The .50 Beowulf is a

12mm caliber This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case length. *''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge. *''Bullet'' refers to the diameter of the bullet. Some m ...

rifle cartridge A rifle cartridge is a firearm cartridge primarily designed and intended for use in a rifle/carbine, or machine gun. Types Full-powered A full-powered cartridge is a rifle cartridge used interchangeably between service rifles, sniper rifle ...

developed by Bill Alexander of Alexander Arms for use in an

AR-15 An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporatio ...

rifle.

Design and specifications

The cartridge utilizes a rebated rim, sized to match the rim of the 6.5mm Grendel round. The case body is very similar in dimensions to the .500 S&W Magnum

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ...

cartridge, being slightly longer and fully tapered for automatic feeding in the weapon. The round is intended to improve

stopping power Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon' ...

greatly at short- to medium-range as compared to the standard

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, and ...

round. One of its advertised uses is at vehicle checkpoints, since the heavy bullet's flight path is not easily deflected by auto glass or standard vehicle body panels.

Design limitations

With normal bullet weights between , overall cartridge length shorter than that of an

magazine well, and holding to pressures of 33,000 psi limited by the AR bolt strength system, the .50 Beowulf is best described as a low-velocity, heavy caliber, making its ballistics roughly equivalent to those of early .45-70 Government rounds rather than the higher pressure rounds tolerated by

lever-action rifle The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

s such as the

Marlin Model 1895 The Marlin Model 336 is a lever-action rifle and carbine made by Marlin Firearms. Since its introduction in 1948, it has been offered in a number of different calibers and barrel lengths, but is commonly chambered in .30-30 Winchester or .35 Re ...

Proprietary status

The .50 Beowulf is a

proprietary {{Short pages monitor