.50 BMG - Typical Uses

Typical Uses

The primary military use of this round is in the Browning M2HB heavy machine gun.

The primary civilian users of .50 caliber rifles, which range in price from around US$1,600 for single shot AR-15 upper conversions to well over US$8,000 for the semi-automatic, magazine-fed Barrett M82A1, are long-range target shooters; the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association, for instance, holds .50 BMG shooting matches nationwide in the U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard uses .50 BMG rifles to disable outboard engines from armed helicopters during interdictions. Similarly, .50 BMG weapons have attracted attention from law enforcement agencies; they have been adopted by the New York City Police Department as well as the Pittsburgh Police. A .50 BMG round can effectively disable a vehicle when fired into the engine block. If it is necessary to breach barriers, a .50 BMG round will penetrate most commercial brick walls and concrete cinder blocks.

In addition to long-range and anti-materiel sniping, the U.S. military uses .50 BMG weapons to detonate unexploded ordnance from a safe distance. The Raufoss Multipurpose round has sufficient terminal performance to disable most unarmored and lightly armored vehicles, making .50 BMG caliber weapons helpful in anti-insurgency operations.

The cartridge is also used by some hunters for taking game at extreme ranges; while the energy of the .50 BMG at close range is excessive for most game, at long ranges the velocity has dropped to levels that allow the taking of game animals without excessive damage to the animal.