#50Bmg

Above you can see one of the (lucky) gunners onboard KNM Thor Heyerdahl, as he engages the Gulf of Cádiz (or potentially some kind of target) with a 12.7 mm.

Flex Force Enterprises (formerly Radio Hill) is more widely known for their counter UAV handheld DroneBuster device but the company also makes machine gun mounts that are currently in use by the U.S. Government. Their ASP-Land and ASP-Maritime are gyrostabilized mounts that are designed to be used in both a manual operator role and in a remote-controlled capacity as well. Although most of the photographs of the mount itself show it with a .50 BMG M2 Heavy Machine Gun, it can be configured for any particular platform that a client wants. This is done via a mounting bracket that serves as a ‘sled’ that can have proprietary bolts affixed in it allowing practically any NATO or Soviet-bloc weapon system to be mounted to it.

This is one of the best pictures I’ve seen in a while, perfect for TFB’s Photo Of The Day.

The Barrett M82 in .50 BMG isn’t the first firearm I think of to be used in urban sniping for a number of reasons, but the Soldiers from the Norwegian Homeguard seem to be on a limitless budget.

We’ve got another guns seized in Brazil post, but this ones a real doozy! Police in Barra da Tijuca, a neighborhood in the west side of Rio de Janerio, Brazil recently found and seized an M2 Browning machine gun chambered in .50 BMG.

Thanks to a friend of mine for alerting me to an issue concerning  Safety Harbor Firearms and other manufacturers of .50 cal uppers. These manufacturers received a letter from the ATF.  The letter claims that bolt action .50 cal AR uppers can possibly be considered firearms. I reached out to Walter Keller of Safety Harbor Firearms and he agreed to share the letter with TFB.

United Kingdom goes on with another “there’s nothing to worry about, we are only going to ban the most dangerous firearms this time“.

After a long break, Jerry Miculek resumed creating and publishing videos on his YouTube channel. There is no doubt that most of our readers know who is Jerry Miculek and that the content he creates has an overwhelmingly high level of coolness. In the latest video published on the channel, Jerry tests a Veterans MFG Ultralight Level III+ body armor by shooting a .50 BMG Hornady 750 grain A-Max bullet at that plate. Enjoy the video.

Blackwater Ammunition is a new company established by Eric Prince, the founder of Academy (Blackwater), James Fenech, ammunition and arms distributor, and Nicola Bandini who also is (was?) the CEO of Arsenal Firearms. The launch of this new company was officially announced during IWA 2018 exhibition. Blackwater Ammunition is located in Malta. It is a subsidiary of another Maltese company called  Precision Ballistic Manufacturing.

FJ Feddersen has been in the barrel manufacturing business for almost 40 years. Located in East Tennessee since 2000, the manufacturing facility features top-of-the-line machinery. Mills, lathes, CNC machines, heat-treating ovens, and more fill the 17,500 square foot shop floor.

Cadex Defense had two recently introduced products specifically for the .50 BMG M2 Heavy Machine Gun on display at their booth at SHOT 2018. The first one was their KOLOS sight mount, meant as a lighter and less obtrusive alternative to the earlier SOLO sight mount. Second for this year is the M2 Cradle Mount.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is procuring two long range rifles from US manufacturer Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. The island armed forces will be purchasing the .50 BMG caliber M107A1 anti materiel rifle as well as the .338 Lapua Magnum caliber Multi Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) sniper rifle. The rifle buy is for forty M107A1 anti material rifles, forty two MRAD sniper rifles, and optics, suppressors, accessories, packaging, and all other ancillary equipment as part of a “total system” purchase. The weapons are a part of the New Zealand Defence Force’s modernization effort, which has included new handguns, infantry rifles, machine guns, and other weapons. According to NZDF material released along with the announcement, the MRAD sniper rifles will be replacing the NZDF’s legacy Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifles in 7.62mm NATO caliber, bringing a considerable increase in range and capability to New Zealand snipers. As well, M107A1 .50 caliber anti materiel rifles will give the NZDF the ability to attack vehicles and installations out to 1,500m. Both weapons are reportedly slated for use not only by the New Zealand Army, but the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS), as well. Procurement of the weapons under a sole source contract followed six weeks of testing of several competing rifles in Waiouru, where more than 10,000 rounds were expended in evaluation.

If you ever wanted proof that there is no end to the forces that want to ban firearms and knives here it is.

We are continuing our “catching up with Serbu” coverage this week with a quick look at the RN-50: an affordable .50 BMG rifle. It was released about six months ago and somehow never hit the TFB radar, so I am making up for lost time by taking a quick look at its unique attributes. For one, the RN-50 is a modified break action rifle with a screw cap breech. The single shot system is a simple yet elegant design that will help you save money on ammo by (involuntarily) limiting your rate of fire.

The St. George Arms Leader A1 .50 BMG rifle is the creation of Charles St. George, based off of his previous design, the Leader 50 rifle. It is a semi-automatic .50 BMG magazine fed bullpup rifle with a 24 inch barrel that uses a short stroke gas piston system. The bolt is made out of Maraging steel, which the company claims is an extremely strong material to be used within small arms design (indeed, simple stock prices of the steel are very costly). Magazine is a 10 round Serbu magazine, pistol grip and selector switch are both AR compatible and thus can be switched out. The top rail is a picatinny rail that extends over the extrusion that is the receiver of the rifle. Non reciprocating charging handle is on the left side of the rifle above the pistol grip. There is a picatinny rail underneath the charging handle that bipods can be mounted on, in addition to a picatinny rail behind the magazine for a monopod. The compensator is massive, held together by what appears to be hex screws. The rifle is in full production form and the company is currently taking in orders. It comes in at an overall length of 39.5 inches and an unloaded weight of 18.5 lb.