Working with the 50 B&M Super Short..........

[Michael458]

At any rate a few years ago Wes took up the Super Short mantle for stocks…… We built a nice Bastogne for a stainless gun at the time. Well, the stainless gun found a home in Alaska. Somewhere along the way I must have had a matte black GunKote gun built, and it now has a home in the Bastogne stock. I also have the M70 that I inherited from my late friend David, along with his Ruger #1 in 50SS……..

The last week or so we have been back to working on the Bastogne gun. Some months ago I had that big fat 30mm Nikon on it. And it kept twisting sideways and going crooked, I finally got sick of it, snatched it off and figured just to use Iron sights and be done……..

Sometime over the weekend I was browsing around and found a 1.75X5 Vortex Diamond something or other scope? I was wondering why I had not bothered to try this out?……

………Decided WTF, put it on the 50 SS and check it….. I needed some more shelf ammo anyway……. I also have a bunch of 340 Raptors for handgun and 400 Solids for handgun……..I also wanted to try some 240 Lehighs we had as well………….
This is a tiny scope. Well within my specs for Liking…….. Size is good, eye relief is good enough, and field of view is EXCELLENT……… Its cheap, I think I paid around $175 for it, but I had to look because I had forgotten about it. Will it hold up? It says made in the Philippines. Same as the Nikon…….. Hmmmmmm? Thinking, maybe its possible they might have the same manufacturing process??

……………. So far I have fired about 40 rounds in it and it is not broken yet. 40 rounds is not a sure fire test, by any stretch, but I need to remind you that I busted a brand new Leupold 1.5X5 VX3 on a 50 Super Short….. On the Third Round Fired… Repeat, 3 rounds and it blew up…….. so, I reckon 40 rounds is not too damn bad to start with……………….

I should have shined the stock a little before photos……….. LOL

Running the 400 Copper Handgun solid with 42/LilGun I got 2003 fps, shooting hole in hole at 25 yards while sighting in and doing tests……..

The matching 340 Handgun Raptor with 46/Lilgun hit 2280 fps, in the same holes as the 400 Solids….

Now some interesting stuff……….

I had some 240 Lehigh Controlled Fracture… if it were CEB, they would be Raptors….. You can put a tip in those bullets, but it does not fit like it should really…….

I started at 50/Lilgun One tip one no tip…average Velocity was 2408 fps

No Talon Tip @25 yards 2174 fps

Talon Tip @25 yards 2237 fps. The Tip bought us 63 fps at 25 yards……. or right at or around 120 at 50 yards. This is what I have found across the board with various other big bore tip/no tip.

Zero signs of pressure I went to 53/LilGun and averaged only 2390 fps? LilGun….

I moved to 55/LilGun and hit a magic spot and LilGun went to Work…… 2558 fps.

I had one of those with Talon Tip and one without, intended to gather more data. But at 2558 fps the Talon tip WILL NOT stay in the bullet, I had a perfect silhouette of the tip on the 25 yard target..LOL
The Tips won’t stay in the Lehighs…. Oh well, had to try………..

 

[BatteryOaksBilly]

As with all B&M Rifles...while they photograph beautifully...the whole package doesn't come across until you have it in your hands.

Damn what a beautiful stock........but..............it should Be!

 

[Slacker]

I'm also a big fan of Lil' gun.
It has impressed me many times in heavy for caliber loadings.

 

[Michael458]

I decided to load some 50 SS up yesterday. Figured a 100 Rounds would be good. The Bastogne gun (as I now refer to it) has the Vortex Scope and 50 rounds and has not busted yet…. sighted with the 400 CEB Copper Solid at 2003 fps. I had these on the shelf, might as well use them for something……..

I chose the old 385 Remington bullet to be its partner, both loaded with 42/LilGun, both in the same hole @25 yards…….This bullet used to be available in bulk, back in 2006-2008 or so I would buy 500 or more at a time. I even used them in Africa on that first .500 tests and they did rather well even running a bit too fast at 2100+………. This load runs 2018 fps. These things are bonded as well…. crazy….. Of course you cannot get them any longer, and I have a decent stock left over. They are a very good Super Short bullet, and a good SA Semi Auto bullet as well………… I will use them for that mission. Should turn TaliZombies inside out, and follow with the solids……….