50 Action Express?

[sooter]

I was wondering what you guys thought about an H&R in 50 Action Express. I know there is the factory 500 S&W as I had one and no matter what load or bullet I shot in it, it would not do any better than 2" at 50 yards and with the aid of a scope. I would just like to hear your ideas on the 50 AE.

[embalmer883]

It has a rebated rim. You would probably have ejection problems. Otherwise it would be kicka$$.

[quickdtoo]

I dunno about the rebated rim issue, I had a .300WSM ejector barrel, it ejected fine , just didn't work well as a .300WSM!! The .50AE rim is about .030" smaller than the case head, the .300WSM was only .020" smaller. If you cut the extractor/ejector post carefully, I think it should work fine.

FWIW, there are several of us here, myself included, that get 2" 100yd groups with our .500S&Ws, mine's with more than one bullet choice.  Layne Pearce got good accuracy with his. http://www.shootingtimes.com/longgun_reviews/ST_hr500sandwmag/index.html

Tim

[sooter]

Tim,

2 inch groups at 100 yards would be acceptable but at 50 yards, i thought 2 inches was unacceptable and that was just for 3 shot groups. By the way though, 100 yards groups averaged around 5 to 7 inches.

You actually had a 300 WSM in the H&R???

[quickdtoo]

If it didn't shoot 2" or less with factory ammo, it should be returned to H&R for repair, that's their standard.

Yup, my 300WSM barrel became the donor stub for the 6.5x55 Shilen Ultra!

Tim

[sooter]

Since I could not get the gun to shoot, I sent it off to my gunsmith and had him make me a 6.5X444 improved by using the barrel as a barrel stub. The barrel has a 1 inch muzzle diameter, is 27 inches long and will now shoot less than 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards.