Why The AR-500 Rifle Might Be the Most Dangerous Gun Of All

[rangerrebew]

June 27, 2019

Why The AR-500 Rifle Might Be the Most Dangerous Gun Of All

All the reasons.
by Kyle Mizokami

One major innovation in the field of power is the AR-500. The AR-500 fires a modified .500 Smith & Wesson bullet, the .500 Auto Max, resulting in a rifle that manufacturer Big Horn Armory claims can down “any dangerous game animal on Earth” and disable “any vehicle.” The result is a weapon that appeals to big game hunters and tactical teams alike.

The endless adaptive nature of the AR-15 rifle platform has made it one of the most modifiable weapons in history. From buttstocks to barrels, the rifle can be customized in a variety of ways to improve power, functionality and appearance.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-ar-500-rifle-might-be-most-dangerous-gun-all-64511

[rustynail]

Shannon Watts  just wet herself.

[Elderberry]

Review: Big Horn Armory AR500 in .500 Auto Max

American Hunter by Brian McCombie - Monday, January 7, 2019

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2019/1/7/review-big-horn-armory-ar500-in-500-auto-max/

After several range sessions with the AR500, I rate it as a rifle capable of taking very large game animals—out to 150 yards. It may actually have more effective range, but given the newness of the round and the limited availability of ammunition, my 150-yard limit is based on the one round I had at my disposal: a 400-grain, flat-nosed lead bullet from Buffalo Bore. Other rounds, loaded with different weights and sizes of bullet, could well extend that range.

My best five-shot groups at 100 yards were right at 2 inches—not bad—but I also pegged groups at 3.25, 3.45 and 3.5 inches. This is why I rate the AR500 as a 150-yard hunting rifle—with the 400-grain loads I was using, anyway. If you’re averaging nearly 3-inch groups at 100 yards, you’re looking at possible 6-inch groupings at 200 yards. That, to me, is wounding territory for the hunter. At 150 yards, I guestimate the accuracy at hopefully 4 to 4.5 inches—not great, but accurate enough to consistently put a bullet into a game animal’s vital zone.

Initially, the AR500 fed and ejected rounds without a hitch, but at about 50 rounds, I started to get failures to feed. The problem was the magazine; the feed lips on the 5-round magazine I was provided were simply too stretched out. I could’ve tried to bend the lips back down, but AR magazines can be finicky to begin with, and I didn’t want to mess up my testing. As it was, I had only four failures to feed over the course of the next 30 or so rounds.

My PACT Professional-XP Chronograph measured 10 rounds of the Buffalo Bore ammunition at an average of 1766 fps. At the muzzle, that translates to approximately 2,770 ft.-lbs. of game-dropping energy. According to two different online ballistic calculators, this round is moving at 1538 fps with 2,227 ft.-lbs. of energy at 50 yards, 1419 fps with 1,788 ft-lbs. of energy at 100 yards and 1276 fps at 150 yards while still smashing along at a very impressive 1,446 ft.-lbs. of energy.

More at link.