[SHOT 2019] Condition Red’s Zero Dark Fifty, a 10lb AR Firing subsonic .50 BMG bullets

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/01/25/shot-2019-condition-reds-zero-dark-fifty-a-10lb-ar-firing-subsonic-50-bmg-bullets/

Congrats @Robocop1051

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The .500 blackout looks uber cool. Did he come up with it? Ive never seen it anywhere else.

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IMPRESSIVE!!!

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We’ll wait for his speech, he has the bragging rights,

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A nice photo op with American Gun Chic

CROM had only the one day so Cerakote had the 500 Blackout (coated in Cerakote Elite Series Blackout) IN their booth for the rest of the show.

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Thank you @Robert

After we finished the CR-7 in .338 LM we wanted to show the diversity of our rifle. I enlisted the help of a friend to see my vision through. I wanted to have the biggest and baddest… and blackest!!.. rifle in town.

We designed the 500 Blackout in house. My team designed it, spec’d It and trademarked it. I am the only person who makes a rifle in this caliber… so far. Lol. I was hoping to get the backing from one of the bigger companies… but after two days they are already saying they’re going to do something different and ”big red” doesn’t want to play with me. In fact, the dude completely blew me off when I was just asking what kind of quantities I would be looking at for custom brass orders. Oh well. I’m a small fish. I get it.

There’s a lot more interviews coming. I’m excited for you all to see them. Check us out at Instagram too @CROM_USA (I was strongly encouraged to start that page while at SHOT).

We have a Facebook page too @ConditionRedOrdMfg … but I don’t blame you if you don’t visit. That site is garbage.

Full30, @CloverTac (this guy is hella badass and I want to work with him soon) Hank Strange, American Gun Chic, TFB, Craig “Sawman” Sawyer, Faxon Firearms, Cerakote, Beachin Tactical, JEC Arms Llc, Elite Iron, Vortex Optics, Suppressed Armament Systems… I know there’s more, but my brain is mush. Everyone of these companies/people are tier one 2A patriots. I wouldn’t be here without them.

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The difference between the 500 Blackout and literally EVERYONE ELSE.

No one has the case capacity to host the same range of projectiles. The 500 Blackout can load 185gr to 1200gr… slinging ingots at subsonic speeds for anti-material purposes, or zinging the LW proj’s at +4,000fps to satisfy the dangerous game hunters.

My personal spec’d cartridge is the 911 grain subsonic. A pure copper boat tail projectile. This is my Emergency 9-1-1 round… my honest to God “Remember 9/11” round… a true to form 9/11 payback payload in the hands of a warfighter.

I’m old enough to remember Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield. From day one we have had better soldiers, better vehicles, better guns, better optics, better electronics, better everything. So much so that they had only one weapon to use against us, the dreaded I.E.D. Over the last 30 years our awareness increased and our EOD skills improved. From losing numbers in the 100’s we now lose only a handful. This changed their tactic, and they began using vehicles. They saw that GI Joe and John Q. Officer only had .223’s and 9mm’s, and neither of those was going to stop a rampaging diesel from running over large crowds of civilians or a crew working a checkpoint.

The 500 Blackout hosts the ballistics capable of being a short range anti-material cartridge. The CROM CR-7 host the ability to utilize those ballistics, putting them in the hands of a rifle operator, capable of putting .50 caliber holes in a steel engine block at a 1/4 mile away.

That’s the honest reason why this round was made and why it is needed.

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Pretty fuckin cool, Robocop. Cant wait to see people making close quarter rifles out of these. What kind of muzzle energy are you getting out of this round, so far?

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We are currently only making 12.7” barrels. The subsonic round is 6-7x more energy than the 300Blk… the supersonic is expected to reach over 7,000 ft/lbs!!!

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The prototype is weighing in at 10.6 lbs. I expect to knock a full pound from the future production model.

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Nice :+1: and it only recoils like a 20 ga?

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content

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The big heavy subsonic, and possibly the ultralightweight supersonic, most likely yes. We also have a 600-ish grain “dangerous game” load that we’re estimating similar ballistics to the .510 Nitro Express. I expect a bit more from that. It’ll all be about taming the gas and utilizing the appropriate buffer weight. The CR-7 already auto-regulates it’s gas. The flatwire spring, and 5.5 oz buffer, in an A5 receiver extension should suffice.

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I am in awe of the work you all have put together, also with a defined objective. Seems like there is plenty of support, hopefully more in the financial and technical areas. I admire the determined focus you have produced to pull the project together. Thank you.

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pic compliments of @98Z

.45ACP .308 Win… The 911gr, 600gr & 200gr Aluminum

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Right on, Robert - thanks, brother!

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That meme from yesterday says everything I need to say about this beast of a rifle…

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@Robocop1051 I very much enjoyed stopping by and geeking out over the reloading aspects of the 500 Blackout. I was sold on 300 Blackout long before it was cool and have he same feeling on the 500. You guys have an excellent product and I can’t wait to see and hear more from you in the future. You are still on my list to record a podcast, just a matter of getting the timing down. It looks like even though it was just he one day, you had a great SHOT. Everyone I talked to, vendors, manufacturers, media, dealers, etc all felt the same way. This show, at least in my experience was different. Keep it up with the awesome innovation!

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You might contact starline brass in Missouri about making brass.

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@CloverTac, it was BUSY on Wednesday! @Robocop1051 flew out Thursday night, one of the other guys left a little earlier that day. That left me and one other guy in Friday, and I had to get the ZERO DARK FIFTY from the Cerakote booth, and on it’s way back with the driver. Anthony (ginger bearded thick dude in the “Cerakote Booth pic” above) threw a bunch of stuff in my backpack as we packed up the gun in the case. As we’re walking the gun case out, he told me he threw some stuff in there. That’s where I got the projectiles from. I just went through the backpack again,and realize that I have two of the dummy rounds that were made up… BONUS! Check these things out…

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You know…

I’ve seen these pics of “surplus” ammo from the show grow…and grow…

when does an upper appear?

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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