.50 cal BS I heard....

Times have changed - if BS was a quarter I would be a Trillionaire.

Naw, I don't think military training is that ignorant.

Mythbusters busted this one, and no, they don't teach this to soldiers.

There is one in every crowd....................

If it hits a wall within 3" of the targets arm the shrapnel could do some good damage...

The military has no shortage of <deleted>-talkers, regardless of training.

Well, yes, and it is not recent, either. My unit was told in basic training by the range sergeant that the ammunition we were issued (.30 Caliber Ball M2) was for training, that "real" ammunition with black tips (armor piercing) would be issued in combat. True enough; AP was generally issued in combat because it could penetrate vehicles and light armor.

But then the sergeant went on to inform us that bullets from our "training" ammo would penetrate the target paper and drop on the other side. Being a lowly private E-1, I didn't ask him to volunteer to stand behind the target and check on that.

Jim

What he meant to say was "if it passes within 3" it wll make you <deleted> your pants"

But then the sergeant went on to inform us that bullets from our "training" ammo would penetrate the target paper and drop on the other side

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You mean to tell me that it....*gulp*....kept going?.....I am shocked that your training ammo was even capable of penetrating the paper

If one comes by me at 3in, My arm might fall of because I spun aroud so quick and run.

lol

FAIL

I would pretty much disregard everything that dude says from now on.

I used to be in a 155mm Howitzer company in the Army National Guard. We were shooting illumination rounds one night when a newb asked me about them, specifically what lit them. I had him convinced that there was a monkey in the round that would light them and come down on a parachute. Since training monkeys was kind of difficult and expensive we had special companies what would retrieve them called Special Monkey Recovery Forces..... yep, SMURFS for short!

After joining the Navy when we did field day (deep cleaning) on the submarine we would shut down one side of the engine room to allow the steam pipes to cool so we could clean behind/around them and not get burned. A guy from up forward asked me why we shut down half the engine room for field day. I told him it was an old tradition from the days of the Vikings. The Viking ships had rowers, so in order to have slaves do the cleaning, one half of them would have to stop rowing to clean, thus shutting down half of their "engine room". We did the same in honor of that.

And....since one half of the rowers would stop, the other half would keep going, so the Viking ship would start going in a circle. To honor that, during field day we would cock the rudder to one side and go in a circle too.

Yeah, there are lots of <deleted> in the military.

Navy, I don't think you helped the BSing....

Kaj Larsen, a reporter for current.tv who supposedly was a Navy Seal, did two pieces on the Knob Creek machinegunshoot.
In his first segment, he claims that a .50 BMG can kill people just by whizzing past them, if they're close enough. This first piece on Knob Creek was actually balanced, reflective and respectful of its subject matter.
Approx a year later he did another, more strongly anti-gun piece that mixed different "takes" from his Knob Creek video essay and somehow tied it into gang/street violence.

I was told on multiple occasions by numerous people that a 50BMG will kill without touching the target during my time in the Army. I even believed it when I was in basic training. I believed everything my Drill Sergeants told me.

I remember hearing of someone shooting next to a squirrel with a muzzleloader and taking it out with the concussion of the bullet. Maybe someone could be killed or at least seriously hurt by a shell going past their head. Not going to take an arm off though.

Maybe someone could be killed or at least seriously hurt by a shell going past their head.

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A shell? Meaning artillery shell? Maybe, but I wouldn't know as I have no experience there. I still would doubt it though.

But not a .50 BMG round. A miss with a .50 is just as lethal as a miss with a .22 LR....

The also said artificial sweeteners were safe, WMD's were in Iraq and Ann Nicole married for love!

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Don't believe everything you hear, especially when it comes to guns

Ha... I just watched shooter yesterday.

Shooter.....a great movie....but the quote goes:

The also said artificial sweeteners were safe, WMD's were in Iraq and Anna Nicole married for love!

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I remember being told that it was against the Geneva Convention to shoot personnel with the 50 Caliber, but it perfectly ok to "shoot them in the canteen"...............

I remember being told that it was against the Geneva Convention to shoot personnel with the 50 Caliber, but it perfectly ok to "shoot them in the canteen"...............

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Well, dum-dum rounds in other calibers cause excessive and unnecessary suffering....
As far as the .50 BMG...an FMJ, dum-dum, API, they will all leave a dead combatant.

Maybe he read that piece of drivel by the anti-gunner reporting that the BMG will pierce tanks, knock a railcar off the tracks, shoot down aircraft, and vaporize deer.
When emotions get involved physics go out the window.

I remember being told that it was against the Geneva Convention to shoot personnel with the 50 Caliber, but it perfectly ok to "shoot them in the canteen"...............

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One of the oldest ones out there and still a complete myth.

I remember hearing of someone shooting next to a squirrel with a muzzleloader and taking it out with the concussion of the bullet. Maybe someone could be killed or at least seriously hurt by a shell going past their head. Not going to take an arm off though.

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Nope.

Unless the projectile actually hits someone, they will be uninjured. Doesn't matter if it's a 5.56mm or a 120mm shell. Yeah, you'll feel more disruption of the air from a larger projectile passing, but it will not hurt you.

I remember being told that it was against the Geneva Convention to shoot personnel with the 50 Caliber,

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Yeah, that load of malarky is almost as old as the .50 BMG round itself. First off, Geneva convention deals with the treatment of POWs; Hague convention is the one regulating ammunition. Secondly, we (the USA) never signed it.