The All-American 500: Big Horn Armory's AR500 in .500 Auto Max (VIDEO)

“From prairie dogs to pachyderms to Peterbilts — ” that’s one helluva promise to hunters on the capability of the Big Horn Armory AR500 in .500 Auto Max. The company famous for high-end, hard-hitting lever guns has ventured into the AR-market in a big way. Fifty caliber big.

The .500 Auto Max is essentially a rimless .500 S&W Mag round built to run in a semi-automatic AR-10 style platform. The Auto Max offers greater velocity and bullet weights over something like the .50 Beowulf, and is built on the much heavier AR-10 platform. Reloaders will be pleased to know they can utilize the same dies, shell holders, and load data as the .500 S&W, though a taper crimp must be used  instead of the roll crimp, as the Auto Max headspaces on case mouth instead of the rim. 

While the big ‘ol .500 Auto Max round steals much of the press with its potency, it is the Big Horn AR500 gas-operated semi-automatic rifle that drives the whole shebang. Per the company, three pulls of the trigger delivers .50 BMG power on target. The heavy 18 inch barrel wears 1-in-24-inch twist rifling. An adjustable gas block allows shooters to tailor the gun to their ammunition. The massive bolt carrier group modifies a standard AR-10 version to handle the round. An Adaptive Tactical adjustable buttstock is capped with a seriously thick pad to tame recoil.