.50 BMG: The Ultimate Big Bore is a look at the Serbu BFG-50A rifle and some 50 BMG physics.
The C.I.P. designated the.50 Browning Machine Gun as the 50 Browning.The.50 in (12.7mm) caliber firearm was developed for the M2 Browning machine gun and entered official service in 1921.It is a standard service for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries.Multiple generations of regular ball, tracer, armor-piercing (AP), incendiary, and saboted sub-caliber rounds have been made in the cartridge.The rounds for machine guns are made using metallic links.
The.50 BMG is used in long-range rifles.The availability of match grade bullets has increased the usefulness of.50 caliber rifles by allowing them to fire more accurately than lower quality rounds.[4]
John Browning had the idea for this round in response to a need for an anti-aircraft weapon, based on a scaled-up.30-06 Springfield design, used in a machine gun.The AP rounds and armor-piercing incendiary (API) rounds were excellent for destroying concrete bunkers, structures, and lighter armored fighting vehicles.In detecting strikes on targets, the rounds left a flash, report, and smoke on contact.[5]
The German 13.2mm TuF, which was developed for an anti-tank rifle to combat British tanks during WWI, is sometimes confused with the.50 BMG round.The Browning.50 originated in the Great War according to the American Rifleman.The U.S. Army consulted Browning after being influenced by the French 11mm design.They wanted a projectile that was at least 3000 feet per second.The bullets did not exist.Browning pondered the situation and, according to his son John, replied, "Well, the cartridge sounds pretty good to start."We'll do some shooting if you make up some bullets.'[6]
The American Rifleman says that development was influenced by Germany.The.50-cal. anti-tank rifle was designed by Winchester.There is a cartridge.The historic.50 BMG or 12.7x99mm cartridge was produced by Frankford Arsenal.The gun was returned to John Browning by the Army.He and Colt produced prototypes that were ready for testing by the end of the Great War.[6]
The round was used in a machine gun.This gun was later developed into the M2HB Browning, which was capable of penetrating a face-hardened armor steel plate at 200 meters with its.50 caliber armor-piercing bullets.[9]
The idea of a.50 caliber machine gun was not an invention of this era, it had been used in a number of manual rapid-fire guns such as the original Gatling gun.
The.50 BMG was primarily used in the M2 Browning machine gun, in both its light barrel and heavy barrel versions, for anti-aircraft purposes during World War II.The M2 Browning HB machine gun is still being used today.Since the mid-1950s, some armored personnel carriers and utility vehicles have been made to be resistant to 12.7mm machine gun fire.It is heavier and more cumbersome to carry than lighter weapons, but it still has more penetrating power.Its range and accuracy are superior to light machine guns when fixed on tripods, and it has not been replaced as the standard caliber for Western vehicle-mounted machine Guns.There is a citation needed.
The.50 BMG was chambered in high-powered rifles decades later.The anti-materiel power of the military sniper has been upgraded by the Barrett M82.50 caliber rifle.A skilled sniper can eliminate several targets without revealing his location.The long range between the firing position and the target allows time for the sniper to avoid enemy retaliation by either changing positions repeatedly or retreating.
Comparison of muzzle energies is a common method for understanding the power of a cartridge.The.30-06 Springfield, the standard caliber for American soldiers in both World Wars and a popular caliber amongst American hunters, can produce muzzle energies between 2,000 and 3,000 foot-pounds force.The.50 BMG round can produce between 10,000 and 15,000 foot-pounds force (14,000 and 20,000 J), depending on its powder and bullet type, as well as the weapon it is fired from.The high ballistic coefficient of the bullet makes the.50 BMG a good choice for high-powered sniper rifles, as it suffers less "drift" from cross-winds than smaller and lighter calibers.10
The.50 BMG has a capacity of 190 grains.The round is a scaled-up version of the.30-06 Springfield but uses a case wall with a long taper to facilitate feeding.
The rifling twist rate is 1 in 15 in, with eight lands and grooves.There is a boxer primer that has a single centralized ignition point for the US and NATO countries.Some countries produce Berdan primers that have two flash holes.
The chamber pressure in this round is listed in the U.S. Army Ammunition Data Sheets, not including plastic practice, short cased spotter, or proof/test loads.The test pressure is listed as 50,000 kPa.
There are a lot of different bullets and different specifications for the.50 BMG.
The EXACTO program includes a.50-caliber guided bullet.The guided bullet can hit a moving target.There are 20 and 22 words.
Depending on the machine gun which will be firing the.50 BMG, two distinct metallic links have been used.The M2 and M9 links are used in machine guns.Pull-out cloth belts have been obsolete since 1945.The M15-series links were used in the machine gun.
This appears to be over the.50 inch maximum allowed for non-sporting Title I firearms under the U.S. National Firearms Act, the barrel.The bullet forms a tight seal and engages the rifling when it is fired.It remains popular among long-range shooters due to its accuracy and external ballistics, despite the fact that it is not considered a destructive device under the National Firearms Act.Smaller caliber rifles produce better scores and tighter groups in competition than the.50 BMG round, which is able to deliver accurate shot placement.[26]
An alternative chambering was developed in response to legal action against the.50 BMG.The.510 DTC Europ uses the same bullet, but has slightly different case dimensions.A.510 DTC chambered rifle can be used to make cases.The new round is almost identical to the old round, but because of the different dimensions, rifles chambered for.50 BMG can't fire it.A shortened.50 BMG case necked down to a 10.3mm caliber is used for the Barrett alternative.There is a citation needed.
Several instances of the.50 caliber rifle being involved in criminal activities were identified in a 1999 Justice Department Office of Special Investigations briefing.The illegal possession of a.50 BMG rifle was cited in most of the instances of criminal activity.There was no instance of a.50 BMG rifle being used in a murder.There is a citation needed.
In the United States, Washington, D.C. does not allow the registration of.50 BMG rifles.The private purchase of a rifle that can fire the.50 Caliber is not allowed in California.Connecticut has a ban on the.50 BMG rifle.The.50 BMG rifles that were registered prior to the enacted bans are still lawful to possess in California and Connecticut.Maryland imposes additional regulations on the sale and transfer of.50 BMG rifles and other "regulated firearms", and limits purchases of any firearm within this class to one per month, but does not impose registration requirements or any form of categorical ban.[29]
It is legal to own a bolt action rifle with a section 1 firearms certificate in the United Kingdom.The same criteria as smaller calibers are used to assess applications for firearms in this caliber, with applicants having to prove they have a valid reason for owning such a weapon.[35]
The laws of war do not prohibit the use of.50 BMG directly against enemy personnel.No treaty language supports a limitation on the use of.50 BMG against personnel, and its widespread, longstanding use in this role suggests that.The M8C spotting rifle is an.50 caliber aiming aid for the M40 recoilless rifle.This limitation was intended to hide the vulnerable M40 and its crew from the enemy until the main anti-tank gun was ready for firing; however, Parks concludes that some U.S. troops assumed the existence of a legal limitation on the use of.50
On May 1, 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau announced a ban on military-style firearms in Canada.There is a ban on firearms that chamber the.50 BMG.There is an as-yet-unannounced compensation program in the works for the two-year amnesty period before the firearms must be surrendered.There are 37 and 38 words.
The Browning M2HB heavy machine gun is the primary military use of this round.There is a citation needed.