The awesome power of the 50 BMG up close and personal. Video inside!

[Exposure]

Yesterday I took my video camera with me to the range along my Barrett Model 99. I have a 1/4" steel plate that makes a great target for the 50 and I was impressed with the holes I was putting in it. I decided I wanted to see what the impact was like from up close and not 300 yards away. So I set up the plate and put my camera in close proximity to it.

The first segment of the video is at 100 yards and opens with .22 LR impacting the plate to give some sense of what the impact of the two rounds are like when compared back to back. The final clip takes place at the 300 yard line but was actually filmed before the 100 yard stuff. I didn't like the camera angle and the plate generally falls over after the first or second shot so I ended up moving it back to the 100 yard line and got much better footage. It was just too difficult walking through the 16" of snow we just recieved to the 300 yard line so I took the easy way out and came back to the 100!

Anyway, enjoy the clip. I thought it was kind of neat.

 

[MikeJackmin]

That's very cool. Sort of the gunnie version of 'Bambi Meets Godzilla'.

 

[armoredman]

Thanks, I appreciate the effort you took to make an interesting video!

 

[shermacman]

Snort!

 

[Mr White]

Cool. .50s are pretty powerful. Chuck Hawks referred to it as a 1000 yd elephant gun. The .500 and .600 nitros are considered 100 yd elephant guns.

I saw a video years ago, before I got into shooting, of guys shooting 5 gal buckets of white paint with .50s from 500 yds. Same effect as milk jug .vs 30-06 but on a much cooler scale.

 

[CNYCacher]

This is a very cool video. Thanks

 

[psyopspec]

Very cool video.

 

[jamz]

That was funny as hell.

 

[FIFTYGUY]

Nice vid!

1/4" is pretty thin stuff for .50 BMG, but I bet those M48 Spotter-Tracer projos blew nice big holes in it. Try not to drop those - they're somewhat sensitive!

I've shot at a piece of 1-1/2" thick 10"x14" plate at 100 yards. Made a nice "Whap!" and would fall over with every shot. Sometimes the jackets would bounce back 10 yards or so and kick up dust while the core went right on through.

Set a branch of a nearby tree on fire with a M1 Inc round against that plate (left little more than a scorch mark on the plate!).

I think that was the day I destroyed the windshield in my truck from the .50's muzzle blast (I was standing in the bed, using the cab as a rest). Cracked all the way across the bottom and up one side... :banghead:

 

[strat81]

So when I started laughing hysterically at the video, my fiance comes in to see what all the fuss is about. After she watches it, she says, "Boys and their toys... Why???"

To which I gleefully reply, "Because the constitution says we can!"

 

[Pilgrim]

That's very cool. Sort of the gunnie version of 'Bambi Meets Godzilla'.

I'd love to get a clip of 'Bambi Meets Godzilla'.

Pilgrim

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I don't believe that spotter or tracer components actually detonate. They combusting materials are simply set free at the point of impact as the projectile is damaged.

At 300 yards, the loud bang is not the spotter detonating. If spotter tracer rounds do actually detonate as claimed, then the noise is commingled with the loud report of the rifle, the sonic boom and the sound of the impact on the steel plate. I don't see how the reported noise to be claimed as one specific sound when there were so many loud sounds occurring in very close proximity to one another in time.

 

[1 old 0311]

Very cool!

 

[FIFTYGUY]

Double Naught Spy wrote:

I don't believe that spotter or tracer components actually detonate. They combusting materials are simply set free at the point of impact as the projectile is damaged.

M48 Spotter-Tracer projos are no joke! The have very sensitive stab fuzes in the projo tip (de-sensitized a tad on the M48A2 flavor). That fuze pre-empts any dumping from a ruptured projo.

As a matter of fact, the Army Small Arms Ammunition Data Sheets (TM43-0001-27, June 1981) says:

"The bullet will detonate and produce a flash and puff of smoke upon impact against a steel plate placed at 175 yards from the muzzle of the weapon at all angles from 90 (degrees) to 11 (degrees) with respect to the horizontal."

M1 Inc projos are also pretty serious. They *will* blow open sheet metal targets. No fuze necessary - the fill mixture is very shock-sensitive.

I reload M1 Incendiary bullets into the front cavity of steel 20mm Oerlikon projos and shoot them from my 20mm Vulcan rifle. On cars and large appliances, they're like HE rounds. The heavy steel 20mm projo body fragments, causing a 45 degree cone of destruction like a shotgun blast. The sides near the base peel back, and the base stays intact to continue through. They look like mushroomed big 12ga hollowpoints, but made out of steel! I destroyed a running washing machine (out in a field, with extension cords) with one shot. It blew the drum off its axle, and the water ran out from about 20 new holes...

1/8" is about optimum sheet metal thickness for tearing holes with Spotter-Tracer
or Incendiary rounds. Enough thickness to allow the projo to work on, but not too thick for it to damage. Against thick metal those rounds just leave a burn mark. That's why they make M8 API or Mk 211 Multipurpose (Raufoss).

At 300 yards, the loud bang is not the spotter detonating. If spotter tracer rounds do actually detonate as claimed, then the noise is commingled with the loud report of the rifle, the sonic boom and the sound of the impact on the steel plate. I don't see how the reported noise to be claimed as one specific sound when there were so many loud sounds occurring in very close proximity to one another in time.

At the camera's microphone at the target, the sonic boom from the projo and the sound of the impact of the projo would arrive almost simultaneously.
The rifle's report would arrive (from 300 yards away) about 0.33 seconds later, plenty of time for a human ear to discern the difference. Once captured by the camcorder, it might be difficult to for us to tell. Anybody with some free time want to analyze the audio and see if they can pick out the rifle's report?

Anyhow, hat's off to Exposure for a really cool video! You don't see that too often...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Well very cool on the detonation aspect!

At the camera's microphone at the target, the sonic boom from the projo and the sound of the impact of the projo would arrive almost simultaneously.
The rifle's report would arrive (from 300 yards away) about 0.33 seconds later, plenty of time for a human ear to discern the difference. Once captured by the camcorder, it might be difficult to for us to tell. Anybody with some free time want to analyze the audio and see if they can pick out the rifle's report?

Well the camera is obviously not at the target. It does appear some distance back from it. So the gun's report and sound of the impact on steel, the sound of detonation, would all be event closer together, plus there is the sonic crack as the bullet travels by the camera.

I have shot steel with .50 bmg ball, API, and spotter-tracer ammo. The impact of just ball ammo is still pretty loud by itself.

So being able to state that the sound heard on the camera is the sound of detonation is dubious since there are apparently 4 fairly loud sounds that would be co-occuring in a very short period of time. We obviously are not hearing all for sounds separately and two would undoubtedly happen at the same time (sound of impact and detonation).

 

[Lucky]

Very very cool.

And 50 guy you owe us a video of that washing machine shoot.

 

[Geno]

That's cool! Thanks.

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Slick!

 

[Exposure]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! It hardly does any justice to the enjoyment of shooting a 50 but it is kind of fun to watch.

As far as the noise in the video being the spotter I can assure you it IS the detonation of the incendiary composition making all that noise. When the same shot was made with ball the metallic ring of the impact is clearly heard on film and then a slight, but very detectable, delay as either/or the rifle report or sonic crack are heard which gives a sound like rolling thunder, not the sharp bang heard in the video. The spotter/tracer completely overpowers the other two noises.

The bang from the spotter is heard by the shooter all the way back 900 feet very clearly even with double hearing protection. As FIFTYGUY stated these rounds are serious! For more information click the link below and go to page 134, it has all the information you could ever want. Be warned it is a huge .PDF file.

http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/TM43-0001-27.pdf

 

[sb350hp]

Cool. Can you show us one using a cat instead of a steel plate?

 

[Juna]

Cool video. The sad thing is I can see the anti crowd showing it to support their proposed .50 caliber bans. "Look at these explosive bullets! Nobody needs those! They're killing our children, and only terrorists use them!" :banghead:

 

[EdLaver]

.50 BMG...I need to add one on my 2008 wish list.

 

[chemist308]

Nice video. 100 and 300 yards for a 50BMG--that's kinda like taking your 30-06 deer rifle to the 10 yard pistol range isn't it?

Was once at the range when fellow showed up with a 50BMG. Range had 100 and 200 yard backstops. The breeze I caught from it from 2 tables over was impressive. It would have made a nice anti-tank rifle at those ranges 70 years ago...