Can someone give me some info on the 50 A. E. and what types of handguns is it available in?Thank You.

It is avaialble in the Magnum Research Desert Eagle & AMT Hardballer (limited run) for semi-auto's and are available as custom jobs in large frame revolvers.
I don't own a .50 AE pistol but I do own an upper chambered in that caliber that spits out Speer 325gr HP bullets at 1700fps.

[ 05-29-2002, 18:55: Message edited by: BMG ]

BMG,
It is avaialble in the Magnum Research Desert Eagle & AMT Hardballer (limited run) for semi-auto's and are available as custom jobs in large frame revolvers.
I don't own a .50 AE pistol but I do own an upper chambered in that caliber that spits out Speer 325gr HP bullets at 1700fps.[/QUOTE]

I have a Desert Eagle in .50 AE made by IMI in Israel, is a great gun, very accurate.

As BMG told, the best handguns for this round is a custom built like Gary Reeder, Bowen,... or Freedom Arms. I have ordered one FA in .50 AE, I can reach with this gun more than 1500 fps with a 385 gr bullet. With my desert a 300 gr bullet at 1400 fps.

This round has a great potential, and more and more custom gun firms add this caliber to their list of calibers.

You might want to check the handgun hunting forumn, there was a recent discussion of the 50ae.

As far as info, it is a rebated rim straight tapered case that headspaces on the case mouth, basically an oversized acp round. The original design was for a .512" bullet, but the original barrels had shallow rifling, so allowed a .500" rod to pass through, and thus were classified by the BATF as a destructive device, and would require the same licensing as a machine gun.

The design was then changed to use a .500" dia bullet, and thus not be listed as a destructive device. I know of at least one T/C encore barrel that used the .512" bore and a fast twist, and fired 50 bmg projectiles, as well as other .512" projectiles.

I believe you can get factory t/c encore barrels in 50 AE, so that would add to the auto loaders and revovlers.

Could this round be done in an 1894 marlin lever or a winchester lever??

It would make an excellent close cover hog round.

The rim dia is identicle to the 44 mag, so you wouldn't need to open up the bolt. On the other hand, I believe the case head is .545" which is likely too large for the magazene. You'd also likely be looking at extensive mods to the lifter to get it to feed.

If it could be pulled off, it would be a very slick little hammer! I'd be happy w/ a 480 lever gun, I'm getting 400 gr @ 1200 fps easily in the revolver, with a carbine, I'd expect 1500 fps.

So the Marlin could be coverted to .480 now that sound alright to.

This round is also chambered by Freedoms Arms in their 5 shot revolver. In the Freedom Arms revolver the cartridge can be loaded to higher pressures than would be possible in an auto pistol.