50 Beo as an Indiana deer rifle.

[Spear Dane]

Seeing ErickWs thread on 357 or 44 I thought I would admit to also being in a quandry. I am new to deer hunting and I want to get this right. I had never heard of the 50 Beowulf until I looked at our hunting regs and I thought "wow, affordable 50 cal AR-15?! I will have one!"
I expect I will get one regardless but if I can save the money from buying a dedicated deer gun too, even better. My other considerations are also the 1894 in 44 or 357. My concern is I hunt solely for meat and I do not want to blow the poor thing in half.

So I'm looking for the intersection where deer makes quick trip to the clover field in the sky meets not blowing big bloody holes in it. What specific 50 Beo factory load (if any) will do this given proper shot placement? Thanks!

 

[MRP2003]

Shot placement.

All will kill without ruining meat with good shot placement

i prefer a 44mag as that is what I have and can comfortable shoot out to125 yards

 

[dak109]

Might look at the 458 SOCOM. More options for reloading, and maybe a little more economical. The 458 seems to be the AR thumper to have caught on. The 50 is very cool though.

 

[ErickW]

I too was looking at getting another upper for my AR. I don't know if you checked the other thread again, but I ended up with a Ruger 77/44. I'll have it out of layaway in a couple weeks, dial it in and then it will sit in wait. The more I thought about it, I didn't want to switch between uppers for Deer and Coyote, worry about re-zero. Plus it was really another reason to have another rifle!

 

[Tynimiller]

Honestly...I bow hunt nearly 99.999% of the time. But if I wanted to deer hunt but maybe not have a solely dedicated gun with no other use I would get a Mossberg 500 Pump with a rifled/ported slug barrel tap the thing for a scope and you are deadly enough to get the job done just fine...when not hunting slap a 18 inch smooth barrel and home defense to a "T". 20 gauge or 12 gauge will get the job done just fine.

When I do hunt with a gun it is usually my muzzleloader...nothing in the gun hunting realm for me like a muzzleloader.

 

[padawan]

Take a look at 450BM upper too. An original 'Thumper'...

 

[ScouT6a]

I will second the .450 Bushmaster upper route. I bought one three years ago. It is a beast. Way cheaper to shoot than the .458 SOCOM and the .50 Beowulf, if you don't reload.
Hornady and Remington make factory ammo for the Bushmaster. I usually buy it for $1/round but it has only taken one per deer on 6 Whitetails and 1 Mule deer.
With a nice scope, it's awesome out to 250 yards.

 

[CCC]

I have a small amount of 50 Beowulf knowledge. I have handloaded a few rounds.

As far as damage to game, 50 Beowulf is like a 12 gauge slug. I think Hornady SST? 12 gauge slugs use a bullet that could be loaded in a Beowulf round. Not sure of difference in Velocity.

One thing I have had problems with is reliable feeding. Can not find a magazine that works every time. Have only tried 3 20 round .223 mags. though.

Nothing wrong with 1894 lever gun. Beowulf would be a step up though.

 

[Tactically Fat]

What do you already own, OP?

Caveat - I'm not a hunter. However, if I WERE a deer hunter, I'm not so sure that I'd hop into a .50 BEO as my first deer rifle simply for cost-sakes. It's also kind of a one-trick pony and generally over-kill for white-tail deer.

BUT - I'm also a believer in buying whatever you want...it's your money!

 

[ScouT6a]

Tactically Fat, Big bore AR uppers have limited use in Indiana, right now. But if you get one now, you'll be ready when the hogs get here in numbers.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Tactically Fat, Big bore AR uppers have limited use in Indiana, right now. But if you get one now, you'll be ready when the hogs get here in numbers.

Agreed.

Even then....50 Beo is a bit of "overkill" on hogs IMO. We're not talking about 1500 lb Russian boars here.

 

[Varmint Killer]

I rechambered a Encore 44 mag barrel to a 445 super mag. Worked up a load using hornady ftx 225 gr., fed 210 match primers,w-296, and starline brass.(Absolute) Max load in my gun was 36.0 grs. (2426 fps) Two shot group was 5/8 in. c to c. Dropped back to 35 grs. (2402 fps) and got a two shot group of .850 c to c. I will shoot 35grs, Alot easier on brass and shooter. I will try, in next few days, to shoot this load at 200 yds. and let everyone know how it does. This gun load combo is going to make a fine deer round next year.

 

[mrunnebo]

I have had a 50 Beowulf for a couple of years now. I love it. Ammo is really not that expensive. Alexander arms sells many different loads but I would recommend the 350gr Hornady XTP. They are $29.23 per box of 20. Thats about $1.5/rd. Thats cheaper than most 450 bushmaster and 458 SOCOM. I personally like reloading. The projectile choices in .500 are abundant. I reload using Hornady's FTP round. I shot a doe with it last year and it died 10ft from were I shot it. It didn't ruin any of the meat either.

 

[cncswiss1]

458 socom drops em good

 

[Tynimiller]

um......458 should drop em good, I mean it is a 458. Congrats on the harvests though.

 

[craigkim]

Got my 458 upper yesterday as well as 100 rounds of SBR 300 grain ttsx. I went back and forth on 450, 50, pistol caliber, etc, but 458 had the fewest drawbacks applicable to my use. Ask me from what I read, if you dont reload or want to and you werent used to paying $3-4 per slug anyway, then 450 is the way to go. I went with a Tromix lightweight 16" barrel complete upper. I cant belive how light my new deer gun is! Im going to try using a higher power scope and an RMR on it with A Warne RAMP mount. I always hated compromising between a scope or a red dot, so now that I have the versatility of a 12'o picattiny rail, I want to try both. Anyhow, I think 458 is probably better overall.

 

[met eng gun nut]

I was in the quandry of 458. 50, or 450 three years ago and it came down to rights. the 50 beowolf is running all production through their facility which limits the diversity. The bullet for the 458 is similar to the 45-70. the 450 uses the pistol 45 0.451 versus 0.458. with hornady bushmaster, and remington all making a round for it i went with the 450. for SHTF you can ream out a 30-06 shell and reload the 450 with 45 acp bullets. it would be more difficult witht eh necked down 458.
in reality I agree with shot placement. I have shot hogs in TN and deer in indiana and missouri with the 450 without the animals taking a second step.

 

[Spear Dane]

Yeah I would consider 458 but ammo starts at ~$2 a round and goes up. Beo starts at $1.40ish right now.

 

[Zoub]

Many years ago a friend of mine used an AR upper of some .50 flavor from Tromix. It knocked hell out of the deer but I know that upper was gone by 2004 and a .44mag lever took its place. I just stuck to .223 and shot placement. He used everything. I know you are limited in Indiana but don't go based on ammo cost, you won't be shooting it that much. I would go .458 over the .50's.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Even then....50 Beo is a bit of "overkill" on hogs IMO.

Well, be advised that Indiana hunters have been using .72 caliber rifles on deer for a number of decades. It is hardly overkill.