.50 Cal Rifle

FAQ

Q. What does BMG stand for?

A. Browning Machine Gun

Q. What organization sanctions 50 caliber matches

A. The FCSA is the sanctioning body for 50 caliber matches. They also publish "Very High Power" a magazine focusing on .50 caliber sports. This is a great organization, and acts as the mouthpiece for 50 shooters - http://www.fcsa.org

Q. Are there any good books dealing with the accurate use of .50 caliber rifles

A. Dean Michaelis, who is a board regular, has published the Complete .50-Caliber Sniper Course : Hard-Target Interdiction which is available at Amazon.com

Q. What do the various color tips on .50 Cal ammo represent?

A. From US Army, FM 23-25

Q. What do the headstamps translate to.

A.

Headstamp	Manufacturer and Location
DM	Des Moines Ordnance Plant, Des Moines IA
FA	Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia PA
KS	Kelly Springfield, Allegheny Ordnance Plant, Cumberland MD
LC	Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Independence MO
LM	Lowell MA
M	Milwaukee Ordnance Plant, Milwaukee WI
RA	Remington Arms, Bridgeport CT
REM-UMC	Remington-Union Metallic Cartridge, Bridgeport CT
SD	Sparklet Devices, Dover OH
SL	St. Louis Ordnance Plant, St. Louis MO
SMCO	Stant Manufacturing Co., Connersville IN
TW	Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, Minneapolis MN
U	Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City UT - Late
UT	Utah Ordnance Plant, Salt Lake City UT - Early
W	Winchester - Prototype and test rounds
WCC	Winchester-OLIN, E.Alton IL
WRA	Winchester Repeating Arms, New Haven CT

 

Q. What are .50 Cal ballistics like?

A. From US Army, FM 23-25

Catridge	Maximum Range (Meters)	Meter Trace	Average Muzzle Velocity (Feet per second)
Ball, M2	7400	-	2930
Tracer, M1 (with gilding metal jacket)	5575	1800	2860
Tracer, M1 (with clad steel jacket)	5450	1800	3030
Tracer, M17	5450	2450	3030
Incediary, M1	6050	-	3090
Armor Piercing, M2	7400	-	2930
Armor Piercing-incendiary, M8	6470	-	3050
Armor Piercing-incendiary-tracer, M20	6470	300-1750	3050

Q. Where can I get match grade ammo?

A. From Birdman and Others

Arizona Ammo (Jim Schmidt) 21421 N. 14th Ave. Suite E Phoenix, AZ 85027	AAA Ammunition 14717 Industrial Road Omaha, Nebraska 68144 (402) 334-3389
Hi-Tech Ammunition 12844 Wenlock St. Louis, MO 63146 Fax (314) 275-8059 http://www.iidbs.com/hitech	Thunderbird Cartridge Company P.O. Box 302 Phoenix, AZ 85001 Phone: (602)237-3823 Toll Free: (800)535-AMMO Fax: (602)237-3858 http://www.qpg.com/T/tcci/

 

Q. Who manufactures .50 cal firearms?

A. From Grant

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc. P.O. Box 1077 Murfreesboro, TN 37133 (615) 896-2938 vox (615) 896-7313 fax Mary Scott Smith - Vice President email mail@barrettrifles.com http://www.barrettrifles.com	McMillan Bros Rifle Co, Inc P.O. Box 86549 Phoenix, AZ 85080 (602) 582-3713 vox (602) 582-3930 fax http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcbros/mcbros.htm	Ultimate Accuracy Arms (AMAC) Darrell Reynolds 121 John Shelton Rd. Jacksonville, AR 72076 (501) 985-2530
Knight's Manufacturing 7750 9th Street SW Vero Beach, FL. 32968-9298 (561) 562-5697 (561) 778-3700 Brian Fromang ext 230 http://www.knightsarmament.com	Armalite / Eagle Arms P.O. Box 299 Geneseo, IL 61254 (309) 944-6939 (309) 944-6949 http://www.armalite.com	Harris Gunworks (M-96) 20831 North 19th Ave #2 Phoenix, AZ 85027 (623) 582-9627 vox
Lilja Precision Rifles 245 Combest Creek Road Plains, Montana 59859 (406) 826-3084 http://www.riflebarrels.com/	The ROBAR Companies Inc. 21438 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix, Arizona 85027 (602) 581-2648 vox (602) 582-0059 fax http://www.robarguns.com/customr4.html	E.D.M. Arms (Windrunner) 1653 Plum Lane Redlands, CA 92374 Bill Ritchie (877) 884-4EDM (toll free) (909) 307-8877 (vox) (909) 369-9237 (vox) (909) 369-9408 (fax) http://www.edmarms.com
State Arms Gun Co. LLC 806 Division Street P.0. Box 176 Waunakee, WI 53597 Klause Horstkamp (608) 849-5800 vox (608) 849-8107 fax email klaus@statearms.com http://www.statearms.com	Serbu Firearms, Inc. (BFG-50) 6001 Johns Road, Suite 511 Tampa, FL 33634 Mark Serbu (813) 854-1532 http://www.serbu.com/bfg50.htm	L.A.R. Manufacturing (Grizzly) 4133 West Farm Road West Jordan, UT 84088 (801) 280-3505 vox (801) 280-1972 fax http://www.largrizzly.com guns@largrizzly.com
Accuracy International (AW50) P.O. Box 5267 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (423) 482-0330 vox (423) 482-0336 fax http://www.accuracyinternational.com info@accuracyinternational.com	Maadi-Griffin (MG-6) 3530 East Pueblo Ave. Mesa, AZ 85204-4026 (480) 854-3434 vox (480) 854-3534 fax http://www.maadigriffin.com/mg6.htm sales@maadigriffin.com	Watson's Weapons ("The BOSS"/AR-50) 555 Apple Garden Rd. Mound, Mn 55364 (612) 472-1010 http://www.watsonsweapons.com/ watsonswpn@aol.com
Ramo Defense Systems (Model 600/650) 450 Allied Drive Nashville TN. 37211 (615) 333-0077 vox (615) 333-6229 fax http://www.ramo.com/650.htm g.brown@ramo.com	D & J's Habitual Tinkering, Inc. (AR-BMG) 109 Sturgis Loop Lincoln, ND 58504 Dan and Jen Franklund (701) 323-0494 vox (480) 854-3534 fax http://www.ar-bmg.com info@ar-bmg.com	Action Gun Works 834 Watson Way Sparks, NV 89431 Randy & Paula Dierks (775) 331-1139 vox http://users.intercomm.com/agw
Black Mountain Rifle 5415 Teepee Dr. Florence, MT 59833 Bruce Scott (406) 273-6419 vox	Christensen Arms 192 East 100 North Fayette, Utah 84630 Richard Lyman (435) 528-7999 vox (435) 528-7494 fax http://www.christensenarms.com email@christensenarms.com	Freshouer Mfg. Co. #19 20th Street South Texas City, TX 77590 Ron Freshouer (409) 945-0070 vox (409) 945-0978 fax
K & P Gun Company 200 West Santa Fe Drive P. O. Box 488 Raton, NM 87740 Ken & Peggy Johnson (505) 445-1311 vox (505) 445-1312 fax kandpgun@home.raton.com	Northwest Arms Distributing P. O. Box 21 Stevensville, MT 59870 Steve Romans (406) 777-1573 vox	Redick Arms Development (M600/M650/M614) P. O. Box 1208 Fayetteville, AR 72702-1208 Ron Witherspoon (800) 206-9572 toll free (501) 587-8314 vox (501) 587-8178 fax http://www.auroratactical.com
R.M.C. Manufacturing 2343 Lindsey Dr. Rapid City, SD 57702 Buck Buckheim (605) 348-3736 vox rmcmfg1@aol.com	Rib Mountain Arms 290 2nd Street Bereaford, SD 47416 George & Peggy Richards (605) 957-4249 vox ribarms@sturgis.com	Small Arms Development & Testing P. O. Box 100 Clancy, MT 59634 Bruce Seiler (406) 933-8000 vox (406) 933-8001 fax
Wells Sports Store 110 North Summit Street Prescott, AZ 86301 Fred Wells (520) 445-3655 vox	Desert Toys (Rebel) P.O. Box 5946 Mesa, Arizona 85211-5946 info@deserttoys.com http://www.deserttoys.com	TNW, Inc. (semi M2-HB) PO Box 311 Vernonia, OR 97064 503-429-5001 http://members.aol.com/tnwcorp/H2MB.html

 

Q. How much fun is the 50 to shoot.

A. Plenty.

Last Modified on March 7, 2001
aalbert@biggerhammer.net