE WORLD, 1993 publication, by Frank C. Barnes (1918-1992, R.I.P.)/Edited by Mike Bussard, page 207,
for book review purposes.)

Book Review: Great book. I have all 13 editions, first published 1965, last one published 2012.
Cartridges come and go in the listings of COTW, I doubt this cartridge will ever be dropped due to size limits on the book.
Included first in the 7th edition of 1993, it is still there in the 13th edition of 2012.



The fun part is the .510 barrel choice:
1:20" is standard for the 500 NE,
1:22" might be my choice for 780-grain cast lead boolits (bare base or gas-checked) and workable for 450-grainers on up to 780-grainers.
1:26" would be great too, like Pedersoli uses on the 50-90 Sharps,
and I think there are even slower twists available, ready to order.
The .510-caliber barrel has more choices than any other I can think of.

What is the best twist choice?
Any comments to show proof of life for this forum would be appreciated. Wink

Brass: Captech will be making some again someday for the 50-140 Sharps 3.25".

I need some of that in hand before I can get a reamer made and pick a barrel twist.
I think Bob Schniedmiller and D'Arcy Echols were using BeLL, BELL, MAST or whatever it was called sometime before 1993.
Neck thickness of current Captech brass loaded with .510-caliber bullets must be measured.

I think that Captech brass should be as good as it gets for uniformity of loads for either BPCR competitor or,
serious hunter or playful gunnut trying for long range accuracy with whatever powder and bullet.

There is no excuse for claiming 50-140's are inaccurate based on brass being irregular, or that brass is weak, if Captech is available.
Yep, it would be good to 60,000 psi,
and so would a Ruger No.1.

And then there is the matter of throat for the reamer ... coffee



http://www.hagnrifles.com/

Here is a .500 NE Hagn rifle:
Good wood, grain flow in the grip. At least they got that right!
The lines of the action have changed some since 1993. The Hagn is almost as pretty as a Ruger No.1 now. hilbily











 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Here's a 50-140 C Sharps LR Sporter, 34" heavy octagonal barrel, pewter nosecap, wood upgrade, DT, windage-adj front sight with level, tang rear, polished action. It will be on its way to France when the paperwork is completed.




 
Posts: 20072 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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One of the cheapest ways to a big .50 cal would be to buy a Win/Miroku High Wall .50-90 BPCR and rechamber it.
 
Posts: 13978 | Location: http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/tarawa2.jpg | Registered: 03 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by NONAGONAGIN:
What more can be said about the Hagn designs.

Yep, almost as pretty as a Ruger No.1 is what I say. hilbily

Graybeard under the NEF section has a few bits on the few 50-140 NEF's that were rebored...I think Beartooth has some bits...and the BP forums have something to say...generally not welcoming...not many BP'ers like the large capacity for many reasons.

I think they are just recoil sensitive. That is why they are BP'ers. Wink

My Armi Sharps has a 1-18 twist and will stabilize bullets to 2.1" long from ~1300 fs up.

I thought about rechambering my Armisport 50-70 Govt. 1859 Sharps conversion replica to 50-140,
but I quickly talked myself out of it: 22" barrel and 8.0 # weight and tiny curved buttplate.
Maybe i am recoil sensitive too...
nilly

My Accurate Molds design #51-705B with a pointy brass tip added runs 750-780 gr depending on the tip taper(wannabe A-max) is doing 2" at 125 yds with my bad sighting eye and relatively crude shallow open rear sight, at 1400-1600fs and expands to ~0.900".

Ah so! You are a bon vivant too, putting brass tips on bullets. That is darn good shooting with open sights and a bad eye!!!
Rooster Cogburn True Grit, does it get any better than that for anyone, any gun?
tu2

No 50-90 or larger Sharps replicas are being imported that I know of and my Quigley was discontinued 2 years ago, so falling block or break actions are would be the choices.

Dixie Gunworks had two Pedersoli 50-90 Sharps in stock, last month, so I drove over there one Saturday morning and brought one home. Pedersoli doesn't show them in their online catalog currently. 1:26" twist. 34" barrel and 11.75 # weight. Ripe for re-chambering to 50-140 but then i would not have a 50-90 Sharps!

Lots of 45-120's around, tho', in both smoke and non-smoke.

But I have a 45-70 that I can load hot with smokeless and gas checks to beat all those. The devil makes me do it. Whistling

I have 5 pieces of Jamison 50-140 brass I bought for a 50-140 project 5 years ago that didn't get born.

You are a lucky man, all set for dummying-up some cartouches. That brass is as scarce as hen's teeth!

I hope Captech hurries up...I'm itching to do a stub barrel on one of my NEF USH actions. The 12 and 20 GAFH's are fully developed with several slug weights in brass and plastic and I'm casting around for a another large bore cheapo to do, and that 50-140 case keeps getting in my face.

Ditto. You are crazy too, eh? I have two 12 GaFH 3.85-Inchers on NEF-ers, one 20 Ga Hellboy 3.5" NEF-er, and I am having a Ruger No.1 20 Ga 3.5"/.615 Nitro Express being built. Then a "400 Bateleur" aka .408/.338 LapuaMag.
A Ruger No.1 in .510 NE/50-140 Sharps 3.25" will be the piece de resistance .


Reamer rentals has a 50-140 reamer and throater, 4D has a reamer but no throater.

I believe they use the dDave Kiff PTG reamers? I have the drawings on those, two different ones, one "Shiloh" and one not. I don't think either is meant for .510 bullets, and I cannot be sure of neck dimensions until I have some Captech 50-140 brass.

Dies are available at Buffalo Arms made by CH4D and, of course, at CH4D.

Thanks for that. tu2

 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Biebs,

That C. Sharps 50-140 is kind of plain Jane and skinny looking compared to my bodacious 50-90 Pedersoli, but I would gladly let her eat crackers in my bed.





 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by SR4759:
One of the cheapest ways to a big .50 cal would be to buy a Win/Miroku High Wall .50-90 BPCR and rechamber it.


Excellent idea, but what is the groove diameter and twist on those?

I really have my heart set on a .510, 1:22" or 1:20" twist Ruger No.1 with a long barrel.

I already have a 500 A2 Ruger No.1 with 27" barrel, 29" with muzzle brake, that lets me get on paper at 942 yards,
from a sitting position with a long bipod out in the creek bottoms cow pasture.
I am not saying how big the paper was, and the Kentucky windage must cooperate,
for the 750-grain Hornady A-Max at 2126 fps with 110 grains of IMR-4350.



But the twist on that one is 1:10" and it is a bugholer with 705-grain AAA Harlow match bullets for 50 BMG.


I need a slower twist for 777-grain stubby lead bullets:



The above bullet does 1760 fps in the 500 Mbogo 3-Inch with 100 grains of H4831, and a 25"-long barrel that is 1:10" twist,
but only about 2-MOA for 3 shots at 100 yards.
Not accurate in a 1:10" twist as it could be in a 1:20" or 1:22" twist.

The 500 Mbogo 3-Inch has a few grains bigger case capacity than the 50-140 3.25" and the 500 A2,
the latter two are very close to the same in case capacity, I reckon, until I can measure some Captech 50-140 brass ...
 
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The ol´H&H .577/500 magnum could also be turned into a fine singleshot caliber..



Here a .500BPE 3" hammer rifle from H&H and a hammerless also from H&H in .577/500 magnum.


DRSS: HQ Scandinavia. Chapters in Sweden & Norway
 
Posts: 2805 | Location: Denmark | Registered: 09 June 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Jens, what kind of velocity are you getting in you 577/500 rifles? What is the weight of the bullet?
 
Posts: 20072 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hoyem, Vol. 3 page 68, shows .577/.500 Magnum Express 3-1/8" cartridge pictures (Jens' pictures are better).
Blurb below Hoyem's pictures;

"This cartridge appears to be the .577-3-1/4" necked to .500, resulting in a slightly shorter case. The Henry load at top has a copper-tubed hollow point bullet. Standard load was 164 grains of black powder and 440-grain bullet. The nitro-for-black shown below it had 52 grains of cordite and 365-grain bullet in the 1903 Kynoch catalog. A much later ICI listing shows 60 grains of of cordite and the 440-grain bullet. No full nitro rifles were made forthis cartridge."

But COTW says:

"The full Nitro load utilized cordite with an (sic) 570-grain cupro-nickel bullet."
Cordite charge and velocity are listed as "unknown" for the "Factory Load, Nitro Express."

What? coffee

Must have been in the 2100 to 2200 fps range, what?

Anyway, it was once a BPCR loading. tu2

I am having another potential BPCR Ruger No. 1 built now:

.615 Nitro Express, aka 20 gauge 3.5" with 920-grain lead slug:

 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Biebs:
Jens, what kind of velocity are you getting in you 577/500 rifles? What is the weight of the bullet?


The solid lead weighs about 505grain with gascheck. Velocity runs between 532-538 m/sec or 1745-1765 ft/sec. The 480grain hollowpoint does the same(no change in velocity apparently)
That load consist of 68grain N530 Vithavouri with 5/8" backerrod. Seating the bullet lightly compresses the backrod.
With this load I have easy extraction and seems to regulate. I will try later to add a little more powder.

This cartridge didn´t underwent a full Nitro conversion. I do have found where it was tried with 570grain bullet to a lesser load blackpowder og 140grain for long range.

The .577/500 magnum is it´s own case and it is not a sqeezed Down .577 case.

Here with a 440grain compared to a .270Wea:


DRSS: HQ Scandinavia. Chapters in Sweden & Norway
 
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Here is my .50-140. It is a Thompson-Center TCR with the fiberglass stock I built. The barrel in the barrel assembly was from a .50 BMG. It has a groove diameter of .507 so I use pure-lead hammer-swaged paper-patched bullets for it to get the correct diameter. My usual load for it drives 575-grain bullets at 1,600 + fps. The scope is a Leupold 2X compact. I've had it for quite a while but so far have not shot any game with it. I also have a load for it which shoots three .50 caliber balls and will pattern them in a few inches at 50 yards.

 
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That 577-500 looks like a round with enough power to use in Africa today. It's a fun gun to play with, as is the 577 BPE.
 
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