I just noticed a post on the single shot rifle forum about this round in the contender, and it seems like I remember an article some years ago in Guns&Ammo about this.

Has anybody had one, and did you like it. I think this would be one nasty thumper that just might be a must have.

Thanks

Cases are larger in diameter than .45/70s, and the pressure needs to be dropped even lower.

I maintain that .444 Marlin yields the most hp you can get from a Contender.

Other than satisfying the desire for a big hole, I could never see anything desireable about a .50/70. But I am being too pragmatic and spoiling your fun.

Mike

Pass on the Contender. Now an Encore.... Hmmm.... or a better/worse .50 Alaskan.

Hey guys;
I am the one that posted that in the single shot rifle area.

I have a 18" stainless S.S.K. barrel in 50-70-750 JDJ and it is great.

A lot of fun to shoot.I shoot mainly the 650 ball BMG ammo.Tracer and all of the pulled bullets you can get.

The dies are not cheap I think mine where over $150 and the brass is over $35 per 20.

Bullets on the pulled BMG bullets are about $1.00 a round.Then you have all the other .510 bullets you can shoot.

The 750gr Hornady Amax is great at long ranges and when it hit a steel target it sounds great.

Here are a few bullets and velocity that I have gotten.

650gr~~~~~1100fps
750gr~~~~~950fps

I have not shot any of the other ammo from Barnes or any other place because it is to much fun to shoot the big stuff.

Did kill a cow 2 years ago for a farmer.It had broke its leg and it had to be put down.It was about 100yds and I shot and the cow walked off and the farmer told me he did not want the cow to suffer anymore so we was going to walk up and put one in her head and she fell over.Before I get people mad at me for shooting a cow with a FMJ bullet it was all that I had at the time when I went to the farmers house to see if I could still hunt that fall for doves at his place.It was not my choice of gun or bullet but this was his milk cow that got loose and he just found it when I pulled up and he knows me and asked me to do him a favor.But it did but a .50 hole all the way threw her.right above her heart.You know a .308 expands to about a .50 just a thought.

It is a lot of fun to shoot but not cheap,unless you can get a bullet mould and cast your own bullets.

Wade

Plus the chamber walls are so thin, you can actually see the chambered round from the outside of the gun.

A friend of mine has a Contender for many years and he`s one happy guy with his 50/70 , not a logical choice , but FUN ! I have ordered an Encore bull barrel in that caliber for a friend and we loaded the very first rounds last week , with 525gr. cast bullets and N120 , if this is of interest to you let me know and I`ll give you the load data and our opinions !

A few years back I was rounding up components to make a 20 ga. rifle for hunting Illinois whitetails where high power rifles are not legal and non-residents cannot use handguns. I am no longer into flipping sticks at deer and never have gotten into stuffing muzzles.

My idea at the time was to first off NOT do it as a shotgun, but rather use 20 ga. brass shotshells, a quality rifled barrel, and set the darned thing up like I normally do chamber work with close tolerances and a cylindrical throat with long leade angle. In other words, I wanted ACCURACY, not just minute of 50 yard buck like most shotguns deliver. The letter of the law says 20 ga., and that is what the headstamp on the cases reads, even though it would in fact be a rifle cartridge. If challenged, I think it would be completely defensible, enough so that I would readily take the chance.

I swapped off the big Greener action I had and the Fajen stock set for it, but still have several boxes of 20 ga. brass shotshells and a chronic urge to resume the project on an Encore.

I had waited several years for my friend Dave Fansler in Montrose, CO to make me a 20 ga. barrel, but never got it before he sold out.

Now. If you want a big bore on the Encore, cogitate this one. Bullet diameter for 20 ga. is the same as for .600 Nitro Express..... .625" as I recall. If you just want to toss a big chunk of lead and have a legitimate need for the round to satisfy a state's goofy hunting regs, why not a 20 ga. rifle? So it is in reality a .600 Nitro Express, the cases say 20 ga. on the headstamp and fatories don't lie.

I don't know how well the thin 20 ga. cases will hold up, but it would be worth trying I think.

Just a thought.... for now.

Mike

Mike,

I like the way you think Pac Nor makes barrels for the 600 NE, which I believe is .628"?

I think Cartridges of the World showed .600 Nitro with a .625" groove diameter, but at this large diameter, a few thous. probably would not matter. I planned to shoot lead anyway, so bullets could be cast/sized to match regardless.

If a guy wanted to go crazy, I'm sure that Corbin about a half hour away from here at White City, OR would be glad to make up dies for swaging jacketed bullets whatever size one wanted.

BTW, Pac-Nor is on the coast at Brookings, OR and we will probably be down there next week. Family is coming in for a visit and talking deep sea fishing. If the salmon are running or schooled up pretty heavy in the bays, Brookings will be the only harbor running deep sea boats out. All the guides will be doing salmon trips.

I won't get to drop into Pac-Nor this trip, but one of these days I will..... may just pop for a 20 ga./.600 Nitro blank. It is just one of those things that needs doing..... just because I can.

Mike

Mike

Mike like minds must run along the same path,you and Ross S.have the same idea but he is looking at doing his on a Swede rolling block,sounds like fun tho!

I stand corrected, .620" http://www.pac-nor.com/barrels/

Still, very cool and an interesting idea. Any idea what type of performance it would be capable of?

If you peruse the big bore forum, there is a project going on over there to make a belted 600 NE, using the 577 NE case straightened out, w/ a belt, and the possibility of pushing 900 gr @ 2500 fps, though most folks will be happy with just 2000 fps.

Me thinks a 600 gr .620" cast bullet @ 1500-1700 would be more then enough.

As you increase the diameter of the chamber, you have to drop the pressure on the Encore. So what the potential is, I do not know.

I was not wanting to move any tectonic plates, but simply have a more accurate Illinois legal "shotgun" good for at least a hundred yards.

Now that I am tucked up here in the Northwest, I don't know when or if I will get to hunt in Illinois again, but the 20 ga. rifle still sounds like fun.

We have bears all around, a 5 month "fall" season, and I still have a hard time getting out to hunt close by.

I really do need to get out. Reports I am hearing indicates the 499,965 acre fire just west of us has in fact bunched the game up pretty well. Should be a good fall.

Mike

Got to thinking.

It was Ross Seyfried that triggered my thinking about the 5.6x50 R case. Years ago, back in the '80s, he alluded to doing something with a blown out 5.6x50 R case on a little Martini action, I believe it was. I wrote to him, but he never replied. Undaunted, I drew up my own idea of a maximized 5.6 x 50 R and when I came back from Desert Storm, had JGS make up the reamer set for it.

I have never met or talked to Seyfried, but we could probably get into all sorts of trouble if we did it appears.

Mike

Mike,

From a gun cranks point of view, Ross in one of the best, from a wifes point of view, he is one of the worst

Mike I also wrote him a couple of years back,and recieved a responce a few months back,from what he told me his mail was not forewarded to him from some of the gun rags he wrote for,so now I just contact him at the ranch address.

PaulH,your right my wife goes nutts any time I start talking about him,She says its his fault I bought the under hammer 8 bore,she wants to know when the damn ele's are coming