Do you really need a .50 cal to do your hunting? I could maybe understand using it hunt a bear. But, deer or elk hunting? Come on. A smaller caliber bullet can do the job just as well....and a whole lot cheaper.
It seems like there are always folks saying .50 cal this and .50 cal that.
2009-03-14T11:48:18Z
Kara K - Your link took me to a poker website. Not too informative.
2009-03-14T11:50:55Z
METROPOLIS1- I'm not saying they aren't cool. I do like em, but it is just a waste of money, when a smaller caliber could do the same job. With the exception of peircing armor plated vehicles.
DJ2009-03-14T12:05:49Z
Favorite Answer
An immature mind leads to believing that bigger is better....
Almost all the 50 BMG questions on this site fall into two categories: kids who are enamored of the biggest and baddest, and trolls who pick on the kids in the first group. Nobody hunts with 50 BMG because the rifles aren't really man-portable. They'd be horrible even for dangerous game, because you can't swing it into play. There are, however, plenty of fine 50 caliber rifles left over from black powder days, or reproductions of the same. Not only is 50 the most commonly used muzzleloader bore, but I've used a 500 BPE, which has half the bullet, and only a fraction of the power, of the 50 BMG.
The .50BMG (Browning Machine Gun) cartridge has no real place in the hunting field. It was designed to take out light armored vehicles, bunkers, aircraft and engage personnel at long range. The newer single shot and semi-automatic firearms are being used by the armed forces in specialize sniper and anti-sniper roles to engage targets at extreme long range, up to a mile and even farther. It is fun to load a cartridge that sticks out both sides of your fist and is bigger around than your finger, will go in one side of an engine block and out the other and touch it off. You definatly know you've discharged a firearm.
It's likely for the same reason people fantasize about driving a Lamborghini Gallardo on a roped-off section of Interstate highway, or dating Scarlett Johanssen. People know in their hearts that it just ain't gonna happen, but they can at least dream.
A rifle chambered in .50 BMG reminds me of when I was a kid..... And this old guy down the block bought a brand new 1959 Cadillac coupe deville.... Big engine, big tail fins, jet rocket tail lights, all that chrome.....