Gunsmithing .50 DTC to .50 BMG

[sgleshot]

Hello Everyone,

I recently acquired an EDM Windrunner chambered in .50 DTC, I was curious if anyone knew if it is possible to simply cut a .50 BMG chamber into this barrel? Or is a completely new barrel the only option? I'm looking for the simplicity of acquiring ammunition and I'm not in a state where the BMG isn't legal. I've found many threads of people going from BMG to DTC but not the other way around. Any insight would be fantastic. Thank you

 

[MotorOilMcCall]

It would depend on barrel profile and if there's enough chamber wall thickness to cut it farther forward. The DTC is shorter and fatter, so you'd push the chamber forward in the barrel if you were to cut it for the BMG round. That said, it's not by a lot, so assuming you've got a fat chamber now, there shouldn't be any concerns. SAAMI chamber pressures are the same.

 

[phlegethon]

SAAMI chamber pressures are the same.

Neither cartridge has a SAAMI specification.

 

[sgleshot]

Thank you for the insight, I'm by no means a machinist when it comes to chambers or anything of that nature, I've got a local gunsmith that is exceptional with that sort of thing. My plan is to have him check it out and see if he feels that we can give it a shot, it isn't to terribly bad to rent a reamer and a set of go/no go gauges to do it. I'm sensing that the resale value on the .50 dtc barrel is more or less non-existent, so there really isn't much to lose if it doesn't work out in my favor I'm still back to sending the action out to have vigilance put a barrel on it for me.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Have you already checked to make sure the barrel that came on it isn't a .50 BMG barrel regardless of what the receiver says?
I won't explain any further, but if you haven't already checked, do a quick check.

If you do wind up needing stuff, Bill's son works on those rifles.

 

[sgleshot]

Have you already checked to make sure the barrel that came on it isn't a .50 BMG barrel regardless of what the receiver says?
I won't explain any further, but if you haven't already checked, do a quick check.

If you do wind up needing stuff, Bill's son works on those rifles.

The gun is in route to me as we speak, will be in my hands this coming week. That will be the first thing I do. I'm just thinking ahead and planning a bit just incase

 

[MotorOilMcCall]

It's .100" shorter shoulder for the DTC, and .100" shorter OAL, BUT the shoulder on the DTC is almost .050" wider than the BMG... You'd have a hard time chambering either round in the wrong barrel (haven't done the math to see if the shoulder would clear in the BMG barrel). Butttt, you'd know as soon as you shot it that it wasn't meant for that gun... fire-forming the brass that much would look horrendous, if it didn't split the case.

 

[W54/XM-388]

The gun is in route to me as we speak, will be in my hands this coming week. That will be the first thing I do. I'm just thinking ahead and planning a bit just incase

If it happens to be a magazine fed repeater with one magazine and someone is shipping it to you from the North TX area, you might be in luck.

 

[sgleshot]

If it happens to be a magazine fed repeater with one magazine and someone is shipping it to you from the North TX area, you might be in luck.

magazine fed repeater coming from Idaho, still too close to cali to feel confident in that it would have a bmg barrel on a dtc receiver. But for the price I got it for I could rebarrel it twice and still be ahead money.

 

[Milepost]

Depending on the shank length of the barrel you might be able to get the barrel set back far enough to rechamber it as a 50BMG. You'll need to shorten the shank about 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" in order to do this. So if your shank length is 6 inches or longer you should be all good.

BTW-The Navy contour has a 4.1" long shank. I wouldn't go any shorter than that if it were me.

 

[sgleshot]

Depending on the shank length of the barrel you might be able to get the barrel set back far enough to rechamber it as a 50BMG. You'll need to shorten the shank about 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" in order to do this. So if your shank length is 6 inches or longer you should be all good.

BTW-The Navy contour has a 4.1" long shank. I wouldn't go any shorter than that if it were me.

the way the barrel has the QD features I'm not sure that would be able to be done, but I will definitely keep that in mind

 

[sgleshot]

If it happens to be a magazine fed repeater with one magazine and someone is shipping it to you from the North TX area, you might be in luck.

Unfortunately it actually did show up in .50 DTC, and honestly I'm most likely going to send it back to Vigilance Firearms and just have them do a rebarrel on it, then I can be sure the get the most out of the gun as far as accuracy potential. Anyone on here in the market for a Windrunner .50 DTC barrel? I'll make ya screamin deal on it!

 

[AWARCORP]

Hi Sgleshot, this post is a little old but let me know if you are stuck with your DTC barrel. I am live in Cali and would be interested in buying it. Thanks