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DREAM GUN

He's done it...Jake went and bought himself a .50 Caliber Rifle! He has been saving his pennies for nearly 10 years now, so I guess it's about time. For those of you who don't grasp the magnitude of this purchase, let me show you:

Yes... it is one of those guns that you see the snipers use in the movies to shoot down helicopters and such. Complete with a nice mounted scope, a separate spotting scope, bipod support, muzzle break, the works! We refer to it as "The Cannon."

 

He is a LITTLE excited about it - Constantly wearing that goofy spoiled kid grin :) And rightly so. After all ---  it's not every day that your wildest dreams come true! I'm very impressed by all of the research he did to find a good deal, and (in spite of my reservations) proud to be a co-owner of this insane piece of weaponry.

We've tried it out on two separate occasions now, and we are both amazed by it's ridiculously excessive abilities. The maiden voyage was a few weeks ago. Jake and a friend set up targets at increasing distances, and tried to get all the settings right and get everything sited in. 

This last weekend we put a small 2x2 white target WAY up on that little mountain, and shot at it from the house - which is about 900 yards. We were able to consistently cluster all around it, and hit it twice! This gun has some serious range, is all I'm really tryin' to say.
We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of kick to the shoulder - thanks to the muzzle break on the end. The consensus was that the recoil was less painful than that of a shotgun. It does have quite a shock wave that can be felt by those standing around, and the noise would be deafening without earplugs, but it is actually quite painless and fun to shoot. When you pull the trigger, the pulse feels like one of those big fireworks going off right next to you. We have been describing it as "soul rattling" instead of shoulder bruising :)

Here is the ammo from each one of our rifles. The smallest being a .22 bullet and the one on the far left (twice as big as rest) is the .50 caliber round. Isn't that intense!? When I saw it, I asked Jake - "Why did I let you buy that again?"  It is crazy large and costs about $5 for each one. (Not only can it kill helicopters, but it is also budget killer! hahaha) 

Here are a few of the remains we dug up from the ground after they had been shot. Depending on how they hit the target, the copper casing peels off and leaves the solid tungsten tip. I think digging these up was my favorite part of the whole experience. It was fascinating to me that the bullet transforms like this!

Jake has been very generous about letting everyone test his new toy. It's been a lot of fun to watch his Dad,  a few of our friends, and even his little sister have a turn shooting this beast! It always attracts a crowd on account of its bomb-like sound affect and we always enjoy a new way to surprise the neighbors. :)

 So there you have it, a dream fulfilled.