By creating a hybrid AR-10/AR-15 rifle, Wilson Combat has been able to up the pressure of .458 SOCOM by over 31% and slightly lengthen the case. The end result is the .458 HAM’R caliber and the HAM’R rifles. If 3,000 ft-lbs of energy from an AR-15-ish-sized rifle sounds like your jam, read on for Wilson Combat’s brief press release plus photos and a video . . .
The HAM’R is designed from concept to completion to be the hardest hitting, most powerful (practical size) AR platform carbine ever produced, exceeding the ballistics of the .450 Bushmaster, .458 SOCOM and .500 Beowulf. By using an AR10 size bolt and barrel extension, this new cartridge is capable of handling maximum pressures of 46,000 PSI while enabling it to exceed 3,000 foot pounds of energy from a short 18” barrel. The .458 HAM’R is more than capable of cleanly killing any animal in North America, stopping a vehicle or blasting through a brick wall. Using purpose designed “hybrid” length receivers, BCGs that are ¾” shorter than a standard AR10 and feeding from a Lancer AR15 magazine, Bill Wilson and the Wilson Combat engineering team have produced the ultimate heavy hitting semi-auto carbine.
Another niche round. If it’s still around in 10 years……..who am I kidding. I’ll just ignore it then, too.
I’ll be surprised if it’s still around by the end of this year.
I still say .25 NAA and .32 NAA have a bright future.
🤠
In 10 years it might be a moot question for any gun owner (former) foolish enough to be living in CA, no?
Ten years? At this rate it’ll only take four years for most if not all of our gun rights to disappear here in CA.
Or maybe president Harris will spread the joy to the rest of us.
Even the American plutocracy needs the blessing of Congress to pull such shenanigans. If Lord Obama and Pricess Hillary couldn’t, then don’t hold your breath for Duchess Kamala to work any miracles.
And when it flops it’ll be as easy to resell as a 50 Beowulf.
3 grand just for the rifle will keep it REALLY niche
Hmmm, CMMG did the Hybrid ANVIL in 458 SOCOM and now the HAM’R Hybrid and beefier cartridge…seems like a direct challenge and a comparison is in order.
Only one Hybrid can wield Mjöllnir.
I don’t understand, why would they lengthen the receiver if the cartridge was small enough to feed from a standard magazine? If it’s small enough to feed from an AR-15 magazine, wouldn’t that imply that it would fit into a standard receiver set as well? Am I missing something?
Maybe the beefier BCG required it?
The AR-10 barrel extension and BCG are a larger diameter. So is the chamber portion of the barrel, with thicker steel around the chamber. This is what’s allowing them to safely up the max psi of the round from .458 SOCOM’s 35,000 psi to .458 HAM’R’s 46,000 psi. Cutting that big of a hole in the AR-15 barrel doesn’t leave a lot of material around the chambered round. So what they’ve effectively done is increased the diameter of the upper to use AR-10 components while doing what they could to reduce the length increase you would otherwise get with those components (shortening the BCG back down, mainly). But, the AR-10 barrel extension and BCG are both longer than the AR-15 versions, so the receiver couldn’t still maintain AR-15 dimensions.
I suppose if they thought the R&D expense would make sense, they could have designed a proprietary barrel extension and bolt and increased the AR-15 diameter without increasing its length, but it would have been a much bigger endeavor.
So instead of making a proprietary upper, they created an entire proprietary rifle? Its not an AR10 or 15 so compatibility with anything is questionable. Does it need different feed geometry in the lower’s magwell or something?
I guess its a WC, so cost effective isn’t that important when your goal is to sell 13 of them plus 300 rounds, ever. They should be made of gold pressed latinum.
Thank god this isn’t just an upper (looks in safe at various .450,.458,.500 uppers). I’m a sucker for big bore ARs.
Drew,
Your favorite of ’em, man?
A special lower, with a special BCG?
Yea, that’ll really take off in the AR product space.
Why not just shove a .375 pill on a necked-up, blown-out .308 case and call it good?
Isn’t that the .375 Raptor?
.375 SOCOM. .458SOCOM case necked to .375. It launches a 200gr bullet from 2,400 to 2,500fps from an 18″ barrel out of a standard AR15 upper.
The .375SOCOM meets exceeds the speed what my Speer reloading manual says for all of their 200gr .308 loads.
Does anyone know the ballistics? Haven’t been able to dig it up yet even on the Wilson website.
The shopping portion of the WC website says 300 grains 2000 FPS. Don’t know why they were focused on energy and pressure in their announcement. Most cartridges are compared by weight and speed.
Thanks! The one place I didn’t look!
Their commenting on pressure is in relation to the 458 Socom, which they’re trying to supplant. Since it uses a standard size barrel extension (modified only slightly to accommodate the massive case) it has to keep pressures relatively mild to keep from breaking off the lugs on the bolt, which has had much of its metal removed to accommodate the 308 sized rim.
Its a moot comparison. .458 socom was developed to function in a standard size AR with as few changes to the base AR as possible; barrel, bolt head, & slightly modified mags. By radically increasing the size of the gun and making all the parts proprietary it makes any comparison an apples and oranges contest.
They claim it to be an anti-material rifle “stop an auto . . .”, who are they appealing to? (besides me).
Europeans?
Will certainly blow a fat hole through your wallet.
“The .458 HAM’R is more than capable of cleanly killing any animal in North America, stopping a vehicle or blasting through a brick wall.”
But can it kill a grizzly driving a Buick behind a brick wall?
No?
Then who needs it?
It can kill the grizz. As long as the shooter is sitting in the back seat of the Buick at the time.
Anymore you’ll probably have a harder time tracking down a Buick than a grizzly.
So what does this mean for Wilson Combat’s support of the .458 SOCOM?
So it continues. Wilson slightly modifies an existing cartridge and gives it a new name. At least this time they’ve made a better rifle for it compared to the naked cash grab of the 7.62×40.
And they’ll sell the exact same number of them.
The 40 WT IS a good round and is a better round, thru an AR and bolt action platform, than the 300/BLK, especially at coming out of a magazine..
Should be a reasonably priced gun with readily available inexpensive ammunition.
Hey what happened to that 6.8…or that other new 6.5 round… or .224.. or.. ok.
If it was Federal/Savage, then I could get at least meh level excited, but this is an FK Bruno rifle, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. You could make a single shot 40mm Bofors, but why?
The 6.8SPC is still going strong, with plenty of rounds to choose from at the store (they had 5 different loads at Cabellas yesterday) and more and more manufacturers all the time. All of the major reloading manuals include data for it now.
The 6.5 Creedmoor is so popular now that it is rare to see a large US rifle manufacturer make a new gun in .308 that is not also offered in 6.5 Creedmoor. Ammunition selection is plentiful, and there are dozens of loads for it in the manuals.
The 6.5Grendel is popular as a second AR build, or an upgrade, and AR barrels for it are selling extremely well. Hornady makes multiple loads for it and it is listed in many, but not all, of the reloading manuals. Nosler has some nice loadings for it as well.
The .224 Valkyrie is still new, and it may or may not catch on.
The niche caliber is no longer niche. When reloading is easier than ever, and ammunition ships quickly to your door from multiple websites, people are willing to experiment.
Ask any ammunition maker, niche is the new norm.
Good squirrel gun.
I don’t remember seeing any horse-sized squirrels when I lived in Idaho…
I would say Just take my Money, but its Wilson Combat, so I’m sure that I don’t have enough to begin with.
I keep hoping someone would just built a 458 based on the AR 10 this is not the rifle I was hoping for.
I will just stick to the Phased Plasma Rifle! in the 40 watt range obviously!
“The .458 HAM’R is more than capable of cleanly killing any animal in North America…”
They’re not even restricting themselves by claiming the animal has to be a natural native of North America, only that it’s in North America for the occasion.
Suppose a rhinoceros escapes from a zoo, and seeks concealment behind a hippopotamus who’s also on the lam, somewhere near Des Moines.
You know .458 HAM’R is hard to find in Iowa, so you need to expend your ammo judiciously.
When you need to cleanly dispatch both the hippo and the rhino behind it, and you can take only one shot, this is the rifle for the job.
For a big bore caliber in a standard AR15 lower I don’t think the 358 MGP can be beat.
try to find ammo for the 223 WSSM, 25 WSSM, 270wsm,7mm WSM, 300 RSUM, 270 weatherby mag, 6mm PCU, 30 TC, 356 Winchester, 307 Winchester , or the 8mm Remington magnum before buy one of these. This list is just off the top of my head. there are many more cartridges introduced in the last few years that are complete orphans , with no ammo or components available . better buy a few cases of ammo and some dies if you get one of these.
I just went to midwayusa.com and used the search bar. Every one of the calibers you listed is available, and all but one in multiple loads. Problem solved.
i’m going to hold out until Radical Firearms makes the AR-pistol version.
Wilson Combat… Another overpriced solution looking for a problem. It’ll be gone soon enough.
People have been saying that about them for 40 years now. And yet, they continue to grow, for 40 years now.
The cartridge, Taylor, the cartridge…
FYI: Tumors grow too.
Isn’t the whole point of 458 SOCOM to be low pressure, subsonic, and used with a suppressor?
Which would mean that this round completely defeats that purpose . . . .
No, that was not the original purpose of the .458SOCOM. Subsonic use came up as a big bonus, but dramatically barrier penetration with an upper swap was what Teppu Jitsu was after at first.
give me a 30 round mag and a bumpstock and i’m sold
I have not met a Wilson Gun that will work right without major work on it.
What makes me think another special 45 cal AR made by Wilson will work either.
There is another 45-70 special AR that will not fill any real need, neither will this new round.
An impassioned defense JWT, but you know what they say about leading a horse to water. . . In the end the objections are logistical and pertinent; What does one do with a weapon that is heavily proprietary, firing a proprietary cartridge when ammo or parts are in short supply? Ditch it for something else is the short form answer. . . after one has exploited it and its ammo to best effect. When the cost of the rifle and its ammo are a major consideration. . . where resupply is limited due to either practical logistics or personal finance, it’s a major consideration. . . otherwise this thing is awesome. I can see both sides of the argument: It does what it does well, if you can afford it (financially or logistically or where both are the same consideration). From a practical standpoint, a simple AR-10 in .308 is probably a better choice. . . but man if I could afford the weapon and ammo, this is clearly superior from a performance standpoint. . .
Keep in mind though that your audience largely isn’t comprised of warriors, but individuals of modest means who depend on their personal finance for resupply. The weapon is awesome, but the drawbacks are real enough, depending on ones circumstances.
You know what Clint always says, when SHTF there’ll be .223 laying all over the place and all the spare parts your AR-15 will ever need!
I ADORE WATCHING THESE ASTONISHINGLY EXPERIENCED AND HONORABLE SHOOTERS, VETERAN WIVES/ETC, WHAT-HAVE-YOU, BE SUDDENLY EXPERTS ON WHAT THE LONGEVITY and then, oh man, start SPEWING STATS their friends or husbands told them unless it’s those girls who GET BUSY at 3-Gun or whatnot FOR REAL? Sure…But otherwise, for those in all the small dark corners of SOCOM, this argument about an intermediate?? I mean…Don’t argue o behalf really OF ANY GIVEN ROUND, not knowing how at all IT WOULD BE for you or others in the end. Precariously shooting the Creedmoor or the mysterious new 6.8mm Textron whatever-it’s gonna be-type round?? Sure fine….I am FURIOUS THAT SIMPLY IT’S A LAZY CHOICE TO NOT EVEN LOOK AT THE 300 HAM’R (UGH!! the 458 SOCOM?? you mean a .50 BMG Beowulf JR–from what I seen—OR you could get a 300 HAM’R from Wilson!! That flies as fast as any .308, and at 130gr, it’s just devastating and flat as my first girl on prom night all the way to almost 1200m EASILY. Not in a 20″, I mean even in a sec firm IC job I had w/a KAC SR-25 “ACC type” (this was a custom job we alll had w/ reg 5.56mmm DPMS in 16″ too) but the “battle carbine” in 7.62 NATO? IN FRIGGIN’ 14.5″? I didn’t think anything of it in my first DFE….then I SAW, and when I did, I scoff at the freakin 6.5CM….It’s fine and all, but why not the Valkryie or those uhhh…what are they..the .223 Wylde that supposed to be “nuts” someone told me? Idk…I seen a 300 HAM’R fit into a 5.56mm (just like a Grendel) and be only 5 rnds short w/mag size, take those two or the parts out and you have a WILD HOG KILLER HERE IN SC (I moved from Coronada/La Jolla to be w/family in SC and i live next to Daniels Def!! LOL…Savannah ten sec down the road!) but guys……GO BUY A SINGLE BOX OF WILSON 300 HAM’R, it’s light, a BOLT OF LIGHTING out the muzzle somehow unlike those 458 HAM’R versions and the SOCOM?? Idk the science why, less heavy gr??? The “Controled Chaos” Tactical 300 HAM’R takes a gel block for terminals?? And doesn’t punch thru ten doors like 5.56 can, or ESPECIALLY a Creedmoor can!! AND YOU GET ALL THAT RANGE. Plus, it’s common now actually, and if not the Grendel is the SAME and any one who drops a charging wild angry boar w/one KNOWS our whole SOCOM command, our Army/USMC/etc should drop this 300 BLK thing unless be subsonic EVERY SEC is critical when I know it’s not. I know guys in NSW EOD, did it a couple times in very ninja type hits in Nuristan or whever, used it, and was like “ok so…why am I supposed to want more AT HOME? Cuz it’s compatible?” These guys loved their 7.62 NATO like I did…I could drive tacks in plam wide-sized steel at 650-900m with a 1x if I tried really hard (w/a 4x I did it while walking slowly!! so I could advance and put those downrange! Not bad for a reject “Army wannabe” lol…But honestly, THE GRENDEL!! ASK ANYONE LADIES, YOUR HUSBANDS WHO HUNT? My uncle, the one who’s my namesake (he was in the big Hollywood 97shootout on the SWAT team that ended the lower legs of the moron at the end)…he was SWAT in shorts and dorky shoes (watch the footage, that’s Uncle D) and he’s don more shootouts during Rodney King, Watts, just trying to protect these African American families in his zone that he patrolled, who’d call him BY NAME and ask for help w/so and so from these “Crips” etc (idk if that’s spelled right)…point is, he SWORE we screwed up after the Garand’s .30 06! I agreed for years knowing what I know now….But the .308 is still viable at length….BUT LEVEL OF LETHAL MIXED W/LANKY SEXY LONG LEGS LIKE THE GRENDEL DOES FOR YOU?? It ends anyone or anythings party YESTERDAY….that’s what Wilson gets more than most. I’ve spoke to Bill once, at Shot a while back. He loves the 300 series I was mentioning…but ADORES these 6.5 short Soviet type shaping and look, plus the heavy thumping it gives and it’s CHEAP!!! AND AS AVAILABLE as any elitist CM or even 6mm version of it!!! Let alone the overplayed and outdone 300 AAC/BLK…..yeah great job SIG!! You did what HK did to the CSASS and stole it from sooo many companies with ACTUALLY (once in a while) a superior or at least equal product who NEED that money and contract. LaRue OBR Tactical custom 14.5? How about ANY LMT MWS?????????????? Or the new REPR II (I know, people groan)….but I LOVED IT. It’s sooooo fast. I can clear rooms in a stack like I had a 10.5″ SBR!! I see the Brits got the picture FAST!! Just saying…outside of BCM, KAC, and a few others, that’s the deal on who should’ve been finals in CSASS in the Army as opposed to a reboot of a 417 that WE ALREADY HAVE A COMPACT LIGHTER VERSION OF, just a few diff nooks and crannies….whatever…I am mad now more than almost EVER, I think these days, or for sure NOW!!… And if we lose people to spun ass Somalis cuz of 62gr or god forbid our Black Hills fallbacks in 77?? Well it’ also not stopped em first hit too!! The Grendel was tried (quietly I was told) by some NSW guys and Raiders not long ago in the Kunar or something. It flipped that ON to freakin OFF in a speed unrealistic to hear!! They were mad they’d be in trouble if they spoke…even w/latitude in SOF!!! You don’t get to get in bar fights or bring a WW2 bazookda if you feel like it, just buck naked in Iraq firing it at people shooting at you!! lol…but the latitude doesn’t extend too far. THE GRENDEL SHOULD BE OUR ROUND UNTIL WE HAVE GET EYES-ON WITH WHAT THIS “GP” version of the NOT similar-to-SPC 6.8!!! Why not…or as i said, try sending out a few pairs of tools, and at range, you can have 6.5CM out of that 130gr HAM’R (CHECK MY INFO…I saw it….better than no matter what the Blackout!!)
And now it’s near-peer time w/Maripol (Crimea/Ukraine) or maybe the Senkaku Islands or whatever they call em….that’s just dumb to not agree we need a new round yesterday ready to throw in. I didn’t have fun w/friends who did the Tier 1 gig as they always take the Mp7 w/AP ammo, right?? and I tried it, and it was quiet and fun so I konwo why they liked it….it punches thru steel like butter. But we NEED something NOW!!
Not being an a war monger, saying if you look outside mainstream, like a Vice News story about C.American incidents growing that would make our version compared to Arab Spring look easy…
But no, we listen AS THEY SELL US ON THE RIDICULOUSLY, AWE-INSPIRING-LEVEL IGNORANCE that, as some of have said (I’m a civilian who’s ONLY kinda been half ‘terp/guide (growing up in San Diego & Baja) asas cert’d to be a “trunk monkey” w/ my DPMS etc (and yep, there were SMU fellas in a car laughing saying Af/Pak didn’t “nearly, by a daaamn sight, give ulcers like these” as I recall. Those are long time Unit/”Greene” cadre members who’d been w/me for years since I graduated high school in 2000 so I knew some Pendleton guys (my bar hopper pals if they didn’t burn Margarita Rocks bar down w/my frog pals and ruin all our lives lol) and not just NSW, but TWO really sharp fellas who did the X-Ray “baby SF” deal, but cut some special lame ass lucky-as-hell deal w/their higher and they’d be done after a few yrs on whatever ODA, maybe do a few more on the RRC (then it was called the Recon Ranger Det as you know I’m sure…i didn’t, as I was an onlooker who’d been a devil pup and Eagle scout, that’s it…and shot lots of hoarded military long guns (Garands, Sprinfield 1903s, a LRRP actual ORGINAL CAR-15 people would pay my dad a leg for) and I got good at that too…HOWEVER, a chance came (I’d gotten a DUI and my recruiter, who’d tragically lost his wife to a DUI, which he said that’s why I’ll “never get to even be 11B—which i’d dreamt of while others act like prison is better? lol—) BUT HOWEVER AS I SAID, there were “one-offs” put together by subsidiaries for TITANGROUP/L-3 to take advantage of recruiting the first wounded, the first to finish and DD214 out etc, yet had the SOF brotherhood bug in em still….and there was an outsourced DoJ/DoD firm w/TITANGROUP/L-3 Communications briefly called RATTLR (Rapidly Asymmetrical Tactical Training and Lead Response) elem paid-for-ahead of time by whoever the umbrellas were (C.A.C.I Intl?? Cubic/Tapestry??) but they’d sent others to Syria before we knew what ISIS would be…this was 2006!! Now I signed NDAs, so I won’t be that guy w/loose lips, that other stuff was near as open source as it gets after Blackwater got the brunt…HOWEVER, having an IBA plate, doing the Spanish ;terp work (we had Hispanic dudes from Force Recon who needed me to translate lol…it’s fine…my memory was not perfect lets say)…But this RATTLR element or “Advance Evaluation Team/”Concept Integration Eval Team”? THAT became a legit sec firm, and i had a suppressed DPMS 14.5″ sitting in my lap, Zetas sending their newest jump ins to come run up w/toy looking .25 caliber silver baby Dillinger lookin’ things and dump it into the side….then run. 99% of the time we laughed and he got away as we lad several level (Idk….not technical…Level 2 or 3 plates in our Yukons & SUVs? I guess.)
Point is, it got ugly fast. I wrote an Ebook that was asked of me by not just those I worked with/for (NDAs up the wazooo or not) the presence of ACTUAL Caracas based IRGC personnel (“the Hez” we’d kid)..or HEZBOLLAH (yep, one and only…paid by Baja/Sinaloa DTOs and other TCO networks to “advise” their sh-t for brain Zetas we’d smoke check for just being total scum…torturing toddlers, doing stuff my surviving teammates (not all did btw…so.yeah, i try to leave it out of the Ebook if the family wants, as they were like that to me) HOWEVER, the “deadly/lethal level of competence and combat effectiveness of these two groups of intellectual giants scared me but not like you vets who faced Pakistani ISI two faced a–holes who KNEW how to make you vanish and had actual $$$…the DTOs/aka cartels..didn’t do that often and paid for it w/dozens of Zetas when they threw a couple pickups full of MAC-11 wielding drunken fmr Mex Mil at ex-ODA or fmr Delta G Sqdn RECCE guys in the fifties who would calmy roll the window down and lay these dudes out and then have a smoke like no big deal…UGH..it was bad. BOTH tortured toddlers the same as Daesh just btw.
Sorry for the rant, haven’t spoken aloud about it since then it feels a sometimes….Being an IC in a firm that’s outsourced simply so a bigger one can say it had never done some tactical, in terms of posture/TTPs, even jointly planned/executed raids w/local LE–the bill of good we got sold on originally actually–“you’re gonna help do what our ODAs do in Iraq!! Make people safe from corruption again!! YAY!!—lol…US? We’d get lit up, smokecheck numerous (I’m not someone who wants that on my resume like most who tried like me to do SF in the military, I LIKED THE FID idea and being an intel sgt one day maybe!!! lol…not this….Anyways, yeah… but mainly low level PSD work in Baja back when the “the big PMC Gold Rush for OIF1/2” was going on and if you weren’t out there w/ those ex-frogs, ex-ODA dudes who hated reg mil life (not bad guys, as I woulda’ been one I’d bet…just been different how I handled this topic upon return as people CARE a sh-t ton about our new SOCOM acquisitions programs w/ARDEC/JSOC/etc…you name it, it was on that report for 2018 and hardly redacted (they NEED to change that laziness btw).
Sorry, I had coffee for hours…I am not a writer, and I am five years deep in finishing not just the Ebook on TITAN’s RATTLR tactical unit and our “Hez” blind dates we enjoyed so much, especially as they orphaned families and wives I knew in 4th grade…but ok….ug.
Just saying…..tell me I’m obnoxious, write too long of messages, but if you’re gonna deny I’m right, come w/the facts. I seen nearly an SBR in Grendel do what we need TODAY and we have all the time to fix small modular issues later.
Just saying….I’m not operator or soldier….I’m an author, total dork for all things military form my family, but I shot my whole life at least, I know what works too!! Maybe we stop doing the definition of insanity w/the same systems, put the REPR II or LaRue OBR Tactical (compact 14.5″) or at least our KAC SR-25 version what DID work at any range we needed, and worked dirty as the AK inside….Then, keep the Mk18 Block systems but put these new cartridge through the paces, as it might be a kid facing a loonie DPRK or Russian Vympel Spetz, who’s trained all day 24/7 to kill that fat US kid…maybe he…uh ya know…who knows… may need it.
hmmm i bought a 458 Ham’r i dont F around Ive had my share of road rage confrontations and few with the opposition bringing out a piece. this 458 ham’r is it! 5.56 is BS. Its not the only ordinance i carry but this gun with a good holo sight is the ticket..internal red dont meets chest of incoming grizzly bear and boom boom and he is done and DONE! im loading mine up with 450 gun hollow points..godzilla will drop if i get 2 center mass on him.