2nd Most Powerful Sniper Rifle

The Barrett .50 M82A1 and M-107 fires a very powerful rifle bullet, the Browning Machine Gun ( BMG ) .50 Caliber. This cartridge has been the "bread and butter" bullet of the US Military since before the Second World War and its a cartridge thats here to stay. The bullet head is ½ inch in diameter whilst the length of the cartridge is 5.45 inches, which makes the powerful 5.56 NATO bullet or the most widely used 7.62mm for the AK-47, look rather tame by comparison.

Some technical specifications.

Weight loaded: 31Lb. Magazine Capacity: 10 rounds. Magazine weight loaded: 4.12Lb. Length: 57 Inches (4foot 7 in) Barrel length: 29inches (2foot 3in) Muzzle velocity: 2850 fps (853 M/s) with 600 grain bullet. Maximum range: 6,800 meters. Maximum effective accurate range 2000 meters.

The very first Barrett 50 was designated the M82 or Model of 1982 when it was first created. Its development continued until 1986 where an improved model the M82A1 came onto the scene. It was in 1990 that the US army adopted this rifle and it is still with them today.

The Barrett Light 50 as it is more commonly called is a semi-automatic and recoil operated rifle, with unique recoil absorption systems incorporated that allow the barrel to slide back much the same as a Howitzer cannon. This system is to save damage to the rifle and indeed the the person firing it. There is also a muzzle brake fitted that allows the gases to vent sideways and this also helps to keep the recoil down to a minimum.

The telescopic sight is fitted as standard but the rifle also incorporates fold down iron sights as a back up incase the scope gets damaged in the field of operations.

Below are some images of the .50 Caliber cartridge shown approximately to actual size.

The composition of the .50 Caliber bullet shown below, illustrates how this particular round is made up of a solid lead core, surrounded with a copper jacket and an aluminum tip that is secured to the end of the bullet head. The aluminum tip is light and will fragment upon impact with the target, creating even more damage to it, as if the big .50 cal wasn't already powerful enough !

The Governor of California, USA, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a man who knows about guns, so much so that he decided that the Barrett .50 caliber was too dangerous to be owned by civilians and wisely, he promptly banned its sale for private ownership.

Only the Military can buy this gun in California. At present there are still 49 states in the USA that can legally sell them to private individuals, who must be over the age of 18 with no criminal record, they cannot then however 'export' them into California as its the gun that's banned as well as its ownership.

The Barrett M82A1 and M107 fires the US Military's standard issue .50 Caliber (½ inch diameter) bullet which incidentally is four times heavier than the US Army's standard .30 Caliber rifle bullet, and a massive ten times more heavy than the 5.56mm bullet fired from the M16 assault rifle. A recent report stated that the bullet fired from the Barrett M82A1 hits a target 1½ miles away with more energy and force than Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" .44 Magnum, fired at point blank range.

The Barrett .50 has been rated by the US Army as one of the best combat weapons ever invented, for its ease of operation, its power, accuracy and rugged reliability, under all conditions. The majority of Special Operations snipers now utilize the Barrett .50 as their mainstay sniper rifle.

The rifle is relatively portable too, coming in its own carry case

The Barrett M82A1 has actually been around now for more over twenty five years, it was invented by Mr. Ronnie Barrett in Murfreesboro, Tennessee USA. But why did he want to create such an awesome and lethal rifle for ? "I was just a 26 year old kid, and didn't know any better," he says, either way he had enough knowledge about guns to design and develop a sniper rifle that is used by armies in at least 30 different countries, or a better appraisal maybe just to say that the gun is used by armies over the world.

The .50 Caliber bullet is actually designated as a Military grade round but when used in a rifle such as the Barrett M82A1 then Federal Gun laws deem it under the same laws as a high power Hunting rifle, consequently the M82A1 can be retailed to the private individual.

Ronnie Barrett actually stated " You know, jf it wasn’t for the civilian sales, then I wouldn’t be here. There’s a lot of defense contractors that would not be here too, as sales to the Military vary on a wide margin every year. "

Pictured below is Mr. Barrett holding the .50 M107 sniper rifle. He is one of only four private individuals that has ever designed, built and sold weapons to the US Military.

The Barrett .50 was first used in actual combat by American Forces in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Rifle was often used to shoot at targets over a 1000 meters away with great and lethal accuracy.

Below is a photo of Master Sergeant Tanya Breed as she sights up the Barrett .50 caliber during a demonstration at Hurlburt Field, Florida, USA. The Barrett .50's power and accuracy was demonstrated to students from the US Air Force Special Operations School on a Dynamics of International Terrorism course.

Photo credits: Chief Master Sergeant Gary Emery.

The .50 Caliber round can accurately engage enemy targets at a distance of over 2000 meters which is over a mile away ! In fact a professional sniper can hit a 5 inch diameter target at a distance of 1½ miles and recorded shots have been reported from US snipers killing enemy soldiers from a range of 2,500 meters or just under 1.8 miles. The angle that the gun is held, plus the amount of wind blowing, the general weather conditions and stillness of the target are all calculated to make this kind of skillful shot.

See the 'Youtube' US Army demonstration video of the M82A1 Barrett .50 (Special Applications Scoped Rifle as the Army call it ) below:

The .50 caliber bullet fired form a Barrett M83A1 or M-107 can easily penetrate 1½inches of solid steel armour plate, which is the normal amount of "protection" offered by most of the worlds Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC's), Armoured cars, trucks and other "light" vehicles. Generally speaking, as long as its not a main battle tank, the .50 caliber round fired from the Barrett at moderate ranges will penetrate it.

A brick or a concrete wall that is about 1 or even 2 foot thick also offer no protection and can be shot clean through. Mobile or static radio trucks, parked up airplanes engines, buildings, fuel depots, rail tank cars, machine gun 'pill-boxes', bullet proof limo's, trucks, body armour clad enemy soldiers are all easy prey to the Barrett .50

The graph below shows the resistance that modern super strong laminated bullet proof glass can give. As you will notice, the .50 caliber Browning round, fitted with an Armour Piercing bullet will go clean through this medium by a factor of two or 3½ inches ! Even the standard .50 cal Browning will still penetrate 2 inches and beats all the competition.

There is also a very strong psychological factor to be associated with this very powerful sniper rifle. The supremely accurate and powerful bullet, traveling at up to Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) can kill an enemy soldier/terrorist and he would not even hear the sound of the gun that killed him. When a target is hit at over a mile away the sound of the shot would not be that loud as to be too noticed by the enemy encampment.

The Barrett .50 is actually reported to be quite nice to fire as most of the horrendous recoil has been eliminated by powerful inbuilt shock absorbers, cams and springs, so in effect, there is about 60 to 70 % less recoil than other rifles on a Lb for Lb scale. Despite the size of this rifle, the Barrett .50 only weighs 31 Lb (13.6Kg ) so it is easy to carry around by the average soldier in the field.

Fitting the Barrett M82A1 with a silencer is not high on its agenda, due to its long distance kill ability, however this has not stopped manufacturers from actually producing a silencer or sound moderator for the Barrett M82A1 as pictured below.

The sound of the Barrett is not muffled to a light 'phutt' by any means, the silencer would have to be something like 2 foot wide and 8 foot long for that, in fact its still quite loud but at least some of the sound is reduced, especially for the discerning hunter.

On The Dark Side.

It has been refuted that Osama Bin Ladens Al Qaeda ( The Base) terrorist network, managed to secure 25 Barrett .50's in the late 1980's and Coalition forces out in the Gulf could find themselves on the receiving end of this most awesome sniper rifle.

With a range of 2000 yards or 20 football pitches, the enemy sniper could fire and kill his target and getaway from his position before the attacked forces even worked out where the shot came from. This of course works both ways !

Indeed, the Barrett M82A1 is not noted for being an extremely Powerful and accurate Sniper rifle for nothing, an appraisal it has earned and a reputation it will keep.

Manufactured by: BARRETT FIREARMS MANUFACTURING, INC.

P.O. BOX 1077, MURFREESBORO, TN 37133-177

TELEPHONE 615-896-2938 - FAX 615-896-7313 - E-MAIL: mail@barrettrifles.com

Unfortunately the Barrett .50 is not accredited with the worlds longest range kill...yet ! that honor goes to the McMillan TAC-50 bolt action sniper rifle. An example of the rifle is pictured below.

The TAC-50 does however fire the same ammunition, the .50 cal BMG cartridge.

During conflict in Afghanistan in 2002 Corporal Rob Furlong of the Canadian Forces fired his McMillan TAC-50 to kill an identified Taliban terrorist at a range of 2430 meters - 7973 feet or just over 1½ miles away. It is the absolute record for the longest sniper kill in history.

Corporal Furlong said that his first shot was a miss, his second shot hit the insurgents back pack but his third shot hit the body killing him straight away.

As the old saying goes, a tool is only as good as the workman who uses it.