Browning M2 12,70 mm

[OpanaPointer]

Longest recorded kill with Maw Deuce is 5.5 miles insofar as I know.

I think the longest recorded kill for a .50 BMG round is around 1.5 miles, not 5.5 miles, if you're talking about a sniper shot, and not blazing away at an area target with an M2HB, which is a different proposition. Might you have a reference for that 5.5 miles figure?

Not handy, it's in a stack of boxes somewhere. But here's some fun ...

Your gun fires 750 to 850 shots a minute—14 shots a second. The bullets, weighing nearly two ounces each, leave the barrel at 1,977 miles an hour—2,900 feet a second. This speed is called the muzzle velocity. Even at a distance of four miles—the gun's maximum range—one of those bullets will kill a man.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref ... /GUNS.html

[Steve Wilcox]

Yes, I'm not disputing that one can be killed at a 4 mile plus range by the round, just curious if there is any actual record of it having occurred.

[OpanaPointer]

Yes, I'm not disputing that one can be killed at a 4 mile plus range by the round, just curious if there is any actual record of it having occurred.

The current record is considerably farther than the current public record, that's all I can say at this point. We may have to wait a while for that information to be published. As for the 4 mile range, with the number of Maw Deuce in use during WWII I'm sure there were unofficial kills of that range. It would take some digging to find them in the archives, however.

[LineDoggie]

Longest recorded kill with Maw Deuce is 5.5 miles insofar as I know.

I think the longest recorded kill for a .50 BMG round is around 1.5 miles, not 5.5 miles, if you're talking about a sniper shot, and not blazing away at an area target with an M2HB, which is a different proposition. Might you have a reference for that 5.5 miles figure?

Single shot sniper kills yes. I wonder though how many unrecorded kills during WWII, Korea, Vietnam to unseen targets in the .50's impact areas

[ChristopherPerrien]

A two oz piece of lead,copper, and steel , flying through the air is going to be dangerous no matter its speed till it hits the ground or something else. A better question would be, How far can a 50 shoot?"

[OpanaPointer]

A two oz piece of lead,copper, and steel , flying through the air is going to be dangerous no matter its speed till it hits the ground or something else. A better question would be, How far can a 50 shoot?"

6,800 meters or there about.

[ChristopherPerrien]

Hatcock I am about certain hold the record for longest sniper kill with a M2 (2500 yards) And it was the longest sniper kill in the world until the recent GWOT where I believe a shot was done at about- 2750yards using a 300win in a special sniper rifle.

The 50 has of course killed people at longer ranges but not in a sniper mode.

[OpanaPointer]

One of the guys in my gun club has a Barrett .50, legally owned if you're wondering. The range on that sucker is scary. No "official" distances recorded as yet, by request. The local law enforcement folks like to come by and shoot it, "just in case".

[ChristopherPerrien]

I would not wonder as I am old school. Anyway , I remember going to the Houston Gun Show at the Astrodome, in 1988(IIRC) when the Barrett first came out in large numbers for civilians. They were selling for like $700-$800 , Seems like half the people walking out had one or two . RedHawks were $ 125-145, AK's were $70 or$56 I forget,
Street-Sweepers were $400, hell MAC-10's were $400 if you had a license. M134 miniguns were $18K-23K . I bought me a 25 Raven for $35, which could hit Beer-cans at 20ft. Wish I had had $2K , I would have got a BARRET and a sweeper maybe a couple Ak's. But with an E4 paycheck and partying in Houston for a week-end , left me little cash.

Back when America was still America.

[Steve Wilcox]

The 50 has of course killed people at longer ranges but not in a sniper mode.

It could, but I'm wondering if it did.
Anyone have a reference for an M2HB firing at enemy troops more than 2400 meters away?
That would at least allow the possibility of a kill at a range in excess of the sniper kill, even if not confirmed.

[OpanaPointer]

(working from 41 year old memories here.) One PT-boat crewman told me of an attack his flot. made on a Japanese-held island somewhere around Guadalcanal. They loitered near the east side of a channel so they'd be in darkness when the sun came up over the island behind them. When the sun hit the island on the opposite side they had clear view of the buildings housing the Japanese and let loose simultaneously with ten .50s. It was, he said, a slaughter. The range, according to the estimate in the AAR, was ~3.5 miles, based on a channel four miles wide at that point. I admit this is spray-and-pray, but they were putting about 840 pounds of lead a minute into the buildings, so "somebody was going to die."

Oh, and .50s are used in the AAA role, so if they can kill an aircraft at 10,000 feet I imagine they can kill a person at that range as well.

[Steve Wilcox]

The range, according to the estimate in the AAR, was ~3.5 miles, based on a channel four miles wide at that point. I admit this is spray-and-pray, but they were putting about 840 pounds of lead a minute into the buildings, so "somebody was going to die."

That's exactly the type of information I was looking for. Thank you!

Oh, and .50s are used in the AAA role, so if they can kill an aircraft at 10,000 feet I imagine they can kill a person at that range as well.

Yes, I don't doubt the killing power of the round at extreme ranges, just looking for examples of it actually occurring, such as you provided above.

[OpanaPointer]

The range, according to the estimate in the AAR, was ~3.5 miles, based on a channel four miles wide at that point. I admit this is spray-and-pray, but they were putting about 840 pounds of lead a minute into the buildings, so "somebody was going to die."

That's exactly the type of information I was looking for. Thank you!

Oh, and .50s are used in the AAA role, so if they can kill an aircraft at 10,000 feet I imagine they can kill a person at that range as well.

Yes, I don't doubt the killing power of the round at extreme ranges, just looking for examples of it actually occurring, such as you provided above.

I will try to find out if "Gunner" Jackson is still alive. He manned one of these for a while.