50 BMG Rifle Project
Since I saw the first 50 BMG rifle hit the market I wanted to build one of my own. A 50 BMG rifle is the ultimate in firepower for a hand carried rifle. At least that’s my opinion, others may have their favorites but this is mine. I looked at some of the plans available but did not want to pay their asking price. I would rather spend that much money on parts for the actual gun rather than pictures of it. I looked at all the different designs that were being built, and drew up my own plans with ideas from many different guns and scaled up measurements from my .270 hunting rifle. I started building a model of my plans to see how it would all fit together, and then came across the Bill Holmes book .50 Caliber Rifle Construction Manual. Paladin Press sells this book for $25, that I didn’t mind spending. After reading his book I decided to put my design on a back burner and give a proven design a try.
After
sourcing parts, and having trouble finding some parts, I started out with an
old shot out M2 machine gun barrel and a section of drill pipe made of 4140 for
the receiver tube. I turned the drill pipe down to a little larger than the
specs in the book and then got started.
Drill
pipe after being turned down to size, and old M2 machine gun barrel before I
cut it.
First
I cut the barrel down to 30 ½ inches
The
chamber area of the barrel was shot out pretty bad, but the rifling was good at
the point where it was cut, it’s kind of hard to see in the photo.
Next
I mounted the cut section in the lath to face off the fresh cut and turn the
diameter down some.
After
facing off the cut end, I mounted the barrel between centers and formed the
section for barrel extension threads, and the taper that will hold the barrel
in the receiver tube.
Next
the barrel was turned to size with a step down for the barrel nut threads, and
a raised section on the muzzle end for muzzle brake threads.
I
mounted the receiver tube on the mill and used a Miracle Point for indexing.
All
the major milling is done, I will need some of the other parts completed to
determine placement for the milling that is left.