I am looking at buying a rifle in .50 Beowulf. It lists a 400gr flatpoint at 1800fps, and lighter bullets faster. The website says it is suitable for bear and buffalo, is that right? I don't have any experience hunting either.
Thanks.

go with the marlin 45-70 or handi rifle in 45-70 or 500 smith & wesson...

Never heard of an AR platform in 50 Beowulf jamming, mine certainly didn't. Did have a problem with some powders fouling, which lead to some jamming issues though, come to think of it. That is a problem with any AR in any cartridge, though.

The 50 Beowulf is, for all practical purposes, the equivalent of a 12 sabot slug. It is acceptable for deer, pigs, and people and that is about it! I certainly would not use one for big bears or buffalo!!!

Personally, I prefer a good 12 gauge with a rifled barrel and slugs.

I own one, so unlike others I have a valid basis for my comments. It will out perform the 45-70. Period! No it doesn't jam. It's very accurate( <1 MOA). Downside is it uses a proprietary case with an extremely rebated rim. Since it feeds as a single stack in the mag there are litterally no feeding problems. I would consider it fine for black bear and too light for Brownie's. With a red dot or aimpoint on it it is a formidable weapon. fast light and powerfull. With the right bullets I'd use it on anything I'd use a 45-70 for. -Rob

hey rob...

what is the max oal you can do with the beowulf???i do like this round but the 45-70 and 500 s&w is just more popular... i think with the amount of rounds you can let fly in a short time it is an awesome bear defense gun. hunting too. i'd rather have the ability to hit a bear with multiple 50 beowulf rounds than one or two with a 375 h+h

I would prefer the 458 SOCOM simply because it used .458 diameter bullets, which gives you an easier supply and more choices.

The .50 Beowulf is essentilly identical to the .500S&W with the exception of the rebated rim . I use the same loads in both of them. The rebated rim is necessary to work with the 7.62X39 AR bolt. Despite the ODD cartridge design it feeds through a std .223 AR mag pretty much flawlessly because the AR mag now is a near perfect single stack. Although the true Beowulf follower is better designed, a std .223 follower will work. With a 26 inch barrel it may be possible to launch 400 gr .50 cal bore rider bullets at nearly 2100 fps. In a CAR platform with an aimpoint you have a very lightweight seriously powerfull combo that can come close to the magic 400 gr at 2150 fps combo of the 450/400 Jeffery. I don't remember the sd of the 400 gr .50 bullets, but they are less than the
.40, .410 gr woodleighs so penetration will be less. You are limited in OAL by the case capacity and mag dimensions of the AR platform. The Beowulf does headspace off the case mouth like a .45 acp but that doesn't seem to cause any problems. Now if you take a AR10 lower and put a .50 Beowulf barrel on the AR10 upper and turn .50-140 brass into the equivalent of the .50 Beowulf ( rebated rim and trim to fit the AR10 mag) and then rechamber ( new cartridge .50 RLG Kalifornia ARNOLD) you should easily be able to drive 500 gr bullets to nearly the magic 2100 fps of a .458 win mag.
The advantage over a .458 win mag BAR or BLR is of course you can convert it back to a .308 or .243 with just a change to the upper. Assuming your lower was properly registered with the DOJ. Remember semi-auto don't appear to be legal for African hunting, but I'm betting a big Brownie will die pretty quick if you hit him in the right place with a .500 gr .50 caliber bullet at 2100 fps. Seven more right behind it, in a split second ( double taps) also sems quite reassuring to me. The light guns kick a mite, but way less than you think as you use heavier AR springs. Mine kicks like a 20 ga. Offhand at 50 yrds you can double tap just as fast as with a double rifle.-Rob

rob...you gotts to make that "50 rob"...it will be a hit!

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/rescources/calculators/php/density.htm

400 gr .500 s.d. .229
500 gr .500 s.d. .286

with a flat nose solid it will penetrate more than enough.

Nice round, only down side is the heavily rebated rim.Have had no jamming as of yet but truthfully all rounds carefully hand loaded. Have no experience with the socom so cant compare.