It is safe to say that lighter rifles in this caliber are unpleasant to shoot. 50 BMG rifles frequently weigh 26 pounds (12 kg) or more without optics. Size and weight are important issues since. 50 BMG rifles are frequently less accurate than rifles designed for the. 50 BMG precision rifles: (1) they are much bigger and heavier than conventional rifles: (2) their massive recoil impulse makes them unpleasant to shoot (3) their massive muzzle blast is very unpleasant for both the shooter and his spotter, and therefore tends to cause all but the very best shooters to flinch (4) muzzle blast tends to kick up debris (not to mention the considerable muzzle flash) that can reveal the shooter’s position to hostile forces and (5). 50 BMG (12.7x99mm) machine gun round to counter such long-range threats, since this round has a maximum effective range of about 2,000 meters. There has been considerable interest in fielding precision rifles chambered for the massive. In the military environment-whether conducting conventional operations, so-called peace-keeping missions, or special operations-it’s not uncommon to come under heavy weapons fire originating a kilometer or more away. That’s a long shot, but serious problems in the real world can need solving at greater ranges. 300 Winchester Magnum, which is increasingly being fielded in sniper rifles, provides good performance out to about 1,000 meters.
Rifles chambered in 7.62x51mm tend to be reasonably light and maneuverable while providing a good mix of accuracy and penetration out to about 600 meters with conventional ammo and to about 900 meters with VLD (Very Low Drag) ammo. 338 Lapua Magnum is an important cartridge to military snipers because it significantly outperforms the 7.62x51mm (.308 Winchester) round, which is the most common cartridge used in the sniper rifles of NATO and other Western countries. 338 Lapua Magnum also makes a compelling cartridge for long-range target shooting and hunting big game such as moose, bison and bear. Thanks to innovative bullet designs developed at Lapua, the. 50 caliber sniper rifles, since it is capable of delivering reliable hits to 1,500 meters. 338 fills an important but previously unfilled tactical niche between 7.62mm and. 338 Lapua Magnum may well be seen by small-arms historians as one of the most important cartridges developed in the latter part of the 20th century.
Originally developed as a military cartridge, the.