Article

2005-12-02 Iraq

See a .50 cal sniper in action against insurgents (Graphic content!)

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Posted by Hupiper Flatle2596 2005-12-02 11:48|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 beware of low-flying chunks

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-12-02 12:26|| 2005-12-02 12:26|| Front Page Top

#2 VERY KEWL!!!!!!

Posted by ARMYGUY 2005-12-02 12:29|| 2005-12-02 12:29|| Front Page Top

#3 I've seen this before. Most excellent shooting.

Posted by mmurray821 2005-12-02 12:38|| 2005-12-02 12:38|| Front Page Top

#4 "Graphic content!"

I should certainly hope so. :-D

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2005-12-02 12:51|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2005-12-02 12:51|| Front Page Top

#5 Kinetic energy at work. And incredible graphics. Some of those ranges were pdl (pretty damn long)

Posted by Sleamp Ulenter4345 2005-12-02 12:53|| 2005-12-02 12:53|| Front Page Top

#6 Thanks for your interest in Google Video.

Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn't available in your country.

We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience.

Damn... I was really hoping to brighten my day!

Posted by anonymous5089 2005-12-02 12:57|| 2005-12-02 12:57|| Front Page Top

#7 Look closer. Those are marmots or other rodents most likely being shot with a .270 or .30 caliber hunting rifle. I bet the video was shot in the Califoria Sierra Mountains.

Posted by ed 2005-12-02 13:06|| 2005-12-02 13:06|| Front Page Top

#8 This isn't in Iraq. This was on the internet a few months ago saying it was Afghanistan. It turned it it was varmit hunters trying to be attention whores.

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2005-12-02 13:10|| 2005-12-02 13:10|| Front Page Top

#9 ahhh. Poor little varmits. I don't like the video anymore.

Posted by 2b 2005-12-02 13:14|| 2005-12-02 13:14|| Front Page Top

#10 50 cals have been banned in California. There are still a few around but there's nowhere to fire them legally. Unless this film is many years old it probably wasn't shot in CA.

Also, look closely at the third segment and tell me that's not a human body flying through the air.

Finally, the ranges and impact damage don't look to me like anything a .270 or .30 caliber is capable of.

Posted by Iblis">Iblis 2005-12-02 14:23|| 2005-12-02 14:23|| Front Page Top

#11 one looked like an arm head attachment too me

Posted by Jerelet Thineling2988 2005-12-02 14:38|| 2005-12-02 14:38|| Front Page Top

#12 one looked like an arm head attachment too me

Posted by Jerelet Thineling2988 2005-12-02 14:38|| 2005-12-02 14:38|| Front Page Top

#13 Iblis,
The first target is the most easily recognizable as a marmot sunning itself. Think of the powder charge of an .50 cal round. There is not enough energy to cause a 150 pound man to fly 10 feet in the air. Now think of the powder charge in a .270 cal x 63mm or even .243 round and it is more than enough to toss large chunks of a 10 pound marmot 3 feet.

Posted by ed 2005-12-02 14:44|| 2005-12-02 14:44|| Front Page Top

#14 ed, I beg to differ. Have you seen up close and personal what a 50 cal round does to a human? I've seen a 50 cal round blow a horse 10 feet in the air. A human body EXPLODES!! It is NOT pretty. I'm not saying the video is not a hoax but a moder 50cal round does tremendous damage to whatever it hits.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-12-02 15:43|| 2005-12-02 15:43|| Front Page Top

#15 Ed:

The first sequence clearly shows something running away on 4 legs. Let that pass. The others looks real to me.

Posted by Iblis">Iblis 2005-12-02 16:07|| 2005-12-02 16:07|| Front Page Top

#16 Deacon,
Yes meat does explode when hit by a high velocity bullet. But I disagree that it could blow a man as far as that video asserts if the target was a man. I admit I have not shot anyone with a .50 cal, but let's do some basic physics.

1. First conservation of momentum: P=M1*V1=M2*V2
If all the momentum of a 700 grain (.045kg) .50 cal ball fired at 850m/sec muzzle velocity were transferred to a 70kg target, the target would have a velocity of 0.55m/sec. Now this unrealistic since the barrel barrel would have to be shoved against his butt and the have to stop the bullet, but it gives the max theoretically possible.

2. Given an initial velocity of Vo=0.55m/sec, how high would an object rise against gravity? That's given by Hmax = 0.5 * Vo**2 / g or .5*(.55m/sec)**2/(9.8m/sec**2) = 0.015 m = 1.5cm

Now do the same for a 5kg object and you get Hmax = 3.0 meters.

As you can see, esp from the first shot of the video, that is no man shot by a .50 cal, but a small animal.

Posted by ed 2005-12-02 17:22|| 2005-12-02 17:22|| Front Page Top

#17 #14 ed, I beg to differ. Have you seen up close and personal what a 50 cal round does to a human?"

Yep. See here

Posted by The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2005-12-02 18:47|| http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com]">[http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com] 2005-12-02 18:47|| Front Page Top

#18 Cyber-sarge can verify this, I'm sure. The reason the Ma-deuce is so popular everywhere is that even a "minor flesh wound" does incomperable damage to the human system. I haven't watched the video, and don't care to, but the .50cal is a weapon of wonder for grunts on the ground. I wish we still had a thousand of the old "Vulcan" air-defense systems we could convert to ground use. Ten of those against any army would be systems well worth having. We might also consider using them the next time ANSWER decides to "march" in Washington, DC., and eliminate a domestic threat.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2005-12-02 18:50|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2005-12-02 18:50|| Front Page Top

#19 Happy, I think a .308 did that. A .308 entering dead center into a rigid skull will generate enough hydrodynamic shock to explode the back. A .50 BMG would most like have ripped the head clean off.

Did a little googling and found this:
1. Sniper Video NOT!
We have had several readers tell us that this is not sniper video, but varmint hunting video. After we took a second look we tend to agree with the varmint hunting theory. What do you think?

2. .50 Cal. Sniper Shots (in comments)
I hate to burst your bubble. No, not really. Those aren't human targets, and that's not a .50 cal doing the shooting. Follows the email I sent the first time this was forwarded to me:
"All,

Please update your distribution list(s) for this video clip with factual info:

1. Those are prairie dogs being killed, not Taliban or other evildoers.
2. The rifle is not a .50 BMG, but some substantially smaller caliber.
3. The clip originated as promotional material for a guided prairie dog hunt.

There are legitimate images of .50 BMG wounds to humans in circulation on the net, taken at distances that only a forensic pathologist would appreciate. (Well, maybe a few of you, also?) These long-range images are examples of good marksmanship, but not of the lethality of a .50 BMG round.

It isn't that I object to shooting terrorists or other combatant enemies, with a .50 BMG rifle or anything else that promptly ends their capability to do harm. I object to the fact that ignorant people seeing this clip will be influenced to support bans on the .50 caliber rifle due to the "who needs a gun that is designed to do that to people" notion.

Not that the .50 BMG doesn't do horrific damage to human targets - as does any high-powered round. It just doesn't blast bodies apart as depicted here. Even with the best high explosive (HE) ammunition available (RAUFOSS, a product of NAMMO). A human is simply too soft to initiate the detonation of the HE round. The .50 BMG round has been in civilian hands for over 60 years, and hasn't been used in any crime to date.

Regards
Mike "
Posted by: BMG Mike at Jul 13, 2005 7:00:22 PM

If the targets are prarie dogs (less than a kilogram), then would have been sent flying by any high speed bullet like a .223 or .22-50. Again, the physical calculations place a limit on high high or far a target can be blown.

Posted by ed 2005-12-02 19:31|| 2005-12-02 19:31|| Front Page Top

#20 Here is a video of the end effects of the .50 caliber round: http://www.biggerhammer.net/barrett/video/
Look for "USMC Scout Sniper Instructor"

Posted by ed 2005-12-02 19:35|| 2005-12-02 19:35|| Front Page Top

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