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It would probably have to weigh 25-30 lbs and still wear a brake to be shootable. A 577 NE shoots a 750gr bullet at 2,000-2,100 fps at the muzzle, whereas a BMG gets to 2,850 fps or so with the same weight bullet. The chamber pressure for a 50 BMG is about 54,800, so it would take some serious metal thickness and strength to house that in the end of 2 pipes, as a DR doesn't have an action, per se.

Lots of power, for sure, but building one into a suitable DR platform would be a trick.

Got a .50 BMG now, have owned others and built one once; shoot it and DRs as well. I can tell you, there is no comparison; velocity is much higher for the bmg, as stated above, as well as pressure. As for weight, a .50 bmg can be relatively light if you have a big muzzle brake. I mean it can weigh 25 pounds. Building a DR for a bmg would simply require a massive action and rifle weight. There is no reason to do it but it could be done.

Even if you made one. You would not be able to hunt with it overseas due to ammo restrictions.

That said, with a rim, it might be a cool cartridge.
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Even if you made one. You would not be able to hunt with it overseas due to ammo restrictions.

That said, with a rim, it might be a cool cartridge.
Cal

A double rifle made for the 50BMG is about the dumbist idea I've encountered in my 54 years of owning, shooting, and hunting with double rifles since I bought my first one in 1958.

The 50BMG cartridge not only developes too much chamber pressure, but is a belted rimless cartridge, and would weigh so much it would need wheels and a trailer hitch a d a Jeep to move it about in the bush, not to mention it would be illegal as Cal says because of the ammo restriction.

As afar as the case being modified to make an interesting cartridge in a serious hunting rifle, it could be made into a good single shot big bore by simply shortening the case to 2 3/4 inch and open it up to 577 for a big single shot rimless belted 577NE for a drop block single shot! The 577 solid could be pushed just about as far as the shooter could stand the recoil!

Right off hand I can't think of a better way to build a useless double rifle than to chamber it for a 50BMG cartridge!
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.50 BMG is not belted; it is just rimless and headspaces on the shoulder. It is a scaled up 30-06, which is what John Browning did when he designed it. If you shortened it up, you would have to headspace on the case mouth; or make it a bottleneck; it would need to be necked down to fit a .577 bullet into it. You would have a very strong case as the walls are quite thick. As you can see, it fits nicely into a 12 ga chamber. The case is 3 inches from base to start of shoulder.

I'm sure Bailey Bradshaw could build one and engrave a T-rex on one side. !!!

I have a fair amount of experience with the 50BMG in shoulder fired rifles.

The one line answer is, that it is just not designed as a hunting cartridge.

It is is great for War, and as a 1000 yard 50 BMG match Sporting cartridge.

MacD37 "]A double rifle made for the 50BMG is about the dumbist idea I've encountered in my 54 years of owning, shooting, and hunting with double rifles since I bought my first one in 1958"
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I couldn't agree more with MacD37. When a double .577 or .600, or even a smaller caliber will do anything you would ever want to do, why even think about anything bigger? Some men have way too much free time on their hands, to think about the dumbest ideas, in my opinion!

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
I have a fair amount of experience with the 50BMG in shoulder fired rifles.

The one line answer is, that it is just not designed as a hunting cartridge.

It is is great for War, and as a 1000 yard 50 BMG match Sporting cartridge.

I will also add a 50 BMG is great for planes, trains, and automobiles...

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
.50 BMG is not belted; it is just rimless and headspaces on the shoulder. It is a scaled up 30-06, which is what John Browning did when he designed it. If you shortened it up, you would have to headspace on the case mouth; or make it a bottleneck; it would need to be necked down to fit a .577 bullet into it. You would have a very strong case as the walls are quite thick. As you can see, it fits nicely into a 12 ga chamber. The case is 3 inches from base to start of shoulder.

You are absolutely correct dpcd,no belt!

The last time I had anything to do with a 50 BMG was in 1953 fireing four long barreled 50s sitting in a turret on a M16 half track shooting at at airplanes, and 1500 yard moving ground targets!

I assure you that was not sport hunting!

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Thanks for your service. That must have been in Korea; I was in Korea as well ( a few years after '53) but I wasn't shooting at airplanes and no one was shooting at me. I did witness a few bar fights however.

Before I bought the double rifles I already had two 50BMG rilfes (Mc Millen 87R and a Steyr HS50)

The 50BMG need about nearl double of the powder a very large DR caliber 220 to 250gr. The primer is by far larger (in a DR that would cause extra large sidelocks) and the rifle is in boltaction design 22lb (very light rifle).

A 50BMG rifle is nearly not shoot able offer hand, because too long and heavy. Caused by the higher pressure there is much steel around the chamber and that adds weight to the rifle. A 50BMG action is nearl the weight of the DR.

The African game cartridges are all short range rounds which cam be build heavy rifles around not too long and too heavy.

With a DR you have no chance at 1000y and with the 50BMG rifle you are too slow on the African hunt.

The DR in 50BMG would weight over 32lb, to get velocity out of the round you need a min 28inch barrel which is then still short, but 34 or 36 is too heavy plus Muzzelbrake too long. There is no experiance how the muzzelbreak would effect the demibloc construction. Because there is then also some force to the opposit direction (while passing the MB)

A 50 BMG double may be impractical for a number of good reasons but people build lots of other impractical things. Someone may as well make this one if they have the cash. BTW, the lightest 50 BMG on the market weighs about 14 lbs. You could zip tie or duct tape two of these together in left and right bolt for a 28lb 50 BMG double rifle with detachable magazines.

HSM was producing a hunting load for the big fifty, as do a few specialty munitions manufacturers, while some use Hornady 750-grain AMax pills. In a DR, I would think that regulating it would be a near impossible feat, though possibly entertaining to watch someone try. In terms of the action....The bolt of mine (Barrett) is an interrupted thread pattern, of sorts, and it features 15 miniature, though effective, lugs. At the end of the day, I am thankful for each and every one of the fifteen.

There are some working with what is called the 12ga F/H (from he&%) using 50 bmg brass and a rim swaged on the case and it blown out almost straight. Using bolt actons and rifled barrels, they are getting some pretty good horsepower out of them. don't remember where I read about it, but the performance was impressive

I too thought this would be nifty, about 15 years ago, before i fully understood big cases and double rifles.. they operate at VERY low pressure and therefore low boltthrust

here's the problem -- its called bolt thrust -- never mind recoil and weight, the problem is bolt thrust, which is simply maximum ID of the case, in sq/in * psi the case operates at 55,000 psi, as compared to 40K for lots of nitrocases...

and that ignore import restrictions, but you could do one on a .585 x bmg --- but would have trouble with pressure, again,,, and weight...

could it be done? sure... would it be practical? not for hunting

Double rifles were designed to deliver a large caliber bullet with moderate pressure in tropical heat. The theory being that you got two rounds, no matter what, to settle things, at close range.

As we have seen in YouTube videos the 50 BMG is not a close range Cartridge.