Miler,
There are alot of myths out there about the 50 BMG ranging the gamat from costing $5-$10 per round to kicking the hell out of you with recoil and finally being able to hit any target one choose out to say 2000 yards.
All of the above could not be farther from the truth.
Let me tell you what I have experienced shooting the big 50 as well as many other of my fellow Fifty Caliber Shooters Assc. members.
One comment I would agree with is that the Barrett rifles are utility rifles designed for military purposes. That means they are designed to fire military quality ammunition which is seldom know for moa accuray at any range.
THeir chambers are designed as such as well as their throats and they will accept a wide variaty of surplus ammo and function.
That said, they can be chambered for the "match" quality projectiles which are generally much longer with a much sharper nose profile. THis often prevents them from fitting in the Barretts magazine. If you get one of their single shots this is not a problem.
To make hits at 1000 yards, you need everything to be basically perfect. Even more so in the big 50 then more conventional rounds. It seems the scaling up of everything concerned with the fifty also scales up variations as well.
I own an LAR Grizzly with a Match chamber and a 36" hevy barrel. This rifle is a single shot and from shooting it along two different Barrett 82's the Grizzly will shoot circles around the much pricier rifles.
My load uses the 750 gr A-Max which I coat and load over 220 gr H-50 BMG and lit with a CCI-35 primer. My cases are full match prepped PMC or IMI. THis load will produce right at 2700 fps at the muzzle and has a best 1000 yard group of 5.74" ctc for three rounds.
This is not the norm though. On average, with typical light and wind conditions, I would say averaging 1 moa at 1000 yards would be extremely impressive. In fact if you could shoot 1 moa groups all the time, you would win nearly all of the FCSA 1000 yard matches.
The 50 is not a wonder round. It is difficult to load match grade ammo for since there are fewer match quality componants.
One myth that I would like to debunk is the cost of ammo. Even if you buy match grade ammo you will pay $6 per round. Far from $10.
If you load your own, you can get those costs down to $4 per round pretty easy. If you look at the price of 30-378 Wby, 338 LM, 338-378 Wby ammo, you will easily pay the same amount.
Bullet wise, the 50 is a little spendier them top premium conventional bullets.
Cost of brass will run about $2 per case for virgin stuff. If you like you can get pulled, new surplus brass for around .50 cents each if you want to clean them up.
Powder is pricy compared to other rounds but you can not get away from that.
As far as recoil, yes the 50's will push you back slowly under recoil but there is nothing violent about its kick.
THe Barrett rifles are about as soft a kicking rifle as there is, feeling little more then a 30-06 in a 8-9 lb rifle. This is because of the gas operation sysytem eating up alot of the recoil energy.
To be honest, if you are seeing monster whitetails at 2500 yards and you want to shoo them with a 50 BMG, even a top bench quality rifle like a McMillan HBR. You better take about a 1500 yrd hike to get into good range for a shot.
Even at a full 1000 yards in typical whitetail hunting light, you will be taking a very tricky shot at best.
Another myth is that the 50's flat explode their targets on impact. This is again false.
There are quick expanding bullets on the market for the 50 but anyone that would use them on game should have their head examined.
Arizona Ammo offeres several big game hunting bullets from a 570 gr Soft Point flat base to a 600 gr X BT and up to the great 750 gr A-Max.
For whitetail or any deer, the 750 gr A-Max is about the best bullet on the market for hunting at extreme range.
It is suprising how little damage the 50 BMG actually inflicts on game animals when hit correctly.
I shoot rock chucks with mine all the time and unless the chuck is sitting with a rock hard against its off side, the 50 will just punch a hole through them and thats it.
If there is a rock behind them, the big bullet splattering will literally pop a chuck.
Game the size of whitetails do not offer enough resistance to the big A-Max bullets to cause them to fully expand which is good. They just drill a .5 to .75" hole through them and are very effective killers.
On game such as elk, the A-Max can often open up and if that happens, you may loose the back half of your elk.
For heavier game the X bullet would be a better choice.
Yardage measurements is far more critical with the 50 them with fsater conventional rounds at least to 1000 yards. They are not real flat shooting, at least not what most think they are. Better have good ranging optics and be a very good shooter.
Just a few thoughts on the 50 BMG.
Good Shooting!!!
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