.50 calibre

[Mack The Knife]

A week or so back I received an e-mail from a friend who is on an assignment in Iraq (he's a photo-jounalist, not James Bond, so don't let your imagination run wild). This is what the e-mail said...

"Yesterday an insurgent sniper put two .50 calibre teflon coated armour piercing rounds into a Land Cruiser outside my window. Retrieved the projectiles and they're with the contractors we are with. Apparently Steyr shipped 900 .50 calibre sniper rifles to the Iranians and many have been seized from insurgents."

I asked him if he could take a few pics of the expended rounds for me and I received them tonight and thought you would like to see them.





I did not know that Steyr Mannlicher made rifles in .50 calibre, so this was news to me.

Incidentally, would it be legal for him to bring back those two rounds for me? Haven't asked him yet but if it does not contravene one of our arms/import laws, I'll ask him to bring them back.

Mack The Knife

P.S.: I thought teflon coated bullets were black externally but these seem to be plain old copper jackets. Comments from those in the know, please.

[Grumpy]

The .50 cal Steyr is the H.S. - a very good, very accurate rifle ( sub-MOA ) which retails for £3135 here - Yes, it`s UK legal.
Those spent bullets don`t actually look big enough to be .50 BMG. I suppose that a great deal of material has been lost. The H.S is also available in .460 Steyr by the way - another whopper.
The teflon coating is just that - a coating - and will be lost as the bullet passes through any material. The loss can be quite unpredicatable though - Black Talons that I`ve recovered from carcases sometimes lose hardly any coating.

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks for the clarifications, Grumpy.

[Grumpy]

Steyr H.S.

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks again.

[cottage cheese]

Just wondering it it could've been some of the 'lost track of' inventory lately in the news... or perhaps even the Blackwater illegals surfacing.

...in all probabablity its the Steyr though.

[jonahpach]

Incidentally, would it be legal for him to bring back those two rounds for me? Haven't asked him yet but if it does not contravene one of our arms/import laws, I'll ask him to bring them back.

If he strung it on a chain and wore around his neck as a 'talisman' (luckycharm) I dont see why not.

Jonah

[Grumpy]

I can`t see any problem Dodger - `spent` bullets are just scrap metal. If it comes to that, a bullet is just a lump of metal, as is an empty case.

[Sakobav]

Like Jonahs recommendation better

[z375]

Mack The Knife,

Those projectiles cores are prolly depleted uranium, bloody tought stuff solely used in armor-piercing ammo, then again I could be mistaken, could be tungsten too

jus my 0.02c


Zubin

[mundaire]

Mack The Knife,

Those projectiles cores are prolly depleted uranium, bloody tought stuff solely used in armor-piercing ammo, then again I could be mistaken, could be tungsten too

jus my 0.02c


Zubin

Is depleted Uranium used in small arms munitions as well? Thought that sort of stuff was restricted to cannon shells...

And Zubin - belated birthday wishes buddy, hope you had a great one!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Those projectiles cores are prolly depleted uranium, bloody tought stuff solely used in armor-piercing ammo, then again I could be mistaken, could be tungsten too.

Zubin,

You are most probably right. I was talking to my friend day before yesterday (he returned a day before that) and he did mention that these were uranium tipped.

He says he has a lot of stories to tell and pics to show (reults of .50 BMG hits on human bodies). If he and Abhijeet give me permission, I will post some here, provided I feel they are not too gross.

Mack The Knife

[Sakobav]

Belated Happy Birthday Zubin.

Mack The Knife,

I also thought only cannon shells had such bullets, mini bunker busters.

Best