Most shooters will recognize that a .50 BMG can reach out and touch something. In fact, four of the five longest confirmed sniper kills in the world were recorded with a .50 BMG, one of which was launched from a Ma-Duece by none other than Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock.

But, the questions is how inherently deadly is the .50 size? At half an inch in bullet diameter, there is a lot of space for powder, even in a straight-walled cartridge. Looking to answer the question, IraqVeteran8888 stepped up to shoot a single-shot rifle, specifically TheGunCollective’s Thompson Center Encore in .50 Smith & Wesson, equipped with a suppressor no less.

Turns out the only real inhibition of the cartridge reaching out as far as the BMG is its bullet design and maximum velocity. Being a round tip bullet, the .50 S&W has significant drag and when combined with relatively low exit velocity, drops like a son-of-a-gun. At 400 yards, the 1-8x US Optics scope was nearly bottomed out at 8 mils. At that range, the weapon has a nearly 1 second time of flight.

At 600 yards, getting the shot on target was quite the challenge, especially when one forgets to cock the hammer on the single-shot rifle. Flinch!

Hit the video below to see the results of the .50 S & W vs plywood.