During World War I the U.S. military needed to develop an armor-piercing anti-aircraft round. They went to firearms genius John Browning for help, and the .50 Browning machine gun was born.

Originally housed in the M1921 Browning machine gun, the big .50 is truly awesome to behold. By essentially giving a .30-06 super soldier serum, Browning was able to develop a cartridge that launches a 750-grain bullet at 2,800 feet/second.

To put that in perspective, the .50 BMG bullet weighs four times as much as a .30-06 bullet, yet is going just as fast.

With the ability to penetrate an inch of armor plate, it was a very effective round. In differing variations, the M1921, and later the M2, were mounted on aircraft, tanks and other military vehicles. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock is reported to have mounted a scope on an M2 and used it effectively as a sniper rifle.

Of course, boys will be boys, and in the 1980s, the firearms company Barrett decided it would make a great shoulder-fired rifle and developed a line of sniper rifles chambering the .50 BMG. It turns out they were right, and military and law enforcement agencies around the world now employ .50-caliber rifles to stop vehicles and people way out there. The longest confirmed hit is at an amazing 3,870 yards, or 2.2 miles.

Several other companies now make similar rifles. They can be had in bolt-action, semiauto and single shot varieties. Clubs and shooting competitions featuring the .50 BMG have sprung up around the world, and it has become quite popular.

While they can be very effective, big .50 rifles have some definite drawbacks. Without proper modifications, recoil is significant. To continue our comparison, recoil in an 8 pound .30-06 is about 26 foot-pounds, while a 20 pound .50 has a recoil energy around 80.

To mitigate recoil, the rifles can be made heavier, but then are not that much fun to pack around. A muzzle brake is almost required, but the concussive blast will blow your hat off. Feeding such a beast can be a challenge, with rounds costing $5 to $10 a pop.

I have had the opportunity to shoot a few rifles in .50 BMG and can say it is quite an experience, even fun for the first five or 10 rounds, and then I’m ready for a break.

Does the average Joe really need such a beast? Well, no, but then you don’t really need 50 pairs of shoes in your closet, or a 44-inch lift and dual turbos in your truck, but it sure is cool.

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