bushed primer pockets??

A

alinwa

oft dis'd member
This is a serious question.... has anyone here ever bushed 50BMG primer pockets to accept LRM primers? I'm quite sure that some of the flashtube experimenters who used to frequent this "discussion" board did it, and it's not actually a new idea.....

prim bush.jpg


But I've never done it.


anyone?
 
Tagged for interest

I've seen large primers bushed to small, but that's *quite* different to bushing a .50 primer to a puny LMR. I can't imagine it would work well (assuming a 'normal' BMG load), but I've been wrong before. There was that time in '87... ;)

GsT
 
Should be easy enough to try one

Just make a bushing and try one. Should light it up I would think. When I use to shoot Hunter cartridges I had both small and large primer cases and could never see any difference in the way they shot. Ive seen.others say the same thing here as well. I would think it a fun project to try at least.st thing that can happen is it won't work.

Pete
 
Pete Wass said:
Just make a bushing and try one. Should light it up I would think. When I use to shoot Hunter cartridges I had both small and large primer cases and could never see any difference in the way they shot. Ive seen.others say the same thing here as well. I would think it a fun project to try at least.st thing that can happen is it won't work.

Pete
Click to expand...

Yeahh I've spent a lot of time testing small VS large in 22R, PPC, BR, X47L and .308 cases while conducting my flashhole diameter testing. I found major, repeatable and predictable differences but no safety issues. In fact the last time I asked this question was before anyone offered a X47-.308 sized case with appropriate sizing!

Most of my original questions/discussion have been lost in The Archival Blights but a quickie search turned up this from 09 LOL

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?48293-Large-to-Small-Primer-Pocket-Conversion

In the case of the BMG my question is one of safety.
 
Not that it means much...

alinwa said:
Yeahh I've spent a lot of time testing small VS large in 22R, PPC, BR, X47L and .308 cases while conducting my flashhole diameter testing. I found major, repeatable and predictable differences but no safety issues. In fact the last time I asked this question was before anyone offered a X47-.308 sized case with appropriate sizing!

Most of my original questions/discussion have been lost in The Archival Blights but a quickie search turned up this from 09 LOL

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?48293-Large-to-Small-Primer-Pocket-Conversion

In the case of the BMG my question is one of safety.
Click to expand...

But here's a quick size comparison: (sorry, terrible pic, but enough to get the idea across)
primers.jpg

The difference between a small and large primer is nearly negligible compared to the difference between a large primer and a BMG primer. Again, I haven't tried it, but the worst that can happen isn't that "it won't work" - it's that a bullet gets stuck in the bore, the case doesn't obturate, and considerable hot gas is expelled back toward the shooter. Of course in the latter case you can see if and how well the action designer planned for that...

Given that I have only one .50, I wouldn't mess with it. But, if I had a bunch, and particularly if I had take-off barrels, I might cobble together a screw-breech "test gun" and try to work up a load, starting low, and with "soft" bullets (e.g. AMax, rather than mil pulls).

If you go down this route, I'm very interested in the results even though I'll likely never try to replicate them. (Based on my consumption in the past decade, I have a lifetime supply of "real" primers.)

GsT
 
GeneT said:
But here's a quick size comparison: (sorry, terrible pic, but enough to get the idea across)
View attachment 25408

The difference between a small and large primer is nearly negligible compared to the difference between a large primer and a BMG primer. Again, I haven't tried it, but the worst that can happen isn't that "it won't work" - it's that a bullet gets stuck in the bore, the case doesn't obturate, and considerable hot gas is expelled back toward the shooter. Of course in the latter case you can see if and how well the action designer planned for that...

Given that I have only one .50, I wouldn't mess with it. But, if I had a bunch, and particularly if I had take-off barrels, I might cobble together a screw-breech "test gun" and try to work up a load, starting low, and with "soft" bullets (e.g. AMax, rather than mil pulls).

If you go down this route, I'm very interested in the results even though I'll likely never try to replicate them. (Based on my consumption in the past decade, I have a lifetime supply of "real" primers.)

GsT
Click to expand...
Thanks Gene
 
Al, with all due respect.

If a large rifle primer (maybe a magnum primer) would work well enough to ignite all the powder in a 50 cal cartridge then why would a special large primer have been developed?

Just asking.

* doggie *

ps, I was asked to shoot a 50 cal Barrett M82 in a previous life to test the 'engineers' new recoil damper and muzzle brake.
Lying prone I slid back 1' with each shot and wore the bruises for a week. It was pretty hard on the eardrums too, even with ear defenders.

I am not a big bloke so maybe somebody whose knuckles drag on the ground can do better ;-)

* doggie *
 
I seldom was involved with the quad 50s in another life but I don’t ever remember a misfire due to ignition problems with the military primers. All this talk seems to be idle talk at its best.
 
doghunter said:
Al, with all due respect.

If a large rifle primer (maybe a magnum primer) would work well enough to ignite all the powder in a 50 cal cartridge then why would a special large primer have been developed?

Just asking.

* doggie *

ps, I was asked to shoot a 50 cal Barrett M82 in a previous life to test the 'engineers' new recoil damper and muzzle brake.
Lying prone I slid back 1' with each shot and wore the bruises for a week. It was pretty hard on the eardrums too, even with ear defenders.

I am not a big bloke so maybe somebody whose knuckles drag on the ground can do better ;-)

* doggie *
Click to expand...

ONE reason and one reason only..... I can't GET primers and when I do find them they are 1USD EACH.

A dollar for one primer.

My cost, wholesale from a trusted dealer with whom I've a 35yr history

I've been searching, had my app network searching and missed out on a couple "opportunities" but basically am looking at a dearth for quite probably years to come.

So...

In my development of these "Thing That's Never Been Done" rifles I need to fire them quite extensively. It's important enough to me, to my project that I just bought 500 primers for 500USD

I'll never do that again ;)

Regarding the "blokeness" of shooting these..... quite simply if the rifle kicks more than a 30-06, it's a FAIL

I don't do recoil.

If it slaps me like all others' brakes do.... it's a FAIL

If it doesn't make 1/4moa..... it's a FAIL
 
will a large rifle(magnum) lite a 50bmg case of powder in a timely manor ??

alinwa said:
ONE reason and one reason only..... I can't GET primers and when I do find them they are 1USD EACH.

A dollar for one primer.

My cost, wholesale from a trusted dealer with whom I've a 35yr history

I've been searching, had my app network searching and missed out on a couple "opportunities" but basically am looking at a dearth for quite probably years to come.

So...

In my development of these "Thing That's Never Been Done" rifles I need to fire them quite extensively. It's important enough to me, to my project that I just bought 500 primers for 500USD

I'll never do that again ;)

Regarding the "blokeness" of shooting these..... quite simply if the rifle kicks more than a 30-06, it's a FAIL

I don't do recoil.

If it slaps me like all others' brakes do.... it's a FAIL

If it doesn't make 1/4moa..... it's a FAIL
Click to expand...
 
What actually concerns me is a phenomenon called "detonation" which is so poorly understood that getting any good info is tough. Therefore I'm just asking for actual experience.
 
As a test

you might want to consider firing one without a bullet, that might allay some of the unknown and safety issues. Tie rhe gun down and light it with a string on the trigger. Before I knew much about guns, someone gave me a Winchester 86 action with the barrel cut off and nothing else that had been through a fire. It was marked 33 Winchester, as I recall. I didn't have any 33's but had a few 38-40's so me being an inquisitive child, I tried one in er! She fired it but I could tell the bullet didn't come out of it. It's been a long time but I don't recall much of anything adverse happening. I puzzled a long time as how to get that bullet out but finally over time found a steel rod and drove it out through the chamber. it came out quite easily. Dont's remember where that action went to but have oftn wished I still had it.

Pete
 
In the early 2000's, a local shooter the belonged to our range messed with the 50's. He used cases converted to use the 209-style shotgun primers in both his Barrett M82 and Armalite AR50 rifles. He mentioned that he'd sourced these from someone active in the F.C.S.A. (Fifty Caliber Shooters Assn.) That organization could be a resource if they're still active.

AAA Ammunition in Omaha, Ne. is a big supplier of .50 cal components.

For what it's worth...

Good shootin' :) -Al
 
Al Nyhus said:
In the early 2000's, a local shooter the belonged to our range messed with the 50's. He used cases converted to use the 209-style shotgun primers in both his Barrett M82 and Armalite AR50 rifles. He mentioned that he'd sourced these from someone active in the F.C.S.A. (Fifty Caliber Shooters Assn.) That organization could be a resource if they're still active.

AAA Ammunition in Omaha, Ne. is a big supplier of .50 cal components.

For what it's worth...

Good shootin' :) -Al
Click to expand...

Both still active resources.... thank you
 
Well so far two days of trolling the nets has only come up with one other mention of 209's in the 50BMG..

Quite a few folks have converted 50BMG CASES to 209 to use in milder loadings but only a guy in an old castboolits thread spoke of anyone actually lighting off 50BMG's with 209's...... this feller said with some authority that he knew of a guy named 'Tooly' (quotes are his) who did it gener'ly LOL

Hopefully this 500 pc I bought will get me to the stage I need to be........ ie "proof of concept" ........with a few left over for the SHTF
 
alinwa said:
Well so far two days of trolling the nets has only come up with one other mention of 209's in the 50BMG..

Quite a few folks have converted 50BMG CASES to 209 to use in milder loadings but only a guy in an old castboolits thread spoke of anyone actually lighting off 50BMG's with 209's...... this feller said with some authority that he knew of a guy named 'Tooly' (quotes are his) who did it gener'ly LOL

Hopefully this 500 pc I bought will get me to the stage I need to be........ ie "proof of concept" ........with a few left over for the SHTF
Click to expand...

I'm still waiting for you to find out how much bullets cost... Oh, and ~17 rounds per pound of powder... ;-) **Everything** is bigger in the .50 world - especially the prices!

GsT
 
Flash tubes

If you are trying to bush the primer pockets, how about trying to put flash tubes in and ignite the powder up front. Elmer Keith wrote about this back in the 1930's and worked with it for .50BMG at Salt Lake Arsenal during WW2. The idea was to get higher velocities with less chamber pressure using the powders of the day.
 
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