Just the mention of a .50 cal sniper rifle conjures up the imagination of 2500-meter kills on human targets. We need to be honest, due primarily to the lack of some really good quality match ammo for the .50, there is no hope of hitting a human at 2500 meters. Yes, there are occasional accounts of human targets being hit at extreme ranges (everyone has heard of the canadian shot at 2400+ meters), but these are NOT the norm, and we always fail to hear how many times targets at those ranges were missed prior to and after those rare hits. The main purpose for the big .50 sniper rifles is to engage hard targets at extreme range, much like the British SAS used Barrett M82A1's to engage Scud missile launchers in the first Gulf War. In this realm, nothing can touch the .50 when it comes to extreme range. There really is not a lot of purpose engaging human targets with a 750gr bullet. Of course, the recoil of the rifle, and the bulk and weight of a .50 sniper rifle (usually in excess of 30 lbs.) prevent it from being used as a serious everyday sniper's rifle, stalks wouldn't be much fun and a hot exfiltration would be a very physical activity. But put that 30lb rifle 300 meters behind the lines in a defensive position, and you can really cause some havoc. There is great accuracy potential, but there is a lack of Match grade ammo available to our military snipers. There are a few civilian ammo makers that do load match ammo for .50, but beyond Special Operations, none of our forces have access to it.

Recommendation: Don’t bother using this rifle against human targets, focus on hard targets, its no problem to take out an APC a mile away (of course with proper ammo, only available to Law Enforcement and the Military, i.e. DU rounds), and chances are they'll have no clue as to where the shots are coming from (Provided the team does what its suppose to). Of course, unless an agency needs an anti-armor weapon, the .50 has no Law Enforcement applications.

Note: The following is the data for the standard U.S. M2 .50 BMG ammo. This is not the ammo to use if you're expecting any degree of good accuracy, but it will do just fine against hard targets out past a mile (1600 meters)

U.S. M2 .50BMG - 709gr FMJ-BT at 2850fps

Bullet Drop (Inches)

Wind Drift (Inches) 10mph Crosswind

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