I would never advocate extreme long range shooting on big game animals, no matter what the weapon or the shooter’s skill level. There are simply too many things that can go wrong. The shooter misjudges the wind, the animal moves, etc. A hit that would permanently cripple and not allow the recovery of a game animal would be considered a success to a military sniper.

Remember if a sniper hits someone in the guts from 1000 meters away or blows his leg off he has done his job. Not only has he taken that individual out as a threat, he has created a situation where that individual ties up resources and personnel to care for them.

Military sniping and big game hunting are drastically different. Just because a rifle is capable of making extreme long-range hits does not mean that it would it be ethical to hunt in this matter.

Having voiced my objections to hunting with the .50BMG I would like to relate some information about what a great military tool it is in the right hands. My brother is a SFC in the Special Forces. He is not a sniper. He belongs to a group called the “Muddy Boots Council” that participates in R&D for new equipment that the Army is developing for the field. He had the opportunity to participate in a demonstration/test session of a .50BMG sniper rifle built by McMillan. The factory guys from McMillan demonstrated the rifle’s capabilities by killing targets at ranges from 800 to 1600 meters. After the demonstration they were encouraged to get some hands on experience. My brother was able to kill 3 milk jugs filled with water with 4 shots at 1600 meters! As I stated earlier he isn’t a sniper and this was the first time he had ever shot this rifle.

I think the .50BMG is an amazing military and long-range target round. I don’t think anyone should be allowed to hunt with it.