Carroll also used a loop of tubular nylon to fasten the fore-end of the rifle to a tree trunk via a tension wrap. Tilting the rifle away from the trunk provided several seconds of sturdy support that allowed firing from a standing position.

It’s not a magic cartridge.
The .50 BMG delivers impressive ballistics, but it’s not immune to the effects of gravity and wind. For example, the 661-grain bullet in the M33 ball load, fired from a 29-inch-barreled M82A1, has a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,750 fps. If the rifle is zeroed at 300 yards, that 661-grain bullet will drop 6.4 mils—or more than 19 feet—at 1,000 yards. In a 10 mph, full-value crosswind, it will drift 1.4 mils—or almost 8.5 feet—at 1,000 yards. Both are enough to make you miss by a wide margin if you don’t accurately correct for elevation and wind.

A white sheet of steel 4 feet high and 6 feet long stood halfway up a ridge above the high power range at the Whittington Center. Carroll had ranged it at 2,450 yards. Hitting it required an eleva-tion correction of more than 31 mils—almost 190 feet! But with that adjustment and luck keeping the wind constant, it could be hit repeatedly.

“Everyone in our classes wants to ring that target,” Carroll said. “And everyone will, as long as they have the right dope and pay attention to the fundamentals.”

Ammo affects accuracy.
In fact, other than the shooter’s skill level, ammo may be the weakest link in the .50 BMG system. The most readily available and least expensive

.50 BMG load is M33 ball. Unfortunately, M33 is intended for use in machine guns, and it’s far from the most accurate fodder you can feed a .50.

The M107A1 I shot during the courses was a 2.5-MOA rifle with M33 ball. But with Barrett Accuracy Ammo, loaded to stricter tolerances with a 647-grain Barnes bullet, I got repeated 1.5-MOA groups. If you’re looking for the utmost accuracy from your .50, it pays to shoot match-grade ammo.

These are the type of lessons you learn only after spending a good deal of quality time with your rifle. Those of us who don’t own a .50 BMG, or don’t have the time or space to shoot it extensively, can tap into the wisdom held by the guys who do. Barrett’s Long Range I and II courses make it possible, and spending three or six days shooting .50-caliber rifles is a blast—literally.