.50 Bmg Ammo Info?

[vipergts]

Just picked up a used m82a1. While talking to barrett mfg., I was cautioned to be very selective about ammo. Anyone have experience/info for a .50 cal newby? BTW I gave $5k for m82a1 with swarovski 10x42,pelican case,2 10 rd. mags.,and factory cleaning kit. Did I do ok?

[50 Shooter]

If all you want to shoot is surplus, go to www.ammoman.com and pick up some Talon ball .50 BMG. He has some other stuff including the fun stuff, it will work just fine in your M82. If you want some match stuff go with TTI Armory, AAA-Ammunition or AZ Ammo.

Stay away from Dominican Republic "yellow tip", Maine Cartridge Co. and TNW's blaster ammo. All three of these types of .50 BMG are known to destroy .50's.

You can also find remanufactured surplus from Watson's Weapons, Ammunition Store, Aim Surplus, Pat's reloading and Summit ammo to name a few.

Yes, you got a good deal on the M82. Assuming it's in good condition.

[vipergts]

Anyone have any experience with the spotter/tracer rds. that have the primers in the projectile? Watsons weapons page stated these rds. are fired from a special rifle. Would they damage any other .50 cal rifle? THX!!

[Merkavaboy]

The .50 Spotter round is not the same as the .50 BMG round. It is much shorter than the .50 BMG cartridge. The .50 Spotter is used in conjunction with the 105mm recoiless rifle as to judge the trajectory of the 105mm round that is to be fired following the firing of the Spotter round.

Shooting the .50 Spotter in a .50 BMG rifle would be dangerous, just like shooting a .308 Win. in a rifle chambered for the .30-06 Sprg.

[vipergts]

The spotter/tracer rounds listed on www.ammoman.com .50bmg page are listed as .50 BMG spotter/tracer rds. mfg'd by talon. There is no mention of being shorter rds. It appears to be .50BMG ammo.

[CanadianGlockFan]

You DO see both the M48A1 and M48A2 bullets pulled from the shorter 50 BAT case (12.7x76mm), then reloaded into the longer 50 BMG case (12.7x99), as well as rounds that were manufactured in the longer case to begin with; this pic is of 3 type of "spotter" ammo, showing (T-B) a 50 BMG LIIA2 round, loaded by Kynoch in the UK (these use the M48A2-style bullet), a 50 BAT M48A1 round, and an 8mm Mauser B-Patrone explosive-incendiary.

[oliver]

I bought 150 rds of the Talon .50 BMG Spotter/Tracers. I have shot about 50 of them out of my 82A1 without any problems whatsoever. They are a lot of fun. The cartriges are the exact size of the other 50 BMG stuff.

[vipergts]

Thanks for the info Oliver!! Especially since I will be shooting them out of the same rifle. Were these spotter/tracers talon mfg. from www.ammoman.com? THX!!

[oliver]

Yes, but you can get them from www.ammunitionstore.com for about the same price and the ammunitionstore has a bigger variety of other stuff which yoou may want to try - ie incindiary and tracers. I am not in this sport to be a competion shooter - I just want to go out and have a little fun with the rifle. The military surplus stuff is not as accurate, but is a lot of fun to shoot.

[vipergts]

They do have a bigger selection. They kill you with shipping chgs. Which match loads /company's do you prefer ie. amax/barnes TTI ARMORY/AAA-AMUNITION. Called az-ammo today and their message said they were not doing any loading till june.

[blacknet]

this is the difference between the 2.

short50 and regular 50 (http://wetlands.simplyaquatics.com/images/ammo/short50_and50)

http://wetlands.simplyaquatics.com/images/albums/ammo/short50_and50.sized.jpg

[oliver]

The bullet on the left is the one that comes with the Talon spotter/tracer, but it is loaded in a standard 50 BMG cartridge. The cartridge on the left is shorter and is not what you get from talon. I did order some boxes of ammo from the ammunitionstore.com and the shipping charge was about $30 per box. Considering that their price is about $25 less than ammoman, it works out to only about $5 more. Not much to pay to get what you want - especially if you paid $7000 for the rifle (as I did)

Oliver

[blacknet]

The round on the LEFT is a short 50 spotter round (IT) used on the recoilless rifle. Round on the right is a regular 50 cal APIT round.

Both are usgi surplus.

Ed