Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR .50-90 Shiloh

My round barrel .50 2.5" isn't very heavy, nicknamed "thumper" for a reason!

Ben Forkin (Gunsmith from White Sulpher, MT) has a 50-90 Shilo Sharps, or did last I talked to him several years ago. He shot groups with it most would envy with a modern bolt action in a large caliber. He said it worked well on elk and antelope.

Nice rifle and shooting Dan.

Hello tmitch, is that a 36 twist for the 475 gr bullets, or a 22 twist for the 700 grain and up heavies? nice stick.

I'm guessing 1:22", I get around 1 revolution running a patch through the 26" barrel (23.5" of rifling). So far I've only shot 550 grain flat nosed through it and it's pretty lively on the back end. If I plan on shooting more than a couple rounds I have to put a pussy pad over that steel carbine butplate to keep my shoulder from turning pretty colors. I'd be afeared to throw a 700 grainer out of it like you do yours!

10-4, probably that big 550gr Lyman or RCBS greaser, one 50-90 weighs 16lbs with the tang sight and is very pleasant with the 715gr paper patch bullets, that said, I have an 11 pound 50-90 that chunks 750gr greasers at 1365 fps for hunting with buckhorn barrel sights, that one boots a little, but, the shotgun butt helps, I wouldn't fire it that way if it wore a military or crescent butt.

I see I didn’t answer earlier but the Business Rifle has a 1:22 twist.

Perfect, the mould I sold you will easily adjust from650 to 777 grains with 20 or 16 to 1 alloy, I ran some 777 grain paper patch bullets to 1340 fps in my 50-90, what a HAMMER!

Beautiful.

Both ends🤪?

Not on my end at 16LBS, but, your 22 twist will thrive on 650 plus grain bullets.

Not sure what the weight will be I am guessing under 11 lbs which is fine with me since it will be a hunting gun and carried a lot and shot a little at least when hunting. I do plan on shooting it for fun though and may put a lace up pad on it for that. I will want to see if it affects point of aim

Yes, and even 90 grains of FG would be fine, plenty of power to hunt anything, and much less recoil in a hunting rifle, now 115gr OE FFG under a 750gr greaser at 1365 fps boots a little in an 11 pound hunting weight rifle.

Gawd almighty.....why man why??

Me?

Haha! Yes.


115 grains under 750 grains sounds terrible!

May I ask what pad you have on it?

Hello Big Jim, above is one reason, the other reasons are many, I was told:

You don't need a 50-90...........it's always nice when others tell you what you do and do not need.
The same set of others don't want you to like what they don't like.
Others don't like a rifle they cant shoot well.
Went on to hear, the 50-90.......
Has crap brass
Uses to much lead and powder.
You cant shoot it accurately due to recoil and torque.
The 50-90 wont penetrate.
Others with deeper pockets than you have tried to get a 50-90 to work well and have failed miserably, then sold their rifles.

Well, you see, I took all that as a challenge, I couldn't help but jump on a 50-90 with both boots.
Doing a bit of math as it relates to velocity, diameter, bullet weight and twist, I drew out and designed the above 750gr grease groove bullet and sent it in to have a custom mould made.

That bullet at 16 to 1 alloy went near 9 feet into a bedded 1800 lb Eland bull, my PH said NO other expanding bullet from any sporting arm would have penetrated that far, and penetrated straight I might add.

So I have moved a mountain of negative BS along the way with some help from a few others to have two really good 50-90's, one for hunting, and one for target [gong] shooting, I'm hooked on the Big 50-90 for life, it's a hell of a cartridge.

You need one too ; ]

Action Products Kick-Killer. They come in different sizes, my military butt needed an x-small. Not too pretty but it helps.

I need one because I don’t have one. It is a natural progression on the pursuit of Buffalo rifles