My buddies wife bought him an M82 for is birthday some time back. I think we are all jealous of him. Just keep in mind as a civilian you'll be paying ~$5 a trigger pull. When your casual friends want to shoot it, it get's expensive. You might have to find specific ranges to use it at as many do not want the additional liability of the range that round will travel. My experience in the South East is that it's not practical. You have a little more sparsely populated area to stretch it out in South AZ so it might be a little better.
Posts: 1801 | Location: North Cackalacky | Registered: September 09, 2007
Maybe we can work out a deal. I'll let you store one of mine and then you can give it back in a year. But in any case one of the ammo prices that has not gone nuts is .50bmg. I can get range ammo at around $3. When precision 6.5Cm is $2 it doesn't feel that bad.
“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
Originally posted by hrcjon: Maybe we can work out a deal. I'll let you store one of mine and then you can give it back in a year. But in any case one of the ammo prices that has not gone nuts is .50bmg. I can get range ammo at around $3. When precision 6.5Cm is $2 it doesn't feel that bad.
Where about are you located? I’d be happy to store it for you
Shooting a Barrett .50 is definitely an experience that's hard to forget. My longtime coworker has a M82A1 and aside from having to head over to the peninsula to shoot it's very much an event each time out. Frankly I never minded paying my own way with the ammo.
However, I never really came away wanting one. Not manly enough, I guess. After just recently watching the YT vid of Kentucky Ballistic's single-shot Serbu .50 detonate and the channel's host very real brush with the Grim Reaper, I'm definitely more convinced that I don't have or even want the balls to own one. But I'd probably shoot my buddy's Barrett again if asked...
-MG
Posts: 2268 | Location: The commie, rainy side of WA | Registered: April 19, 2020
Originally posted by hrcjon: unfortunately maine...
Shit for the price of a Barrett it would almost be worth it for me to drive there and back and have me store it for you. And I live in Tacoma. If my shoulder wasn't crapped out (and of course you didn't make the offer to me) I'd seriously consider this.
___________________________________________ Life Member NRA & Washington Arms Collectors
Mistake not my current state of joshing gentle peevishness for the awesome and terrible majesty of the towering seas of ire that are themselves the milquetoast shallows fringing my vast oceans of wrath.
Velocitas Incursio Vis - Gandhi
Posts: 2101 | Location: T-town in the 253 | Registered: January 16, 2013
I'm not going to lie, they are a hoot to shoot! Especially when Uncle Sugar is feeding the gun.
Me? I would definitely get into longer ranges, and serious rifles a lot more if I had somewhere more than 200/300 yards. In a pinch, and depending on who's at the farm, and how tall the weeds are I can move out to 500. So for me, anything more than a decent .308 is just waisted gunpowder and lead.
(Granted, I do live in Chicago which is probably the 3rd largest outdoor gun range, with Ft Irwin and 29 Palms being the larger ones, and I could play with a nice .50 down 79th or 63rd street, but I think my bosses may frown upon that just a little)
______________________________________________________________________ "When its time to shoot, shoot. Dont talk!"
“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.” —Author Tom Clancy
Posts: 8612 | Location: Attempting to keep the noise down around Midway Airport | Registered: February 14, 2008
If you want to buy a Barrett, then just buy it. Then sell it down the road, if you wish. IMO it makes more sense to rent or borrow a Barrett, in order to scratch an itch.
I get the concept that Barrett has a name that some people recognize. It's not that kind of name that means much to me. I am more interested in a rifle's components. Which barrel, who chambered the barrel, what caliber & bullet, which scope? Barrett rifles aren't used to win competitions, set any accuracy records, or survive high round count matches. If Barrett rifles really were head and shoulders better than other brands, the guys who shoot week in & week out would be all over them like white on rice.
IMO, Barrett's AR15 and AR10 rifles hold no real functional or accuracy advantage over other brands. Therefore the owner is just paying for a name, but without a history to show how the rifle is better than it peers.
Barrett has a lot of experience with the heavy calibers. I've shot rifles from other manufacturers (and gunsmiths) in a number of the rifle calibers that Barrett chambers -- 50 BMG, 338LM, 300 Norma, 300 WM, 308 Win, 6.5CM. I don't find the more energetic calibers all that enjoyable to shoot. The vast majority of the guys who own big caliber rifles shoot their standard caliber rifles the most.
50 BMG really isn't all that accurate at distance. With the big fish gill brakes the recoil isn't all that bad for a few shots, but the pressure wave back at the shooter sucks. 338NM and 338LM are accurate at distance. But the guys who shoot them in matches struggle to manage recoil and see their own impacts. The 300 magnums are better with recoil, but worse with barrel life.
Posts: 8072 | Location: Colorado | Registered: January 26, 2008
If you have a place to shoot it, get it...’Merica and all! I had the itch bad during my deployments...even bought ammo before the rifle. The reality of not having a place to shoot it sunk in finally, and I dropped the hunt for a M82 or M107. I checked off a lot of other boxes though in it’s stead...HK94, AUGs, P556, Yugo M72, stainless factory folding Mini-14. All the Hollywood action hardware from the 80’s and 90’s I wanted. I was able to shoot all of them at any range or club I visited.
I didn’t have residence in a NFA friendly state at the time, but if I did I would have put Barrett and .50 ammo money into machine guns. Could have had a factory Colt M16 or almost a HK sear at that time. Even now, $8-$10k can get you a MAC, Reising, AC556, or a different subgun. Today’s ammo prices make full auto shooting unattractive, but if you have or can get down the road 30 cent .45, a factory MAC10 spitting at 1000+ RPM is an absolute joy!
Evaluating volume of fire vs. shot placement effectiveness.
Like suggested above, make sure you have a place to shoot it. I had to give my 82a1 up when all my local ranges banned them. I'm happy to say I had one for a while, and you cannot go wrong with the 82a1 because there will always be someone who will want to get one from you. Very modest (well... 12ga high brass) recoil due to weight and a few design advantages.
------------------ The plural of anecdote is not data. -Frank Kotsonis
Posts: 2103 | Location: Berks Co PA | Registered: December 20, 2006
Originally posted by Voshterkoff: An M2HB build is only a little bit more.
Like Central Wisconsin Armory? Are you referring t the difference between that and a new M107A1?This message has been edited. Last edited by: M4Super90,
Originally posted by Voshterkoff: Looks like they raised their prices, used to be around $11,000.
Everything is sky high now. I've been looking for a reasonably priced .50 as well, and you can't even find one in stock at the high prices. Found a Steyr HS50 for less than $5K recently and it was gone by the time I called (less than 20 min.)
