50 BMG

Was planning on shooting a 50 BMG , I thought. Went to a place that had several , come to find out they discontinued letting the public shoot them . It was destroying their backstop . Armalite comes in at 34 lbs. Went pick it up and felt much heavier. The place had pretty much every legal tactical weapon to purchase, with proper paper work of course . Zingers and Flingers extremely knowledgeable staff. The 50 ranged in price from 8000,00 to over 10 . Lol I could by a new sled for that . Cool place to visit for sure .

I’ve shot thousands of rounds through both the the semi-auto BMG and the M2 fully automatic version in the army. Unreal weapon. I’ve also spent most of my adult life making decisions my eardrums disagree with.

When you pull the trigger. You will be glad it weighs 34#, takes most of the recoil. Would never believe, I think the recoil was less than a 12ga with heavy loads. My wife shot it with no problem. Behind it at a 45 degree angle behind the muzzle break. The concussion to me is bad as the recoil. If you do get a chance to shoot one. Ear plugs, with muffs over that are your friend.

stevenoak wrote:

The concussion to me is bad as the recoil.

Yep. If you’re the one operating the weapon or right behind it, it’s not near as bad as anyone in the 45-degree angle vicinity of that muzzle brake.

I have wondered how these big autos like the 50 compared to safari dangerous game rifles when it came to recoil. .416s, the various big nitros, 460 Wby, etc when it came to recoil. Given the DG rifles are bolt or double guns.

I have shot various magnum .30s and I found them tolerable if not exactly pleasant. Then I shot a 416 Rem and even in a heavy magnum safari rifle configuration weighing over 12 pounds, I believe my back molars are still vibrating from the tremendous blast.

The standard line is these big guns “push back instead of kick”. Bullsh1t. Unless you would characterize being hit by a train as the train “pushing back” then they most certainly do kick. Often wondered is a BMG worse yet?

My greatest admiration to anyone who carried and shouldered a BMG in defense of our country.

My experience with a Barrett bolt-action .50 BMG is that it really is a push back instead of a kick. I’d rather shoot that than a big game rifle that really has a heck of a kick. I believe it’s a slower burning powder in a .50 BMG that results in a push rather than a kick.

luckydave wrote:

My experience with a Barrett bolt-action .50 BMG is that it really is a push back instead of a kick. I’d rather shoot that than a big game rifle that really has a heck of a kick. I believe it’s a slower burning powder in a .50 BMG that results in a push rather than a kick.

I agree 100%. Buddy has the Barret bolt and it’s a pressure cooker. I don’t remember the specs on it and don’t have my manual here. I do know it’s a slower rate . I prefer the auto so much more for comfort. The action absorbs enough to make it more enjoyable. First time I shot the barret in prone I noticed I was slid back about a foot. Fun as hell to blow stuf up but dang it’s a costly round to load

Hmmm may have been okay I did not get to fire it , already stone depth in my left ear and substantial loss in the right . Already plugin and electronic muffs to save what’s left . They did have a 416 Barret there not sure how much wild factor they are. I have shot 300 RUM 373 H&H and a 338 WIN Mag and for years a 10 ga 3.5 inch magnum loads. By far the worst was the 338 Rem mag . The recoil from that was unforgettable ! Anyway Zingers and Flingers a cool place to visit for sure .

Quick comparison on the 338 win mag vs 50 BMG for loads

Bullet 200ish vs 700gr

Charge – 65ish gr vs 220gr

Powder burn rate – most powders in the 338 win mag would rank (estimating) in the 50-100 of the top 200 rated powders. The 50bmg would be the 150-200 (much slower). Like comparing varget in my 22-250 to black powder. Little embellishment on the difference but you get the idea

I’ve shot many, many rounds through a suppressed M82. It’s a fun gun and exactly how a BMG is described above, a push and less of a sharp kick. Can’t imagine it would be easy hunting with it unless you would be prone at all shot opportunities.

The ammo price has me never wanting to buy one of my own. But doing it for work, I’ll take that.

It’s hard to imagine how manageable the recoil is. It’s a fraction of my 7mm mag. My buddies wife is about 4’10”. She’s the first one on the trigger every time he gets it out. Ammo cost is another suprise. Thru the last 2 years, It’s been available and the cost barely went up. $5ish for factory load $3.50 for reload roughly. Remember you aren’t prairie dog hunting with it. $60 will give half a dozen people a taste. As far as hunting with a 34# gun. Unless you want to sit on a hill and kill everything in a mile radius, not sure that’s a thing.

Looks like the M82 has 97 ft lbs of free recoil. It says my 10 ga with 3.5,s is around 63 ft lbs .The 338 win mag around 30 ft lbs . To me the 338 cracked harder , I read the rem 700 stock contributed to that effect .

The big guns have more of a push versus a sharp kick, my 416 in which is a shortened necked down 50 cal pushes a 550 gr bullet at 3100 fps running 20N29 powder and the recoil is comparable to a 20 ga.

We get pushed out to 4029 yards now on the average and the rifle is very accurate. Usually you are allowed 5 rounds to hit the target and move to the next while under a time restraint so you have to have your act together. The wind reading is the biggest challenge especially in Kansas where the average winds a 35 mph

If you ever get down in the Marshfield area let me know

Pictured is the rifle and a loaded round next to a 260, we will see how I do at adding pictures

A little ruff at the picture thing

Awesome, did not know the the 416 Barret had such a radius on the shoulder . These are the preferred long range comp guns ? 20 ga recoil is better yet !

Don
My 416 has the radius, a standard 416 Barrett which holds 25 less grains of powder has a standard shoulder.

If you ever get down this way let me know, if it works you can take a look and possibly send a round.
Didn’t mean to throw you off from a standard 416 Barrett

Jeff

Ive shot a few. Fun. Expensive. Not bad to shoot, think 20 ga like recoil. The muzzle breaks work well. If you are not the person shooting, you will really feel the percussion for several feet either lateral to the shooter or behind them. Feels like someone thumped you in the chest with an open hand. I cut down an Elm tree with one at 400 yards. I walked 7 shots across the trunk (15 inch diameter) and it just fell over. Crazy. That particular rifle was a single shot bolt upper on an AR 15 lower. High powered Night Force scope. It weighted quite a bit. I did shoot it off hand once, just to say I did it. A lot of rifle to hold. The rest of shooting was done off a bipod.

I fell into a rabbit hole of videos showing guys running these rounds through shotguns. It worked in the two I saw but a lot more videos were available. A pump and a O/U. I didn’t confirm gauge. Just assumed it was 12 but maybe not? I WOULD NOT TRY IT THOUGH. They were all remotely fired with string.

Bad idea. And probably 20 ga. Replying to Suzuki’s response.

suzuki wrote:

I fell into a rabbit hole of videos showing guys running these rounds through shotguns. It worked in the two I saw but a lot more videos were available. A pump and a O/U. I didn’t confirm gauge. Just assumed it was 12 but maybe not? I WOULD NOT TRY IT THOUGH. They were all remotely fired with string.

WOW !!! and why ?

I had a LAR GRIZZLY 50BMG about 10 years ago. Sad I sold it. When we went to shoot it the first time it was at an indoor range, bills in circle pines I think anyway my buddy said man you can taste that thing in your eyeballs 🤣 recoil was a smooth push.