I’ve been wanting a .50 BMG for a while now but, interestingly, Ive never actually fired one. It would be kind of silly to finally get a .50 and discover that it’s a bit much for my delicate frame. Fortunately, luck intervened and I got to shoot a .50 yesterday.

A customer came by and we were talking rifles and he was telling me about his McMillan .50. Turns out he had it with him out in his car and he brought it in to show me. As Im standing there, a friend of mine came by to see if I wanted to go to the range with her to test out some magazines in her .22 pistol. My customer looks at me and says “You’re going to the range? Right now? Well, take the rifle with you and try it out!” He gave me a few rounds of surplus AP (and offered some API which I declined and told him to save for a rainy day), I rendezvoused with the girlfriend and the three of us headed to the range.

The rifle is a single shot McMillan with laminated stock and a huge muzzle brake. Weighs about 26#. Now, I admit I was apprehensive about shooting this thing. Turns out it was all for naught…my Hklone in.308 kicks more than this thing. The muzzle blast, however, was spectacular. Imagine sticking your face right up at the tailpipe of a big diesel truck and someone cranking the engine over – now add a bit more pressure and you’ve got what it felt like to have the blast wave rolling over you. BUT…recoil was tame. How tame? My 115# girlfriend shot it off the bench and thought nothing of it.

The bullets punched through both sides of the hanging steel tanks at the end of the 100 yard range. Fifty caliber entrance and a big chunk of steel knocked out at the exit. It was like being one of the old-style angry thunder gods.

This thing does stretch the limits of man-portability but on the other hand you could, theoretically, sit in the center of a two mile circle and be within range of all within that circle. So…there may not be that much hauling around. It realistically has over twice the range of my .308…more if you really know what you’re doing.

I’d like to have a .50 in case the next election puts them on a ban list.

The customer, btw, offered to sell me the gun with a buncha brass and ammo. Tempting. Really tempting. But I don’t have the money right now and Im waiting until next May to get a .50 with the hopes that well wishers will have donated to my “Im getting married and we’re registered for a .50” fund. (You did kick in a few bucks, right? Who registers for toaster ovens, linens and napkin rings? I can get that at any shopping mall. No, a newly married couple needs anti-materiel firepower!)

Obligatory picture of girlfriend with .50: