Firearm Experts: Hollywood fact or fiction?

[SAW]

I had no clue the .50 was designed as a AT weapon. WWI, correct?

[Boski51]

You are right on! That rounds is one of the most successful rounds in use today. Can you say multi-purpose!

[HoppysMag]

CLOSE! the BMG 50 cal round we know today was made in 1918, and adopted by the US military in 1923. ww1 ended in 1918. but didnt see service

the rifle you might be thinking of was a german antitank rifle chambered in , i believe a heavy 30 cal

edit: oh and this is barrets new toy

[Destructo6]

a friend of mine is a 50 cal gunner in iraq, and he said the 50cal doesnt even need to make contact, the pressure wave alone can kill a man.

Nah. More like secondary missiles, created by the 50's impact, are deadly, making near-hits as dangerous as a 5.56 hit from the same distance.

Why does Hathcock get the bonus points?

The Canuck used an ISSUE rifle! Bolt action! That's a freakish 6th sense for what you're doing, not good luck.

Issue in the sense that it was issued by the Canadian military. However, those rifles are about as custom/high end as a rifle can get. I'd imagine they cost $10k or more. Certainly not that it takes anything away from the sheer awesomeness of the shot: the best need the best equipment.

CLOSE! the BMG 50 cal round we know today was made in 1918, and adopted by the US military in 1923. ww1 ended in 1918. but didnt see service

the rifle you might be thinking of was a german antitank rifle chambered in , i believe a heavy 30 cal

No, it was developed as an anti-tank cartridge, much like the Austrian 20mm Solothurn and Finnish Lahti, but the M2 .50BMG proved a bit more versitile.

[Boski51]

REALLY! I always was tought it was a WW1 AT round. Learn something new everyday!!!!!

[HoppysMag]

Nah. More like secondary missiles, created by the 50's impact, are deadly, making near-hits as dangerous as a 5.56 hit from the same distance.

Issue in the sense that it was issued by the Canadian military. However, those rifles are about as custom/high end as a rifle can get. I'd imagine they cost $10k or more. Certainly not that it takes anything away from the sheer awesomeness of the shot: the best need the best equipment.

No, it was developed as an anti-tank cartridge, much like the Austrian 20mm Solothurn and Finnish Lahti, but the M2 .50BMG proved a bit more versitile.

i dont doubt it was an anti tank round, im saying it didnt see action in ww1

[SAW]

Wow, talk about redefining my definition of the 50cal. Thanks guys

[Boski51]

Men who can place bullets on quarters from 500+ yards away are artists to the highest degree. Men like these know their shizmit, use the best custom rifles, best custom made rounds and make the impossible seem simple.

Wish I could place a paintball on a quarter at 100 yards (without taking a case of paint to do it)...wouldn't that change the game!

[Army]

a friend of mine is a 50 cal gunner in iraq, and he said the 50cal doesnt even need to make contact, the pressure wave alone can kill a man. thats sweet

Uhhh...........no.

The bullet must definately strike you to cause damage. Rapidly moving air from the wake of a bullet MAY sting a teeny tiny bit IF the bullet passes but a hair away, but it wouldn't even break the skin, much less kill you.

I've had up to 25mm rounds go by my head. As long as they are still supersonic, bullets do nothing but make a sharp crack as they go by.

Let me clear a few other things up while I'm at it:

The .50 was indeed developed DURING WWI as an anti-tank weapon and round, but not accepted by the Army until 1923, and not fully adopted until 1932 by the entire US military.

Gunny SGT Hathcock mounted his 10 power Unertal scope to the (then common) anti-aircraft sight mount atop a standard M2 machine gun. He sighted it for a creek bed at 2500yds outside their Marine firebase. When a lone VC came to fill canteens, Carlos fired ONE shot at him. When advised by observers that the VC was only injured due to his flopping about on the ground, Carlos replied, "They do that when you shoot them in the head." A patrol later confirmed a head shot at 2500yds. Which is a far cry from 6 shots taken by the Canadian and his Barrett, until one finally found it's mark. Gunny still wins this one.

Currently, the .338 Lapua is gaining much favor as the beyond 1000m round. The .50 is wonderful, but terribly heavy to prance about with.

[drg]

Side note: Another movie shot I despise is the "zooming binoculars/scope" Every movie with a man on a rifle shows him "tracking" his mark, while the camera zooms in on his face. Scopes are static!

By the way there are such things as variable-power scopes.

[Army]

By the way there are such things as variable-power scopes.

He's not talking about that kind of zooming in, but about one moment looking at the whole figure of the target and a split second later looking at just his face...with NO movement by the shooter. This usually happens with FIXED power scopes on the big screen.

[Southpaw]

Army-
Is this routinely used as a sniper rifle against people or is it primarily used for targets like cars and other Non living targets?

[RamboPreacher]

my chinese SKS with folding stock and bayonette is a "sniper" gun. it is as accurate as a throwing knife at 30 feet! wooho!!!!

[SCpoloRicker]

He's not talking about that kind of zooming in, but about one moment looking at the whole figure of the target and a split second later looking at just his face...with NO movement by the shooter. This usually happens with FIXED power scopes on the big screen.

Loved the Hathcock story as well! I remember reading a sniper novel that talked about that incident.

[Dirty Dakota]

Just a thought

Good snipers with a 30.06 have made kills at ranges approaching mile Granted it was not a one shot one kill but none the less amazing.

No kidding, since a 180-200 grain .30 caliber bullet would drop almost 20 feet from horizontal. Not to mention the effect of wind on the tiny projective over its 3 second flight.

With rifles like the 338 this range can reach into and past the 1 mile range.

Yep it will go that far but without a wire to guide it, won't do much good.

The 50 cal is not a sniper rifle it is an anti material weapon designed to take out vehicles, scud missiles, mobile radar units ect. Not to say that it will not work on a person but a bullet that will go through an engine block at over 1 mile is overkill on a human at almost any range.

AP (Armor Piercing) .50 Cal rounds with go through, but not regular ball ammo. The part about the .50 Cal being anti material is hooey and sounds like a gun control lobby.

The current record for military snipers is just over 2,400 meters by a .50 Cal in Afganistan. Before that a .50 Cal at 2200 meters. To effectively go beyond a mile it is .50 (yeah there are some others that are highly modified ei.408 LRRS). Generally, military snipers stay to about 600-800 with the M24 (.308), because with enviromental factors it is a crap shoot past that.

Just a thought
DD