Criminal use of .50 caliber Sniper Rifle

[ericire12]

Anti-gun group, Violence Policy Center, who is pushing for a .50 caliber ban, can only document a few cases of actual criminal use of .50 caliber rifles in the U.S., but pads those statistics by including a couple dozen cases of rifles and/or ammo being recovered from crime scenes in which they were not fired. As for actual killings in the U.S. committed with .50 cal  rifles? Zero. In the cespool that is Mexico, there has been 1 actual killing committed in the more than 25 years Ronnie Barrett has been marketing his .50 caliber rifles to civilians

Read their compilation of stats here:
http://www.vpc.org/snipercrime.htm

"The simple fact is that .50-calibers have not been used in crimes,"
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulandam, Associated Press, August 18, 2004

More from their website:
http://www.vpc.org/50caliber.htm

WHY REGULATE 50 CALIBER SNIPER RIFLES?

Fifty caliber anti-armor sniper rifles are an ideal tool for terrorism.

They are a real and present danger to national security, yet are less regulated than handguns.
Fifty caliber sniper rifles are specifically designed to engage and destroy materiel
targets on the battlefield at long range. These anti-armor rifles combine range and
striking power that is far beyond that of any hunting rifle, and beyond that of the
rifles our infantry carry. Armored personnel carriers, aircraft, rail tank cars, bulk fuel
storage, and concrete bunkers are vulnerable to 50 caliber rifle fire at distances of
1,000 to 2,000 yards. Our soft civilian infrastructure—airports and the jetliners in
them, rail cars carrying hazardous materials, and toxic chemical bulk storage
plants—is even more open to attack by these rifles than its military counterpart.

Any 18 year old who can pass a Brady background check can buy a 50 caliber rifle
under federal law. But one must be at least 21 years old to buy a handgun at a gun

Terrorists and other dangerous groups have bought scores of these rifles—but no
one knows who owns them or where they are in America today.

America is in a war with terrorism. We should not be arming the terrorists with
such destructive weapons of war. It is time to regulate 50 caliber sniper rifles by
bringing them under the National Firearms Act, so that local and federal law
enforcement agencies will, at the very least, know who has them.

My suggestion.... Barret come out with a .499 caliber round 

[PegLeg45]

My suggestion.... Barret come out with a .499 caliber round 

.416 Barrett in the Model 99 would work in my book. I think it has better ballistics than the .50 also.

http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifle_99.aspx


***EDIT***

The .416 Barrett has around 500 ft/lbs and 400 fps advantage over the .50 at 1000 yds.

[billt]

"Fifty caliber anti-armor sniper rifles are an ideal tool for terrorism."

And I'm sure they would buy them across the counter of the local gun shop if they wanted them for that purpose. This is how stupidly these anti gun people think. Regardless of how much information you give them, they refuse to accept the hard core fact that criminals, be they domestic or foreign, don't buy guns legally. The definition of stupidity is someone who makes the same mistake over and over. I cannot think of a better group of individuals who represent this thought train than the liberal, anti gun crowd.  Bill T.

[ericire12]

.416 Barrett in the Model 99 would work in my book. I think it has better ballistics than the .50 also.

http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifle_99.aspx

Yes, but why would you want to pay the extra $200 

[PegLeg45]

***EDIT***

The .416 Barrett has around 500 ft/lbs and 400 fps advantage over the .50 at 1000 yds.


 


 

[Sponsor]

[billt]

Can you form .416 Barrett brass by simply running it through a .50 BMG full length sizing die, then trimming?   Bill T.

[ericire12]

BTW..... You can unleash your typing finger here:
http://www.vpc.org/contact.htm

[PegLeg45]

Can you form .416 Barrett brass by simply running it through a .50 BMG full length sizing die, then trimming?   Bill T.

A little more to it than that, but you can make .416 from .50 BMG brass.

Here is a link to the discussion of said topic at the Barrett website forum.

http://www.barrettrifles.com/DiscussionForum_YAF/Default.aspx?g=posts&m=15468

[philw]

Yes, but why would you want to pay the extra $200 

Hell Yea If I can get one here in Aust   

[TAB]

A 50 bmg could be a very good terrorist weapon... the only prob is it would be very hard to use it as one.


The shooting planes out of the air, is a joke, you might be able to hit one on take off or landing, but thats not going to bring the plane down unless you can take out more then one engine( not going to happen).   The other way it could be used as a weapon of terror is to attack either a chemical plant, refinery or storage tanks... once again it would be extremely hard to do that.  In all of those structures the only really weak parts are the pipes and valves.  its very hard to hit a 6" pipe at 1000 yds, let alone hit it at the right angle.  the valves are only a little bigger.  All of this hinges on know which ones to shoot...   There are alot easier ways to do the same damnage if not more.  In both cases you could do alot more damage with a light aircraft then you could with a rifle.


Every other target that a terrorist could shoot with a rifle, could just as easily be done with something much smaller, a 308 would be more then enough.  Hell, most of the targets a 223 would be enough.