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Where to buy m2 barrel ,for 50 cal billy holmes rifle

Pyro117

Plastic
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
Hi everyone im dustin im new to this sight .So im looking to build a 50bmg rifle ,but the hard part seems to be finding a m2 barrel .So i have a few questions would it be possible to make billy holmes 50 bmg with out the barrel nut kinda like a freefloating barrel useing an m3 barrel instead of the m2, if not does anyone know where to get an m2 barrel with out paying $900 for a barrel cause at that price i can get one milled new almost ?
 
if not does anyone know where to get an m2 barrel with out paying $900 for a barrel cause at that price i can get one milled new almost ?

It's been a few years but I bought NEW Lilja Navy contour .50 barrels for a LOT less than $900!!!

As for the Holmes .50. I looked over his plans years ago and was VERY uncomfortable with "engineering" of that rifle. As with MOST of that sort of rifle plan, nice if you are in SHTF mode with little to work with. But I assure you safety was not the first concern when designing that rifle. Nor was accuracy...
 
MIBill iv been looken and all m2 barrels are crazy priced idk why .what would you change to make his design more accurate and safe id rather it not be ticking time bomb .im really open to learning new stuff ,and other ideas right now im trying to get materials need for this project .the barrel is the hardest part .
 
MIBill iv been looken and all m2 barrels are crazy priced idk why .what would you change to make his design more accurate and safe id rather it not be ticking time bomb .im really open to learning new stuff ,and other ideas right now im trying to get materials need for this project .the barrel is the hardest part .

I do understand your question and what you mean by it. However, it is rather like asking what needs to be changed to make a VW beetle into an F-150. Holmes took shortcuts so that more people could build his "designs". Or to put it another way the tools available drove the designs. When I decided to build a .50 I looked at every design I could get my hands on and quickly realized every one of them had similar shortcomings. I designed my own then went looking for ways to make it.

With that said I don't mean to imply that Holmes design is a ticking time bomb. However, when I did the math I found that the margins of safety were NOT to my liking. In engineering it is common practice to use a 2.5X safety factor whenever safety of life is involved. They design ladders to this standard! I was not comfortable with the 1.2 - 1.5 margins I found in the designs out there. If you can get materials with certs. you may be fine. But I PERSONALY was not willing to accept these safety margins.

As for barrels. If you are married to the M2 barrel you are going to get raped! They are scarce and becoming rare. There are a lot of fine barrel makes out there that make or can make a suitable barrel. As mentioned in my prior post, I chose Lilja. But there are others.
 
Iv been reading lilja barrels and that will probable be the way i go so thank you for telling me about them . What is certs? May i see your 50 cal ? And i do kinda like holmes design but there are little things i dont that id like to change
 
Iv been reading lilja barrels and that will probable be the way i go so thank you for telling me about them . What is certs? May i see your 50 cal ? And i do kinda like holmes design but there are little things i dont that id like to change

Oh my god, if you don’t know what certs are you shouldn’t be making anything that goes boom.

Ok, so let’s get to the basics, certs is short for certifications. If you order a material, say 8630 chromium molybdenum low alloy steel, how do you know it is what you ordered, and actually chrome moly and not just cold rolled 1018?
Well, you simply don’t for sure without independent reliable verification, but one thing many do is ask for certs on the material from the supplier.
This MAY result in the supplier taking a bit more care in being sure the correct stock is pulled for your order, and it does cover your ass to some extent when and if you wind up in court after an accident or catastrophic failure, but it is absolutely NOT an assurance that the material meets specs and is high quality and free of serious defects.
That must be done by an independent Or in house (YOUR house) testing lab with audited and verifiable protocols and procedures.

If you are using a design with a substandard safety factor such as 1.2 there can’t be ANY major flaws defects or shortcomings in your materials.
Unless there is a compelling reason to do so and all precautions are taken, it’s just stupid to cut it that close.
 
Iv been reading lilja barrels and that will probable be the way i go so thank you for telling me about them .

Dan makes a damn fine barrel and the .50 barrels are about as good as it gets. Many of the "Navy" barrels are in combat as they are sold to both U.S. and Canadian military. At one point the Lilja Navy Contour barrel held the record for the longest combat sniper kill. So there is accuracy to be found there.

What is certs?

I don't think I can add anything to cyanidekid's reply.

May i see your 50 cal ?

Could do... With the understanding that it is a prototype. I have MOST of the parts for the finished rifle but do not have my shop back up and running so that project is on hold. I'll have to pull it out and snap picture. May be a day or two as I am up to my a$$ in alligators right now.

And i do kinda like holmes design but there are little things i dont that id like to change

Depending on the changes, it could change everything. I can not and will not comment on that.
 
I kind of run into the same problem trying to source a few 50cal barrels which were damn nearly impossible to find and price tag was high.

I ended up finding a company that sold 50 cal rifled blanks (50BMG) The blanks were under $100. Granted that I needed to profile and thread them and chamber them etc. still that was by far the best bargain, considering how much finished barrels go for.

I don't think that making your own guns is cheaper then buying after you consider tooling and time, that's why if you really want to build for the sake of building, you may pick up some tools and skills along the way.
 
I don't think that making your own guns is cheaper then buying after you consider tooling and time, that's why if you really want to build for the sake of building, you may pick up some tools and skills along the way.

Truer words have never been spoken! I could have bought a COUPLE AR50 for what I spent on equipment to pull off this project alone.
 
Hey yall sorry been while since iv been on here but i wanted thank you all for your replays there most helpful im glade i joined this sight
 








 
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