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Have Fun/Stay Safe

I want a 50BMG too. I'm not too picky! I'll take a bolt gun, a Barrett, or a M2 50. I just don't want to pay the asking prices!

Ivan

That’s one ricochet from one bullet shooting at something 1000 yards away.

What about in combat with a Ma Duece shooting the same round. 500 per minute at a target much closer. The metal coming back at you must be unbelievable.

Shooting a 50 cal is definitely on my bucket list.

I have been shooting,reloading for, competing with and instructing 50 BMG rifles for over 20 years. The round obviously has a tremendous amount of energy, and care has to be taken when choosing your impact area.
The video in question has been around for years and the story regarding the actual range has changed with time, as has what actually came back and hit the shooter.
Any centerfire rifle round can come back to you if it encounters something hard in the impact berm, I have had that happen with 308’s at 100 yards.
I shoot my 50’s at 1000 yds and further. I have shot every type of bullet available over the years and have always made an effort to ensure I had a clean impact berm.
Photo is me shooting at a mile with my TAC 50. Ammo was 750 gr. CNC turned solid, handloaded. The range was at Camp Atterbury.

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WOW, I can't even walk a mile! I bet shooting that bad boy is really fun.
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

The 50 BMG is not really as bad to shoot as you might expect. A properly designed muzzle break is important

On this day we only had 200 yards to the target, the bolt action Serbu BFG-50 was keeping 1 inch groups with Santa Barbara M33, 660 grain, FMJ surplus ammunition so it is hard to complain. Mine is equipped with a Lothar-Walther barrel, I am not sure if the BFG-50 still ships with that barrel

I just looked at my notes and I have had this thing for 20 years now . . . . Time flies when your busting caps

Those folks that that think ammunition for the 500 Smith & Wesson is expensive are going to have a heart attack at the cost of factory 50 BMG

You guys won't even believe what loc n load's lathe turned solids cost. Barnes gets over $2.25 just for the projectile

Then do not forget this stuff is not going to load on your Dillon 650. So that means a new press and dies. That loading equipment can be as expensive as a new handgun, I mean a good one

But there is a good feeling when that 8" gong at 600, 800 or more yards clangs as you hit it

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"Acta non verba"

Any bullet can ricochet, a .50 BMG just has a lot more force behind it. A good AR500 steel target that slants or swings down on impact seem to be fine. Softer steel tends to become concave & things start going wrong. Do NOT use car rims for targets!

Meh.

I’d rather have a 23mm:

Those 50 BMG bullets are unreal. I would love to have one to just display on my desk, but I would have to sell my truck to afford one.
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

Jay,is that a lahthi (spelling my be wrong in 20mm?. Frank

I've always wondered how many B-17s and 24s were hit by guns from other bombers in the box. Seems like a real potential for friendly fire, especially in the heat of battle.

Negative. It's a ZU-23 from a twin 23mm AAA piece converted to single shot.

"Separatist" Anti-Materiel Rifle Made in the Self-Proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic -The Firearm Blog

I won't fault anyone for wanting a .50 BMG. But, I've seen this video before and if I were to shoot one, I'd want to be sure that my backstop will prevent the bullet from coming back at me. Shooter is lucky he is still alive.

I've been struck several times by 9mm JHPs ricocheting from a poorly designed berm while conducting firearms training. Stings like hell, even draws some blood on occasion. Anyone shooting without eye protection is asking for serious trouble. No way I'd want to be in the path of an errant .50 BMG.

I have 2 a friend gave me multitudes of years ago. They were linked when I got them.

If I had 1000 yards to stretch a 50 out I would totally get one. I've shot them a lot. API-T at 850 yards at a hard metal target is as much fun as you can have with your pants on.

Twenty plus years as a tank commander gave me ample opportunity to shoot an ***ton of caliber fifty from both the M2 Browning variants and the misbegotten M85. Still have my headspace and timing gauges and a solid link chute for the M2HB-TT mounted on its side in an M48 cupola.

The fifty excels at its main mission.

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50bmg spotter tracer are a blast...literally

Here are 2 my grandfather brought home from his time in the Navy. Genuine family trench art. Before ww2. Along with a 1yen silver coin.

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The original video debunks the "1000 yard" part, the projectile traveled a lot less, both to the target and during the ricochet.

Had to look up the M85. Not a popular tool, apparently.

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Release the Kraken

As an 0331 machine gunner in the Marine Corps, our youngest son had ample opportunity to play with .50 M2s, among other things. He enjoyed his work. Served two deployments to Afghanistan. Sent me this photo of his view atop his MWRAP.


He said the .50 wasn't as much fun for him to use as the M240 which was his personal favorite.

I got to shoot an M2 .50cal at a big MG shoot once. Really really fun!

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No baby we aint

I owned a bolt 50 cal. a few years back, and it opened up a whole new world in long distance shooting. We used to shoot it out at Iggy’s place so range was unlimited. We’d take it out to about 2500 yds with some success. Keith44Spl almost accidentally hit an antelope at about 1500 yds while shooting over him at a target at about 2000 yds. Ya shoulda seen that goat go! I finally sold it when a good offer came along but it was a lot of fun.

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Everybody could shoot

I shot the M2 quite a bit and once we adopted the Mk 107 in our unit I was an instructor on it. Much of my tinnitus is probably from it.

If you shoot AP ammo and find some of the cores laying around after the jacket has been stripped of on impact, they make excellent center punches.

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Keep your powder dry.

The solid precision bullets I shoot in my 50’s are turned from either copper or brass stock. These are high BC bullets, and very uniform. I have shot these out past 2500 yards. I shoot these when I am competing or shooting at extended long range. I shoot them in both bolt guns, and semi auto 50 BMG rifles.

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2 bucks a bullet, 25 to 30 rounds to the pound of powder, hard to find primer!

The sound of impact..............PRICELESS!

Ivan

My 338 Lapua only uses 94-104 grains of powder a round! Economy!

The M85 was primarily mounted in the cupola of the M60 series tank and in versions of the USMC AAVP-7 amphibious assault vehicle. It was not a particularly reliable machine gun, partly because of ammunition stowage and feed chute were clumsy to load.

Surprisingly, many Cold War era tankers remember it somewhat fondly, mostly because M73/M219 coax machine guns were worse.

The M73/M219 Machine Gun: Mama's Ugly Baby

That's true! I saw that video a long, long time ago.
It can happen fairly often at cowboy action matches. Using steel targets that are not set at precisely the right angle, or are badly pitted, can send a chunk of lead right back to the shooter. I have seen it more than a few times, including having it happen to me, the most memorable time being when an almost entire .45 caliber bullet came straight back at me slowly enough that I saw it coming and it hit me right in the chest. It didn't hurt or anything but it sure got my attention!

I enjoyed shooting the M-2 when I was in the Army but many decades later, on a Pacific Ocean exercise, as a Navy Senior Chief sleeping in Chiefs' quarters right off the prow of the USS Coronado (AGF-11), I was awakened by the chatter of many M-2s being fired and the clatter of the brass hitting the deck. WHAT THE HECK??!!

Turned out to be Naval Academy Midshipmen being trained in the use of the Ma Deuce. Pretty amusing to awaken to THAT!!!

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Come and take it!!

The guy in the video short cuts the time of flight math, which is too bad as it takes about 10 seconds to figure it out with a ballistic app.

But he gets the factors that affect speed of sound horribly wrong. He claims it's humidity. It isn't. Temperature is the major factor that affects speed of sound in air. In fact, you can ignore the other factors (pressure altitude and humidity) because they have virtually no impact on the result.