4 ms·

Here's the version I was told in the early 2000's by a US Army Ranger: "Firing at humans with a .50 caliber weapon is illegal, but firing at military 'equipment

Here's the version I was told in the early 2000's by a US Army Ranger: "Firing at humans with a .50 caliber weapon is illegal, but firing at military 'equipment' is allowed. If a soldier is wearing a helmet, the helmet counts as 'equipment.'"

saiya-jin 7y ago
I find this very strange, .50cal is one of the standard sniper caliber all around the world (although originally intended as anti-materiel it works OK for anti-personnel purposes too). In fact, longest confirmed hit AFAIK was done quite recently by .50, I think by canadian sniper. Plus you have these machine guns on vehicles that are .50, I can't imagine they are not used 'because rules'. Maybe not against civilians, but that's another topic.
- aidenn0 7y ago
  .50 BMG (aka 12.7x99) is the common NATO heavy cartridge. The .338 Lapua Magnum is a more modern cartridge and briefly had several record-holding shots, but the .50 BMG again has the lead. The equivalent Warsaw pact round woud be the 14.5x114 (.57 cal) and is the third round with confirmed hits from a rifle at over 2km. Note that both the 12.7x99 and the 14.5x114 are heavy machine gun rounds while the .338 lapua is specifically designed for rifles (at least I'm not aware of an HMG that fires them). It turns out that for long range you want a heavy bullet moving really fast with low-drag. an HMG cartridge fitted with a low-drag bullet does that pretty well.
- GhettoMaestro 7y ago
  As I understand it these types of restrictions are "best effort". You're not supposed to set out to shoot someone with an inappropriate type of round from the get-go (eg, using incendiary against a human), but if you are shooting it and a target presents itself, you aren't blocked from shooting it if it is a threat to you or your boys. None of this really matters in my opinion. Once the stuff is flying in both directions most restrictions (short of nuclear weapons) kind of get relaxed.
- dbcurtis 7y ago
  > I find this very strange, .50cal is one of the standard sniper caliber all around the world As a long-distance paper-punch, the .50BMG has some nice ballistic properties, if your shoulder can take the punishment. Thus its modern use. But the natural enemy of the .50BMG is the engine block. It was optimized for the objectives of the tail-gun crew in a WWII-era bomber.
C1sc0cat 7y ago
That an old military story I have heard that from some one served - I think pre or possible post war in the Palestine mandate.
AcerbicZero 7y ago
These types of discussions were popular with the barracks' lawyer types when I was in, circa ~2010, and I'm sure it was even more popular to debate before the internet was around to actually answer the question. The root of the idea is to get soldiers to think about the "rules of war", so if nothing else its been very successful in that area. I wonder if any one has done a study on to the effectiveness of these various training(s), to see if it has a measurable impact on behavior
non-entity 7y ago
My father, a marine who fought in Iraq, said the same

saiya-jin 7y ago

I find this very strange, .50cal is one of the standard sniper caliber all around the world (although originally intended as anti-materiel it works OK for anti-personnel purposes too). In fact, longest confirmed hit AFAIK was done quite recently by .50, I think by canadian sniper. Plus you have these machine guns on vehicles that are .50, I can't imagine they are not used 'because rules'. Maybe not against civilians, but that's another topic.

aidenn0 7y ago
.50 BMG (aka 12.7x99) is the common NATO heavy cartridge. The .338 Lapua Magnum is a more modern cartridge and briefly had several record-holding shots, but the .50 BMG again has the lead. The equivalent Warsaw pact round woud be the 14.5x114 (.57 cal) and is the third round with confirmed hits from a rifle at over 2km. Note that both the 12.7x99 and the 14.5x114 are heavy machine gun rounds while the .338 lapua is specifically designed for rifles (at least I'm not aware of an HMG that fires them). It turns out that for long range you want a heavy bullet moving really fast with low-drag. an HMG cartridge fitted with a low-drag bullet does that pretty well.
GhettoMaestro 7y ago
As I understand it these types of restrictions are "best effort". You're not supposed to set out to shoot someone with an inappropriate type of round from the get-go (eg, using incendiary against a human), but if you are shooting it and a target presents itself, you aren't blocked from shooting it if it is a threat to you or your boys. None of this really matters in my opinion. Once the stuff is flying in both directions most restrictions (short of nuclear weapons) kind of get relaxed.
dbcurtis 7y ago
> I find this very strange, .50cal is one of the standard sniper caliber all around the world As a long-distance paper-punch, the .50BMG has some nice ballistic properties, if your shoulder can take the punishment. Thus its modern use. But the natural enemy of the .50BMG is the engine block. It was optimized for the objectives of the tail-gun crew in a WWII-era bomber.

C1sc0cat 7y ago

That an old military story I have heard that from some one served - I think pre or possible post war in the Palestine mandate.

AcerbicZero 7y ago

These types of discussions were popular with the barracks' lawyer types when I was in, circa ~2010, and I'm sure it was even more popular to debate before the internet was around to actually answer the question. The root of the idea is to get soldiers to think about the "rules of war", so if nothing else its been very successful in that area. I wonder if any one has done a study on to the effectiveness of these various training(s), to see if it has a measurable impact on behavior

non-entity 7y ago

My father, a marine who fought in Iraq, said the same