Big Horn Armory

Big Horn Armory was started with the idea to build premium, high-performance lever guns chambered in powerful, big bore cartridges. This was done to fill an obvious gap in the firearms market for a quick-handling, rapid-firing rifle in powerful cartridges. And it all started with a conversation in 2007. Shortly after Greg Buchel moved to Wyoming, he spoke with a neighbor of his, Frank Ehrenford. Frank was intrigued by Smith & Wesson’s recent introduction of the 500 S&W revolver cartridge.

It was a great revolver cartridge and helped Smith & Wesson reclaim the most powerful handgun in the world title, but it was a gun that few people cared to shoot. The cartridge had too much power for a revolver, regardless of how heavy they made the gun. It begged for chambering in along gun. Several companies had been working on this problem. Since the 500 S&Wis a rimmed cartridge, the obvious choice for along gun platform was a lever gun.

Lever guns are uniquely suited to rimmed cartridges because of their tube magazines where a rimmed cartridge is an advantage, rather than the hindrance the rim causes in a box magazine. Frank and Greg thought the market was ripe for such a gun. They started by playing around with the different lever gun actions and found out what many before them had already discovered, that it just wouldn’t work with a Marlin or anything else that was readily ava i lable.

Testing this big – bore caliber in these lever actions actually bent several of the guns. They simply would not hold up to the maximum 500 S&W pressure of 60,000 psi. The Big Horn Armory team knew what they had to do: build their own. And that’s what they set out to do with modern steels like 17- 4PH stainless and CNC machining techniques. Big Horn Armory overbuilt these guns, which was good because it meant the guns would be incredibly strong. This gave rise to Big Horn Armory’s first firearm: the Model 89.

This process to perfect the gun and internals took several years from the initial founding in 2008, with the first guns shipped out in September of 2012. Based on the 1886 and the 1892, the Model 89 is a blend of the best parts of both rifles. In developing their first big-bore lever action, the Big Horn Armory team took apart several guns to figure out what they really needed to do. They had a bit of a Goldilocks problem; the 86 action was too long, and the 92 action was too short.

This made the team realize in order to get the "just right" action, they would have to purpose-build the action size for themselves. In the process, they looked at the internals of the 86 and 92 and discovered that the 86 had parts that were a little too complex to machine. This discovery led the team to the decision to use the outside body design of the 86 in conjunction with the internals of the 92 to power the gun.

It became a true blend and with the size being halfway in between the 86 and 92, settling upon the name 89 just seemed right. Once the team had successfully completed the task of creating its own action sized to the S&W revolver cartridge, they focused on building the high-quality guns seen today. This was no small effort, as there was very little knowledge to work with aside from a small nucleus of dedicated staff who were devoted to lever guns.

Big Horn Armory had to train people to build them properly while they were learning the best ways to make them function as well. All the while, customers were asking when new chamberings

would be added. The Model 90 in 460 S&W, Model 90A in 454 Casull, Model 90B in 500 Linebaugh, and the Model 89B in 475 Linebaugh all came along in successive years. The team had talked together early on about crafting a 460 lever gun and had originally decided against it. It was a more difficult cartridge to feed through a lever gun because it is very long compared to the 500 S&W. The team had to modify the cartridge guides to allow the longer cartridge to release at the correct point.

They also had to adjust spring pressures on the carrier to get the back of the cartridge to come up quicker and align with the chamber. The carrier also had to sit a little bit higher in relation to the receiver to account for the smaller cartridge diameter. Several other parts required modification because of the skinnier cartridge. The Model 90 is a more difficult gun to build and tune as a result of this.

Even today, the Model 90 takes about twice as much time to run through Big Horn Armory’s quality control builds. It is a much more finicky gun to get right than the Model 89. Fortunately, all of the development and required effort needed to make the Model 90 was worth it. The result is a finely tuned, high-performance lever-action rifle chambered in one of the highest velocity, .45 caliber cartridges available, the 460 S&W Magnum.

The team at Big Horn Armory was so enamored with the power of the 500 S&Win a rifle, that the company decided to keep going BIG with its latest project, the AR500 in rifle and pistols models, which became available for purchase in 2018. Greg wanted the power and versatility of the 500 S&W Magnum but in the popular AR platform. The problem was feeding rimmed cartridges from a box magazine proved to be difficult, as is getting them to work with the locking and ejection system on an AR.

Working with Buffalo Bore Ammunition, Big Horn Armory developed the 500 Auto Max for use in the AR500 rifle and pistol. It is a rimless 500 S&W Magnum that feeds from box magazines. The AR500 is a unique rifle. It is currently the most powerful production AR-type rifle in existence. While it has several unique

features, it is essentially the same rifle that Eugene Stoner designed in the 1950s. It has the same features, like a direct gas internal pistol action, a non-reciprocating charging handle, a rotary locking bolt, etc. What it doesn’t share with Stoner’s AR-10 is the cartridge. The 500 Auto Max is both larger in diameter, shorter in length, and more powerful in its ballistics. The differences pose some challenges in adapting the AR-10 platform to this cartridge.

The team at Big Horn Armory modified the ejection port, the bolt face, and the extractor. This allowed the cartridge to (Continued on page 22) move through the feeding and ejection cycle. The magazine well was also reduced to AR-15 mag dimensions, since the 500 Auto Max has the same overall length as the 5.56 NATO. Once all of that was completed, the AR500 rifle build became just like building any other AR. The lower is assembled using all the required springs, pins, and other parts.

Big Horn Armory uses a premium Rise Armament Drop-In Trigger, which specs out at a 4.5 pound pull weight for accuracy. It also uses an ambidextrous safety selector. The grip is an Ergo with a great texture and feel. The buffer recoil spring and buffer weights are tuned to the heavier recoil impulse of the 500 Auto Max. The upper is assembled using a 416 stainless steel barrel chambered in 500 Auto Max and a specially modified barrel extension.

The bolt carrier group is coated to create a hard surface that is relatively impervious to wear and a slicker operating surface. This also generally reduces the amount of cleaning required. An adjustable gas block is used to allow for variation in loads or the use of a suppressor. The handguard utilized an M-LOK system to allow for the easy addition of accessories and featured a full-length extension of the Picatinny rail for additional sighting options.

Chambered in the versatile and available 500 Auto Max, the AR500

is a true 500 magnum performer. It is one of the only ARs that can deliver over 4,000 ft/lbs. of energy for amazing terminal performance. It can launch projectiles from a speedy 200 grain bullet to a massive, truck stopping 700 grains in almost any type of bullet imaginable: jacketed soft points, hollow points, monolithic solids, hardcast, and even frangible. A great benefit of the 500 Auto Max is that it doesn’t require proprietary dies or tooling for reloading.

It was intentionally designed for easy reloading and accessibility. Whether a seasoned 500 S&W reloader or just getting started, the 500 Auto Max is easy to reload as it uses all of the same dies and tooling as the 500 S&W Magnum. As the company has continued to grow since its initial founding, and faced with the impact on suppliers and vendors due to COVID- 19 restrictions and limitations, Big Horn Armory has begun to implement several changes in 2021 to improve product lead times for its customers.

This includes hiring more employees, obtaining anew and larger building, increasing the number of machinery, and doubling the company’s sourcing suppliers. The goal is to increase Big Horn Armory’s manufacturing capabilities by two to three times over the next year. Much of this will involve doubling the workforce in the manufacturing department with new personnel in assembly and quality control.

Currently, there is a core workforce of excellent people who will train and orient the new personnel to create more of its fine bigbore firearms for its customers. Anew building will increase the manufacturing space by 500 percent and in addition to providing more manufacturing space, will also offer better facilities for building Big Horn Armory’s firearms and for maintaining inventory.

New machinery will include CNCN mills and lathes and barrel-making equipment, which will help to lessen the dependency on outside vendors. Big Horn Armory’s firearms are not for purchases made on a whim. Its customers make thoughtful investments into heirloom-quality rifles that are aimed at giving customers the biggest bang for the buck. And after fourteen years of innovation in the big-bore long gun market, Big Horn Armory has no intention of slowing down any time soon. AG