What possible excuse could you have for not owning at least one .50 caliber rifle? Price of entry? Four grand and change will get you into a brand new Barrett Model 99. That’s less than $11 a day (for one year). Ammo? ableammo.com‘s got some primo Federal XM BMG cartridges for $3.90 a pop. If you fire ten rounds per session, an outing would cost less than taking the Mrs. to watch Helen Mirren deploy her .50-cal at the local cinema. Noise? Barrett’s Rep Don Cook tells TTAG they’ve never checked the six-port muzzle brake’s db levels, but double hearing protection ought to do you. Besides, “the quietest place is behind the trigger.” No place to shoot it? Californians travel two hours just to get gas (or so I’m told). That’s it! You’re out of excuses. Or are you?
I fired one a few times and found the experience distinctly unpleasant. But I'm a silenced .22 kinda guy. I did enjoy watching people making thousand-yard shots with them, though.
I fired one at Quantico when an old friend was the rangemaster there. It was a lot of fun to put holes in 6" targets at 1,000 yards. However, living inside the Beltway (Though in VA) there really isn't anywhere to fire it, and at $2.75 to $7.50 per round, there is no budget either.
I don't have one because I'm saving up for a field mortar.
I shot a Steyr bolt fiddy once. It was awesome. There was a Mossberg 500 with an ATI folder and .30-06 bolt gun for comparison, it had the mildest recoil by far. As long as you were the one on the trigger it was great, just like standing in the ocean. If, for some reason, I wanted to prevent it from moving it would have been as impossible as stopping the tide, but if you go with the flow it's actually quite pleasant. God help you if you were watching from 45 degrees to the side.
I'd like to put a few rounds through one before I die but I really have zero use for a .50. Personally my .308 & .223 AR's fill all my firearm needs but if people want to own .50's I'm all for it.
I owned a Bushmaster Cobb 50 and an Armalite AR50. Expensive to feed and they kick like a shotgun, a big ass shotgun.
I was at Barrett's Long Range Basic's class were we shot 100 rounds. I had to stop at 80. Couldn't take more.
Here are the reasons why I don't yet own a .50.
1) I don't have an extra $7K or 10$K laying around to spend on one.
2) I don't have access to a range longer than 300 yards. Why would I wasted a .50 on 300 yards? It'd be like driving a Ferrari along a 100-yard straight stretch with a speed bump every 25 yards.
If somebody can hook me up with the cash, I could find the range.