What is 50 BMG ammo?

50 BMG, also known as 50 Browning Machine Gun, is a cartridge produced for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun during the 1910s. It is also referred to as the M2 machine gun. The Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a large machine gun invented by John Browning during World War I.

John Browning was an American firearm designer, one of the most successful to this day. He designed the firearms of the 19th and 20th centuries as well as pioneered the development of modern semi-auto, auto, and repeating firearms we know.

What does 50 BMG stand for

.50 is the caliber. BMG stands for “Browning Machine Gun”.

What Caliber is 50 BMG?

50 BMG is a .50 caliber machine gun. The cartridge itself has been built in several variants: many generations of armor-piercing and regular ball, to tracer, incendiary, and saboted sub-caliber rounds.

What is 50 BMG used for?

50 BMG Uses

The 50 Browning Machine Gun is a cartridge designed for long-range shooting. It is also designed for anti-materiel sniping. The U.S. military uses .50 Browning Machine Gun weapons to discharge unexploded ordnance from a safe and secure distance. It can damage most unarmored and lightly armored vehicles.

Hunting is usually off the table when it comes to 50 MBG. If you were hunting common game with a 50 MBG cartridge, the animals would be torn apart excessively due to the large caliber compared to the size of the target. Additionally, it can make most game un-mountable and unsalvagable. For instance, if you were hunting for deer, the most popular and most common caliber to shoot is 308 Winchester.

Can a 50 BMG Go Through a Tank?

Developments in tank armor have made tanks generally invulnerable and impenetrable to .50 BMG/12.7 x 99mm NATO rounds. According to the Marine Corps, the 50 caliber still possesses the ability to blast through lightly armored vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers.

How accurate is a 50 BMG?

It is believed that 50 calibers are accurate at ranges of at least 1,000 yards and can range to nearly 2,000 yards. Virtus Ammo’s True Velocity Lightweight Composite .50 BMG/12.7 x 99mm NATO possesses a velocity of 885.4m/s (2905 fps).

Can You Legally Buy a 50 BMG?

Yes, in most areas and states, it is legal to buy .50 BMG/12.7 x 99mm NATO and 50 caliber rifles. The state of California has made 50 BMG rifles illegal in the state.

Why Buy 50 BMG?

In addition to long-range and anti-materiel sniping, .50 BMG/12.7 x 99mm NATO can enter most concrete cinder blocks and commercial brick walls. As stated before, the U.S. military uses .50 Browning Machine Gun weapons to discharge unexploded ordnance from a safe and secure distance. It can damage most unarmored and lightly armored vehicles.

What Sets Apart Polymer Cased Ammunition?

Accuracy is in the Case

Polymer ammo casings are changing the industry with composite-cased technology that unlocks internal ballistic capabilities impossible to achieve with brass-casings ⁣True Velocity proprietary technology allows for unparalleled consistency, efficiency, and accuracy.

Where To Buy Polymer Cased .50 BMG

Polymer Cased .50 BMG can be purchased through Virtus Ammo. We are a distributor authorized to distribute True Velocity composite products based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Virtus Ammo is currently the only certified ammo distributor of True Velocity ammo. Our mission is to build a business committed to family, teamwork, and community.

For more information about polymer cased ammunition, contact the ammunition experts today. We are able to answer any questions you may have about True Velocity polymer cased ammunition.

.223 and 5.56mm NATO are quite similar in many aspects but make no mistake, they are indeed different. The subtle differences are particularly important.

Similar in Size

223 rounds are practically equal in size to 5.56mm rounds. This indicates that tin most cases, . 223 ammunition will chamber and fire in a 5.56mm chamber and vice versa. However, the biggest difference between the two is that 5.56x45mm ammunition is loaded to a significantly higher pressure than.

What is the difference between .223 and 5.56 ammo?

5.56x45mm ammunition is loaded to a significantly higher pressure

The biggest difference between the two types of ammunition is that 5.56x45mm ammunition is loaded to a significantly higher pressure than .223 ammunition. Generally, .223 Remington chambers are not designed and constructed to withstand the heightened amount of pressure that 5.56x45mm chambers are built to.

.223 Remington chambers acquire a shorter leade

.223 Remington chambers possess a shorter lead with a steeper angle than 5.56.

What is leade?

Leade is defined as the gap between the mouth of the cartridge and the spot where the rifling engages the bullet.

Commonly, a shorter leade results in enhanced accuracy at the expense of increased pressure joined by decreased velocity. A shorter leade results in more pressure. On the contrary, a longer leade creates increased velocity with lower pressures at the expense of decreased accuracy.

What does the 5.56mm NATO poses longer leade?

The 5.56mm NATO was originally created as a military cartridge, with a demand for increased velocity. The 5.56mm NATO was intended to be used with a longer leade including a shallow angle. Improved reliability was discovered as an additional advantage by allowing more buildup of carbon and other materials without negatively altering the rifle’s function.

Can .223 and 5.56 be treated as interchangeable rounds?

Even though many people treat the .223 Remington and 5.56x45mm cartridges as interchangeable rounds, this practice can be very dangerous in certain situations and under the wrong circumstances.

Yes, it is true that not all chambers are the same. The same statement goes for ammunition. This is why it is definitely possible to fire 5.56mm NATO ammunition out of .223 Remington chambers with no problems or complications.

However, in the wrong circumstances, problems may occur. Combine ammunition that is toward the top end of satisfactory safety limits with hot summer temperatures and slightly too much fouling in the chamber, you may find yourself running into serious trouble. The rifle is not likely to blow up, though it is possible. It is more likely that you will experience the primer blowing out of the primer pocket on the case. This can result in the primer finding its way into the internal parts of your rifle. This mishap could possibly prevent your rifle from shooting or create a far more dangerous situation.

To avoid this, be sure that you only fire the appropriate ammunition in your rifle. If you are unsure, this information can commonly be found on most rifles on the receiver or the side of the barrel near the chamber, usually engraved.

If it says “.223 Remington,” then you can be rather certain that is what you have.

However, if it says “5.56mm,” that does not surely mean that it is safe to fire all variants of 5.56mm NATO. Unfortunately, not all 5.56mm rifles are created equally. The only way to be 100% sure of what your rifle is would be to either measure the size yourself or get a trustworthy gunsmith to do it for you. Until you are certain, it is best to only fire .223 ammunition in that rifle.

To Conclude

.223 Remington ammunition may be shot safely in either a .223 Remington or a 5.56mm chamber. Nevertheless, you should only shoot 5.56mm ammunition in a rifle with a 5.56mm chamber or you are risking a possibly catastrophic, critical incident that can easily be avoided.

Still have questions? To gain more knowledge or get answers to your questions, contact the ammo experts at Virtus Ammo today!

Whether you are a nerd for all the stats and details or you want to see the action with your own eyes, we have you covered. Both technical statistics and real-world performance are greatly important to our testing process. You may be wondering, what is chronograph data?

What is chronograph data?

Simply, Chronographs are used to measure time periods and provide data. A chronograph is a particular type of watch that is used as a stopwatch. This stopwatch function combined with a display watch is what creates this time recorder. The word ‘chronograph’ means ‘time recorder’. When we test out ammunition, we test the feet per second, which is known as FPS, of each shot to generate accurate chronograph data. 

Although lab chronograph data is intriguing, what it really comes down to is real-world performance. So that is exactly what we did with Desert Tech. 

Putting the .308 Winchester to the Test

We partnered up with Desert Tech for this testing with the use of their high-end rifles. They provided SRS M2 precision rifles to compare the chronograph data from True Velocity’s .308 Winchester 168-grain Nosler Custom Comp to Federal Gold Medal Match. 

Why We Chose The SRS M2 Precision Rifles

When choosing a rifle for testing, we searched for the highest quality and precise rifle. We chose a 22 inch 308 Desert Tech SRS M2 precision rifle. This was chosen because it is the latest iteration of the stealth recon scout family of rifles. It is a Bullpup precision rifle with bolt action. The SRS M2 precision rifle is a multi-caliber with an assortment of match-grade barrels. An assortment of match-grade barrels makes it extremely accurate. This rifle has an excellent trigger, providing all the components for shooting accurate rounds, perfect for round testing.

What We Are Testing 

We tested the performance, accuracy, and consistency from shot to shot. We tested to see the standard deviation of each round as well. Let’s not forget that we are recording chronograph data. 

Watch the Video

The Outcome

Below is the data collected from shooting 5 shots of Federal Gold Medal Match and True Velocity’s .308 Winchester 168-grain Nosler Custom Comp through the SRS M2 Precision Rifles.

Federal Gold Medal Match Data

1. 2602
2. 2599
3. 2583
4. 2593
5. 2583

True Velocity’s .308 Winchester 168-grain Nosler Custom Comp Data

1. 2683
2. 2664
3. 2672
4. 2679
5. 2678

Detailed Comparision 

As you can see from the data displayed above, the results are rather amazing. Both of these rounds are very consistent. We use the Federal Gold Medal Match as our control group.

When we look at the True Velocity’s .308 Winchester 168-grain Nosler Custom Comp data, we can see that the Average Muzzle Velocity of 2675 which is about 80 feet per second faster. That is notably faster! Additionally, the slightly lower deviation of 6.615 is extremely low. True Velocity polymer cased .308 Winchester ammo is comparable to leading ammo today. It is extremely accurate and high velocity. Not to mention polymer cased ammunition is far lighter than the leading ammunition.

Our team at Virtus Ammo strives to test our polymer cased ammunition as in-depth as possible. We are continuing to test and compare the polymer cased ammunition to other manufacturers’ products. It is crucial to the Virtus team that we see how our ammunition stands next to other leading ammunition. The Virtus team is working on obtaining additional types of data and different tests constantly. To see the additional True Velocity polymer cased ammunition tests, see the Virtus Ammo YouTube channel here.