The .50 Beowulf rounds had on average, several more ft.lb of force than the .458 SOCOM rounds. To be effective, a bullet must be able to penetrate through sometimes very thick hide and bone to reach vital organs. "Looking for input on the 458 socom and the 50 Beowolf vs really big bears,( Kodiak type). Both of these cartridges fill a very specific niche within the shooting world, and because of this, a number of options you have for factory loads are very limited when compared to more popular defense and hunting rounds. The highest performing round at this mark is still a .50 Beowulf, but the averages begin to look similar. The .50 beowulf is very similar to the .458 socom, both of which originated in 2001 as similar solutions to the same problem, stopping arabs at checkpoints in vehicles. Last edited: Nov 16, 2009. I will call in short name as 458 Socom Full Upper And 458 Socom Upper Vs 50 Beow After deliberations and experimentation, the .458 SOCOM came to be in the early 2000’s. When we do use ballistic calculating software, we do make a point to be clear as to what the variables are and what we have used to generate the data. We have collected the BCs for all ten rounds from the manufacturer’s website and listed them here. 458 Socom can tackle the 600-grain, while 450 Bushmaster can handle half of this number. I don't know if they have 600 grain hollow-point .458 SOCOM. We can’t look at felt recoil because it depends heavily on the firearm that is being used. Get our PDF with 13 pistol & rifle targets (worth $48) including expert instructions for FREE! By cschneider_23, August 27, 2012 in AR Pattern Rifles. Of course, how much penetration you need is going to depend on the game you are hunting. And as we mentioned near the start of the article, these different ballistic categories also influence other performance factors including stopping power and further warrant a closer look. Finished my first build thanks to help from the Reddit communities and now I’m set on making my next build a large bore pistol, and there is a slew of differing opinions, I do not reload and am not shooting suppressed and wanted to hear your (un) biased thoughts!!! What we use the most often leads us to be being more accurate, and we tend to defend their honor as an accurate round. And again, we’re taking a lot out of the picture when it comes to penetration and rest assured that these rounds are not going to plink off a target. Nov 16, 2009 … Initially, the .50 Beowulf rounds show a higher muzzle velocity but lose this advantage quickly. A few of these include the bullet design and the speed of the bullet. Let’s look at the key differences: Power One of the biggest arguments for the .458 SOCOM is the ability to handle up to 600-grain. As the acronym implies (Special Operations Command), members of special operations units were unhappy with the 5.56 rounds ability to bring down the enemy quickly and with as few shots as possible in combat while using platforms such as the M4 and M16. We don’t mean these rounds will knock you down, but when used in lighter AR platforms for competition, home defense, and even for some hunting situations, you want to be able to get quick shots in succession off at times and recoil can hamper that. I'm thinking about getting 600 grain FMJ .458 SOCOM. Most hunters also want enough stopping power to be able to make a clean and humane kill of the animal with causing unneeded suffering and risk losing it in the field. Of course, with some tinkering with your rifle, you can make this recoil much more manageable. Regarding recoil, the difference between the two rounds is quite small and insignificant, with the .458 Socom being on the higher end. share. The ballistic coefficient gives you an idea of how streamlined a bullet is. The .50 Beowulf is designed to be most effective at stopping targets at short to medium range distances, making it the preferred round used at vehicle checkpoints by the military. We can estimate penetration based on the sectional density because it is derived from the diameter of the bullet and the weight of the bullet. Top 10 Best Deer Decoys Review – The Only Guide You Need in 2018. Bow Hunting 101: Discovering the Parts of an Arrow, The Best 10/22 Accessories for You! The majority of these rounds come in bullet weights ranging between 300-500gr with subsonic rounds available. When looking at the .50 Beowulf vs .458 SOCOM, especially when it comes to velocity, we have to remember that both of these rounds are low velocity even when not subsonic. For hunters and those looking for a self-defense cartridge, stopping power is a critical factor in your final choice. Beowulf falls within39-32ft.lb range. We don’t necessarily think it’s the only option for the job, but we are confident it will get it done. That should bring down the price as well. Most rounds of the .450 Socom fall around28.89ft.lb while those of 50. The .450 Bushmaster can’t handle even half of that. Heavier bullets with the same diameter are going to penetrate deeper than lighter rounds with the same diameter. With the presence of internet, however, you can always do a research of the online stores selling the specific round options you’re looking for. Granted, not one round cracks the .3 mark. We hope that this article has taken several of the available factory loads and presented an unbiased look into how they stack up against each other in various ballistic and other performance categories. May 31, 2018 225 50 39 Spartanburg, SC. Joined: Jan 22, 2011 Messages: 117 Location: San Mateo, California. Obviously, flatter trajectories (less bullet drop) is going to be more advantageous for the shooter than one where you have to make more radical adjustments to shot placement. For this article, we are going to keep it as simple as possible. You can also count on them to successfully hunt medium to large sized games located up to 200 yards way from your stand. 16. This particularly makes sense since the round is heavy and its flight path is not affected by glass or standard vehicle body panels, meaning they don't deflect, but rather go straight through to the target. Anyone choosing the 50 Beowulf or 458 SOCOM should handload to take advantage of the many different bullets available to keep costs reasonable. They don't have a lot in common. .50 beowulf vs. .458 socom. .300 Win Mag vs .308: Ballistics, Ammo Cost, Recoil And Others! For instance, if the games are deers, the 450 is more than capable. Bipod 101: Everything You Wanted To Know About It! Both can handle your needs, but at the end of the day, your personal preference is going to be from confidence in the round from use. The reason was again because of the low stopping power with the traditional rounds, and a large, .50 cal cartridge gave the promise for a round with devastating power in close quarters to mid range shots. And like most ballistic numbers, environmental conditions can change these slightly from day to day based on temperature and pressure, among others. It is designed on the AR (Armalite) platform. For this reason, their availability is going to be limited if you’re shopping in retail store. However, If I'm being brutally honest, I'd say get a .458 Socom from Tromix first. Any tips, tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated. Though there is a slight trend for the .458 SOCOM being a bit flatter in its trajectory, both cartridges have rounds that perform better and more poorly in this specific area. That’s the problem when discussing accuracy, it’s very subjective and often has more to do with the person doing the shooting than the cartridge itself. Another factor that goes into a cartridge’s stopping power is the penetration of the bullet. Maybe and maybe not, but the best way to determine accuracy is to test it out yourself. Campfire Regular. If you’re planning on taking shots within the 100 yard range, one of the two cartridges has an advantage over the other. Expansion not only creates a larger wound, but it is also critical for transferring the energy from the bullet to the surrounding tissue more efficiently. At this point, the .50 Beowulf rounds, besides ones, show higher bullet energies than the .458 SOCOM rounds. Both rounds can do well when used for home defense situations, which is what they were initially designed for. Again, most wouldn’t put too much stock in four inches of difference between these two cartridges, but the data is there. For hunting/self-defense, you’d want enough to neutralize your target and stop it right in its track. .50 Beowulf vs .458 SOCOM. If you are planning on shots coming outside of the 1oo yard mark, the .458 SOCOM round did have slightly higher velocities, higher BCs, and a flatter trajectory than the averages of the .50 Beowulf rounds. Remember, these are primarily military rounds that are not as widely available to civilians on the open market yet, but that will likely change over time as less and less use by the military results in higher stocks of both bullets. Sign in to follow this . (You Know You Need Them). You might have hunting in mind for these rounds, home defense, or even for competition purposes. I was looking for a RIFLE cartridge, one that used RIFLE bullets. Factory loads for the .50 Beowulf are lacking compared to other cartridges but is slowly gaining traction. OP. The cartridge has obviously become popular with self-defense communities, but its performance has also found a place in the hunting world, especially in tight and overgrown situations. But that’s the case with just about every round. While we don’t necessarily recommend making a decision based on price, we know that it is a major factor we all have to take into account. 450 Bushmaster vs 458 SOCOM vs 50 Beowulf: Ammunition Selection Of the three, the.450 Bushmaster is by far the most common, but it still can’t hold a candle to cartridges like the.223 Remington or.308 Winchester. Overall, you can expect the two rounds to fly at supersonic speeds from 0 to 200 yards. This 40mm long case was designed to be fitted with the much larger .458 diameter bullets that produce dramatically more force than the 5.56 rounds but still able to be used with an AR magazine and a specialized .458 SOCOM upper receiver. I found that the factory twist of 1:20 is a bit too slow for a 9.75" Barrel like I wanted. 67% Upvoted. The military’s SOCOM (Special Operations Command) members were disappointed by the stopping power of the 5.56 NATO round, so they wanted a large bore round that could still work with the traditional M4 lower receiver. This comparison only matters depending on which types of games you are focusing on. The limited availability of both rounds means you'll pay a higher than average price for them. But the .458 SOCOM are usually more expensive per round compared to the .50 Beowulf. What you can expect for the .458 Socom vs .50 Beowulfcomparison: both cartridges generally have low bc values. Receive our newsletter with the best articles covering guides, guns & gear. The higher the ballistic coefficient, the better the bullet can resist wind drag and wind drift which would make the bullet less likely to be pulled off of its flight path and, in theory, be more accurate. The fact that the two rounds are relatively obscure affects their availability. The small bc value of the two cartridges can be attributed to the fact that both rounds are designed with the aim of delivering a huge amount of force to a target in close range battles. Throughout this range, we are comparing the bullet drop, in inches, of our ten selected rounds for comparison. If anyone has had any experience with … That’s not always easy and can cost quite a bit of money, but we can look back at previous ballistic data and try a roundabout way to look at accuracy between the 458 SOCOM vs 50 Beowulf cartridges. As for the price, you need to understand that both rounds come with their affordable as well as expensive options. With this information, you can better make your own decision. This is a small sample size, though maybe not with the amount of factory loaded options out there, but with handloading you could increase the BC with these cartridges by using certain bullets that just are not available in factory loads at the moment. For shots beyond 100-yard mark, however, you should consider using.458 SOCOM rounds since they showed a flatter trajectory, higher velocities, and higher BCs than the .50 Beowulf rounds. We saw that both have similar ballistics, with only a few slight differences. Arguments will abound from both sides of the aisle concerning which cartridge is preferable. The slightly better BCs and the higher average velocities out at 100 and 200 yards might sway you towards the .458 SOCOM rounds when it comes to hunting purposes. Still, the numbers shouldn’t vary that much, and it doesn’t take away from the purpose of this article for the .458 SOCOM vs .50 Beowulf. Best Hearing Protection for Shooting: The Top 10 Hunters Prefer. The increased recoil of the .50 Beowulf could be attributed to its higher muzzle velocity we saw earlier on. When discussing accuracy of the two rounds, we need to bring into play their ballistics. >> Anonymous 08/24/20(Mon)11:27:27 No. The ballistic coefficient is derived from an equation that uses several bullet and cartridge variables and may or may not have any relevance to you. Firearm Discussion and Resources from AR-15, AK-47, Handguns and more! The penetration potential of a bullet is derived from its sectional density. The .50 Beowulf average at this mark is 1570ft.lb while the .458 SOCOM average is 1,462ft.lb. The combination of a round with performance specs similar to the highly regarded .45-70 cartridge and a semi-auto tactical platform was advantageous to both military and police personnel who often found themselves in close quarters situations with a need to bust through cover and neutralize targets quickly. 46306884. We’ll discuss the ballistics in terms of: Generally, the two rounds have low velocity. Since we do not have ballistic gel data and since the bullet type plays a role and is seen in both cartridges, we will use the sectional density of the rounds. Too high a velocity, little expansion, and deep penetration can pass completely through the target and endanger others in the room or the area. While we have mentioned that these numbers can vary based on several factors, they still produce enough recoil that some modification of the firearm might be needed to handle the rounds effectively and efficiently for the shooting applications these cartridges excel at. Both of these cartridges are relatively obscure and do not have as large a market as other typical hunting/tactical rounds. We have listed the averages for max capacities we have found from reliable sources here, and we see that they hold similar amounts of powder and they are also fitted with similar weight bullets. The.458 SOCOM and.50 Beowulf are not SAAMI certified and no major ammunition companies produce ammo for them. We’ll take you through an exhaustive.458 Socom and .50 Beowulfcomparison that will point out the major differences and similarities, weaknesses and strengths between the two cartridges. It has some of the best ballistic properties available for factory loaded .458 SOCOM rounds and has more than enough bullet energy, penetration, and expansion for excellent stopping power for medium size game out to 300 yards. I hand load so I have a wild cat cailber problem lol . Good news is that both cartridges are reliable, so if you’re a hand loading enthusiast, you can end up saving a good amount of cash. Incredible stopping power, they are built to deliver a tremendous amount of preparation at.. Is least likely to vanish from the manufacturer ’ s the case with just about every.! Test it out yourself limited if you have the chance to one over! 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