AR Uppers In .416 And .50 BMG
The AR is not only the most popular centerfire rifle in the US but far and away the most versatile and adaptable. At one end of the scale you can have a .22LR, .17HMR and 5.7 mm. At the opposite, the heavy hitters are the .458 SOCOM, the .416 Barrett and the .50 BMG. The really large cartridges rely on manual operation, but being bolt action, they can be as accurate as any other long range weapon platform with the benefit that you can use any of a great range of AR-15 accessories to customize your weapon to your hearts content.
Zel Custom make some of these heavy caliber, bolt action uppers. Their 416 AR upper is a .416 Barrett unit in single shot bolt action fitted with a 29″ LW19 Lothar Walther barrel. This is a 6 groove, 1:11″ unit with a match chamber to give the optimum accuracy to the greatest possible distance. As with all Zel uppers, a highly effective muzzle brake is fitted. The upper receiver is machined from a single billet of 4140 steel, fitted with a MIL-STD 7075 T-6 quad rail made of 7075 aluminium – far stronger than the 6000 series aluminium often used for this application. You can use any of a selection of high quality target triggers on the market together with a stock, grip and bipod of you choice.
Zel decided to make an ‘entry level’ unit – the T-1 Ultralite 50 BMG upper. This is fitted with a milspec chambered 24 or 29 inch barrel with a 1:15 twist. Mossberg make the barrel to Zel’s specifications. The chambering gives you a lot of latitude in using milspec rounds and brass without resizing and good long range accuracy.
The logical progression from the T-1 is the 50 BMG upper. This combines the Ultralite T-1 upper with the 5 round magazine of the Accuracy International AW50 sniper rifle. The magazine well on the left hand side of the upper is made of steel to match the robustness of the rest of the weapon. This results in a terrific long range rifle capable of rapid follow-up shots. As this rifle does not rely on long-recoil operation as do some popular 50 BMG rifles, it is inherently very accurate.