Big Bore Cartridges Designed for the AR-15 Platform

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted.  Time flies when you're constantly inundated with high profile IT projects... Anyway, on to the topic at hand!

Unless you've been ignoring the gun market in the past decade (or more), you probably noticed a large jump in popularity of "Modern Sporting Rifles" or MSRs, which generally refers to AR-15 and AR-10 style rifles.  I'm about as strong-willed as the next gun nut when it comes to new toys, so I couldn't help but become interested in MSRs, too.  I assembled my first one a couple years ago in the oh-so-typical 5.56/.223 chambering.  Now I'm looking at the other options that promise to take this rifle beyond its "mouse gun" stereotype.

Whenever a certain action type gains enough popularity, cartridge design tends to follow.  This happened with the .308-sized "short" action, the .30-06-sized "standard" action before it, and many others before that.  What I'm going to look at in this post is three cartridges that push the little chamber to its limit: the .450 Bushmaster, .458 SOCOM, and .50 Beowulf.

(continued after the jump)

Smith & Wesson Model 66-2 .357 Magnum

This is my Smith & Wesson model 66-2 in .357 magnum with a 6" barrel that I bought used almost 2 years ago along with the original box, but not the original grips.  After doing some serial number research, I found that it was likely manufactured in 1983.  This gun will be my main test platform for my .357 magnum loads, and had been my hunting handgun last year, though I never got a shot at any game.  It's certainly not a new gun, but I do like it a lot.

Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt (and .45 ACP)

So I walked into a local gun store and ordered a blued Ruger Blackhawk with a 5.5" barrel in .45 Colt.  In a few weeks I received a blued Ruger Blackhawk with a 5.5" barrel in .45 Colt....and .45 ACP!  They apparently ordered the model with the conversion cylinder.  I have no complaints, having more cartridge options is a good thing.

This will be my test vehicle for all of my .45 Colt handloads and some of my .45 ACP loads, I'm sure.  Depending on how well I can shoot with it, it might also become my primary hunting handgun.