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There is a proposed ban on 50 cal and larger for hunting in Idaho. The meetings are going on now. Info in the American hunting forum.

Do they just want to ban bmg or all of what
they call rifles over 50 cal.
Well you can use 12GA FH, if they don't
think of banning gauge slug guns.
Once hunters and shooters get outnumbered
by citified folks, these movements
are like a steamroller to stop....Ed.

I have been hearing rumors of such legislation before of bore size limits to .500 and smaller only to be legal firearms and anything over that such as are favorite here as .510 to be a destructive device requiring NFA registration and tax stamp. It is VERY IMPORTANT that everyone allways votes at local and state elections so nothing can slip by us on ballots. This would be a good topic for the political section but this is definatialy a big bore concern. R.

Well, though I am in complete oppositon to anti-gun legislation, let me say that the legaslation is this case MAY be partly because some nimrods use their 50BMG's to shoot at any elk they can see no matter what the range. When these idiots among us inherently wound animals and fail to follow them up because of the vast distance they are from the target, they bring the limelight upon the entire shooting community. Unfortunately, the good among us invariably suffer with the morons whom caused the problems to arise in the first place. My point is to not let us forget that this fight is a 2 front war. We must fight those that legislate against our constitutional rights and also try to educate ignorant and foolish noobcannons against creating problems for shooters everywhere through moronic actions. Yes I do believe that of our problems are the result of purely biased legaslating, but keeping that in mind, we as shooters don't need to go out of our way to give the enemy's propagnda material to use against us.

quote:

Originally posted by HondoLane:
some nimrods use their 50BMG's to shoot at any elk they can see no matter what the range. When these idiots among us inherently wound animals and fail to follow them up because of the vast distance they are from the targets.

There are a lot of other cartridges out there that allow folks to take shots farther that they should and still be too far away to track wounded game. If they were legislating against long range rounds they’d have to ban all of the Ultra Magnums & Weatherby Magnums (that'll probably be next).

The legislation probably has more to do with how hard it is to “stop†a BMG round. Many states have bans on the use of full metal jacket ammo for this reason (as well as the inability of a FMJ to produce a humane kill in most instances). If the BMG was used with “hunting style†bullets that would expand and break up it is no more dangerous than any other long range round.

This is just another example of the “anti gun nuts†trying to pass legislation under the mask of virtue and in their interest of perceived public safety……….

Matt V.

Hmm maybe we need a Nosler BT in 50cal...I would buy one then:P All kidding aside, I agree with you 100%, but there are people that do tend to misuse their weapons and draw attention to all shooters. Maybe if BMG stood for BigMansGamerifle it would be different, but that machine gun part in there draws cooky legislatures out of the woodwork. Having never fired fired a 50BMG, I hope it doesn't go away completely before I have the opportunity.

If they mean to specifically ban the use of the 50 BMG for big game hunting, that won't blow up my skirt. I'm nervous enough hunting elk in lodgepole thickets with camo-clad idiots and their .338s. But if this ban means you can't use your .50-70 Sharps, then to hell with them.

They don't need a ban because Idaho already has a ban on big game hunting with a rifle that weights more than 15 pounds. What 50 BMG weighs less than that?

Sounds like Idaho is just following Washington states example. 50 caliber and larger have been banned in Washington state for years (except muzzle loaders and perhaps BP cartridge).

The 12gaFH was invented precisely to deal with the .50BMG bans. Lets see em legislate that out of existance. Ha ha-Rob

This is the email response I got from Idaho parks and wildlife -- if it's disingenuous, which I suspect it might be, please tack the bureaucrat responsible to the wall.

We aren't proposing a ban on 50 caliber rifles. The commission is
meeting today about changes to equipment rules and we should have the
list of changes next week. We will put out news releases about it at
that time.

idfginfo

-----Original Message-----
From: If anyone wants the intact email, send me a PM and I'll forward it to you. Below is my message.)
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 12:49 PM
To: IDFGINFO
Subject: 50 caliber ban

This message was sent from the IDFG website.

It makes no sense. If someone wishes to be unethical
and shoot an animal at an extreme range, he can do so w. almost any
modern hunting round, while many 50 caliber rifles -- such as 50-110s,
or 505 gibbs are exceptionally difficult to use beyond a couple hundred
yards. Many people download their safari caliber rifles, and use them
as for North American hunting in order to increase their familiarity
with their African gun. In an era with a collapsing population of
hunters, do we really need to start pointing fingers at one another?