I'm kinda dreaming. Saw a distributer with the armalite 50 bmg with a dealer price of about $2279. I know my dealer would bring me one in without alot of mark up. Anyone ever shoot one of these??
What is the best bullet for this caliber--a 750 grainer?? Looks like a top speed of about 2650 fps according to one source. Can anyone tell me about their experience with this beast?? Also are there any federal regs I need to know about for getting ammo etc???

Kraky,

http://www.fcsa.org/

is the 50 cal Shooters Association.

I shot a home made single shot bolt action rifle a while back. Mucho fun. We were shooting at a 55 gal drum at a surveyed 2,200 yards.

Not illegal or requiring hoops to jump through, at least not yet.

jim dodd

Before I retired from Bell Helicopter I was doing recurrent flight training with Police department pilots in a town in Florida. During breaks we talked guns and 50 BMG rifles came up. I made the remark that I would love to shoot one. The next day one of the cops landed at their range heliport after the training session and the range master was waiting with a bolt McMillian 50 BMG. Their range was only 300 yards but it didn't matter. I just wanted to shot it. They let me fire five rounds. The range master said he ordered his ammo from some outfit in Colorado. I was afraid to ask the price. He said the bullets were produced from stock of some sort turned on a lathe. The muzzle brake was really effective. The recoil was more a shove than a kick. I think he told me the rifle weighed 26 pounds. Awsome.

AR-50's Lar grizzleys, Maadi Griffens are all entry level .50 BMG's. Most are throated for Military ball. The biggest problem with them is false accuracy claims. Most of these guns will barely shoot 2 MOA even with good ammo. The other problem is a lack of places to shoot them and the cost of the ammo. Even reloading your own requires special tools and components. By all means go the FCSA website and if possible attend a match before you spend your hard earned money. Sometimes a member will sell a match gun for not more than you'd pay for a AR-50.-Rob

Don,
I have owned both an Armalite AR-50 and a Barrett M-99.

The AR-50 I got came from the factory with a 3.5 pound trigger and would shoot three shots of my hand loads into 1.5" at 300 yards. 31" barrel with a total weight of about 38 pounds with the biggest 34mm tubed Schmidt&Bender scope on it. I could push Gerard's 850 grain HV's to just over 2500 fps with 215 or 216 grains of H50BMG.

The Barrett M=99 weighed only 25 pounds with a 10 X Swarovski, and had a terrible trigger compared to the AR-50. The Barrett had a 33" barrel and I could shoot it offhand fairly easily. It was not as accurate as the AR-50, in my case, maybe just luck.

The Barrett sure was prettier and more mobile, with a much better bipod, and would crowd 1 MOA for three shots. Maybe I could have found a better load for it.

The biggest negative of the AR-50 was it's lack of a good bipod. Maybe they have remedied that. If so order, one for me too, the bipod that is. Still, it is too heavy and buttugly.

I have built 2 50' so far; one was a 50 BMG, the other a 50 Russian. Bothe were built on McBros actions, Lilja barrels and McMillan stocks. They all shot extremely well, especially at prairie dogs at 600+ yds.

Jim

j kobe arent mcbros bolt action 50s neat. my best friend has 1. its a ball to shoot too i wondered how much prairie dog was left afer a .50 cal hit?

Probably muzzle brake design Pecos. I've played with a Boyes as well, and the brake on it, as you said, "just seemed to kick up dust". We have a few of them around here that have been converted to 50 BMG. A good friend of mine was really into this stuff, and had an anti-aircraft set up 50 BMG full auto on a tripod, and a Russian 12.7. Cool toys. Years ago I owned a Lahti for awhile, it came with a small ski mount, for pulling it around in the snow. That was a heavy beast, it took two of us to lift it out of the truck. Sure played havoc in my uncles gravel pit though. After the first batch I could never get ammo for it, so away it went. Again, too soon old, too late smart. Story of my life. Twice a year all the full auto boys get together for a public shoot here, and invite people to come out and try stuff. There are some very interesting things that show up. Everyone is getting on though, as the government stopped allowing people to buy them if you didn't already have one (grandfathering). Oh well - Dan

Pecos, checkout this video of the Serbu 50, the high effeciency muzzle brake makes it look like he is shooting a 12 gauge.
http://www.serbu.com/bfg115.mpg

I've shot one, but do not own one, nor would I.

It was awful fun to shoot. There was very little recoil due to a god-awfulo huge loud muzzle break. I doubled up ear pro- plugs and muffs.

The power of these things is absolutely incredible.

I have an LAR Grizzly.....(one of the guns Rob doesn't like ) and it is a blast to shoot....literally!!! My best group so far was 2 5/8" @ 300 yards using remanufactured military ball ammo (all I have shot in mine). As far as recoil goes, it isn't bad, about like a stout 12 guage 3" mag......I've had several women and even teenage girls shoot it and EVERYBODY loves it!!! Before I bought mine, I spoke at length with a shooter who competes in FCSA matches with an LAR, he still uses the factory barrel but has had it throated for bore rider bullets. The biggest plus for the LAR was portability, it is short enough that it isn't a problem to transport it!