The 50 Browning Machine Gun, sometimes known as the 50 BMG, is a 50 in (12.7 mm) caliber cartridge that was created for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s and entered formal service in 1921. The machine gun was initially produced during World War I, and despite being cumbersome, the tank began to find its place on the battlefield—it was also resistant to most rifle and artillery shots.
The 50 BMG cartridge has a 290-gram capacity (19 g). The round is a scaled-up version of the 30-06 Springfield, but it has a case wall with a long taper to make feeding and extraction easier in different guns. This cartridge's rifling twist rate is 1 in 15 in (380 mm), with eight lands and grooves.
The 50 Browning Machine Gun is employed in anti-materiel rifles in addition to the M2 Browning heavy machine gun. There is a wide range of ammunition available, and match grade ammunition has boosted the use of 50 caliber rifles by allowing for more precise firing than lesser quality rounds. During WWII, the 50 BMG was principally utilized for anti-aircraft duties in the M2 Browning machine gun, both in its "light barrel" aircraft mount form and the "heavy barrel" (HB) version on ground vehicles.
Depending on the powder and bullet type, as well as the weapon from which it is shot, the 50 BMG round may create between 10,000 and 15,000 foot-pounds force (14,000 and 20,000 J). The 50 BMG's trajectory suffers less "drift" from cross-winds than smaller and lighter calibers due to the high ballistic coefficient of the bullet, making it an excellent option for high-powered sniper rifles.
You're stuck in the savanna, face to face with a full-grown, rampaging adult male African Elephant on the verge of mowing you down. At that moment, you only want to be with one friend: a .577 T-Rex loaded into your bolt-action rifle.
This heavy hitter, sarcastically reported being more than enough to put down the tyrannosaurus rex after which it was called, maybe the only way you live to tell your grandkids about your terrible encounter with Savanna's bull. Let us examine the properties of this 'stopping rifle' cartridge to understand what makes it such a weighty and powerful companion when confronted with big game.
The .577 Tyrannosaur (.577 T-rex) cartridge was developed by the ammunition company A-square in 1993. It was built to be the big hitter that it is, with the primary goal of safeguarding visitors and clients in wildlife parks from dangerous charging animals. The ammo was distributed to the professional tour guides who led these guests.
What are the features?
The .577 T-rex bullet is 0.58inches (14.9mm) in diameter, 750-grain (49g), and is housed in a rimless bottleneck-shaped cartridge with a length of 3inches (75.9mm) and a diameter of 0.68inches (17.5mm). The ammunition travels somewhat slower than normal rounds, but the energy imparted to the target on contact is enormous. When fired, the bullet traveled at a speed of 2,460ft/s (750m/s), delivering an astounding muzzle energy of 10,180-foot-pounds of force (13,800J).
The ballistics of this cartridge, however, comes at a cost in the form of the tremendous recoil generated by discharging the .577. The Tyrannosaur ammunition has the heaviest free recoil of all, with a recoil of 220 pounds into the shoulder. Perhaps this is why many individuals are afraid to use this ammunition, because of the immense recoil that many people find themselves unable to control.
When it comes to hunting, the .577 Tyrannosaur excels in close range and medium-range accuracy at the expense of long-range accuracy, as it was designed for use as a last resort to halt dangerously charging animals.
A rifle capable of firing this cartridge must weigh at least ten pounds. The Hannibal sports rifle is the best gun for the .577 Tyrannosaur. The ammunition costs $60-$100 (pre-Covid), while the Hannibal rifle costs $4000.
