Not sure what’s up with this, exactly. The Illinois gunmaker put the image on ar15.com for a while, without drawing any speculation from the site’s firearm faithful. Check the fluted barrel. I reckon ArmaLite’s going in for some .50 cal. sniper action. All will be revealed at the SHOT show. Meanwhile, our source within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (and Really Big Fires) tells us that if the agency’s controversial multiple rifle registration “pilot program” becomes “normalized,” they’ll craft a demand letter to dealers requiring notification for single sales of .50 caliber rifles. What that would do to the market—or how it would help stop Mexico’s drug wars—is unclear. A surge? A crash? But bigger is badder, no?
This appears to be an updated version of a previous rifle. I owned the original for a time and found it well built and it grouped nicely however, I don’t recall the exact size of my groups. Looks like they added fluting to the barrel and modified the stock somewhat–no big changes there.
Notification to the ATF of single sales of .50 caliber rifles is just outrageous (as well as all the other ATF BS.) Maybe an anti-gun maverick should appointed to head the organization to rein it in.
I can’t really afford a .50 BMG, nor do I have access to range farther than 300 yards at present.
However, if single sales of .50 BMG rifles are going to be put on the “Alert Big Brother” list, then I may have to adjust everything so I can get one of some sort.
Back when the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban” was passed, I was only 24 years old, and just beginning to accumulate firearms. At the time, I think I owned exactly one piece, a .357 magnum Taurus revolver.
My very first purchase of a semi-auto, magazine-fed, center fire rifle was prompted by the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban,” and happened about a week after Slick Willy signed that atrocity into law.
And I bought a semi-auto, magazine fed, center fire rifle exactly and precisely because my government was trying to keep me from having such a firearm.
Talk about your unintended consequences…………….
I bought an AK47 for the same reason.
Is there a .22 conversion kit? ‘Cause at five bucks a round, I won’t be shooting a .50 all that often.
I own the older version and a large amount of ammo bought before the price jumps.
I shoot 600 and 1000 yards. I LOVE it. I am also 69 years old.
The Armalite in the pic is the new Armalite AR-50-A1 Match.