My Gun Room Takes Shape

[MT2008]

Congrats on both the house and the gun room, Nyles! I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's totally finished.

Originally Posted by Spartan198

Don't know about any other states, but I know Commiefornia's ban on big bore rifles is due to the police being afraid we gun owners are going to start shooting their helicopters out of the sky at random.

I just had deja vu. Don't you mention this every time we have a topic where the subject of big-bore rifles comes up? (and I think you've said elsewhere that the movie "S.W.A.T." is to blame)

[Spartan198]

Originally Posted by MT2008

I just had deja vu. Don't you mention this every time we have a topic where the subject of big-bore rifles comes up? (and I think you've said elsewhere that the movie "S.W.A.T." is to blame)

Probably. It's the most ridiculous reason ever to ban something. To make it even more laughable, the state had police officers on commercials lecturing about how these .50 caliber "assault rifle" rounds can punch through a car door, while conveniently leaving out the fact that even a tiny .22LR (along with a myriad of other pistol cartridges including, but not limited to, the extremely common 9mm) can do the same thing.

[funkychinaman]

Are there any recorded instances of .50 cal rifles shooting down choppers ANYWHERE? I know the CIA sent some to A-stan in the 80's to shoot down Hinds, but did it ever work? And I know insurgents had .50 cal rifles in Iraq, but I don't remember reading about any choppers being shot down by them. You have armed men with access to .50 cal rifles in A-stan, Iraq, Mexico and Colombia going against people with helicopters, and I don't recall any shootdowns. Am I missing something?

[funkychinaman]

So back to the collection: do you actually shoot the PTRD?

[Spartan198]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

Are there any recorded instances of .50 cal rifles shooting down choppers ANYWHERE? I know the CIA sent some to A-stan in the 80's to shoot down Hinds, but did it ever work? And I know insurgents had .50 cal rifles in Iraq, but I don't remember reading about any choppers being shot down by them. You have armed men with access to .50 cal rifles in A-stan, Iraq, Mexico and Colombia going against people with helicopters, and I don't recall any shootdowns. Am I missing something?

No recorded shoot downs that I know of. A civilian or police helicopter isn't going to be very tolerant of holes being poked in it regardless of the caliber, but I find it doubtful that one could have an easy time downing a flying tank like a Hind or Apache with a 50. I don't know about the former's armor rating, but I know the fuselage of the latter can withstand a hit from a projectile up to 23mm.

[commando552]

Originally Posted by Spartan198

No recorded shoot downs that I know of. A civilian or police helicopter isn't going to be very tolerant of holes being poked in it regardless of the caliber, but I find it doubtful that one could have an easy time downing a flying tank like a Hind or Apache with a 50. I don't know about the former's armor rating, but I know the fuselage of the latter can withstand a hit from a projectile up to 23mm.

I think that 23mm number only applies to the rotor blades (and possible the cockpit tub), most of the helicopter is only rated to 12.7mm, whilst I think the cockpit itself will only stand up to 7.62mm (although there are sliding boron carbide shields that can be brought forward for additional protection).

Barrett thought it was possible to shoot helicopters down with a high caliber rifle, that is the role that the M82A2 was originally designed for (hence how it is designed to be shoulder fired and as standard used a 1x red dot sight). Regardless of whether it is realistically practical, if it was to happen in a war zone insurgents wouldn't be targeting Apaches, they would be going for "soft" transport helicopters as they are coming in for a landing, potentially killing dozens of people rather than the two in an Apache.

[Nyles]

As a matter of fact, I finally shot my PTRD for the first time last month. I was using somewhat reduced charge reloads using plain lead softpoint bullets (just, you know, 14.5mm). Here's the video:



And here's what it did to 1 1/2" steel plate:

[mpe2010]

How much does 14.5mm cost?

[commando552]

Originally Posted by Nyles

As a matter of fact, I finally shot my PTRD for the first time last month. I was using somewhat reduced charge reloads using plain lead softpoint bullets (just, you know, 14.5mm).]

Were you using a reduced load because of the lead bullets? I heard that you can't use lead bullets with full loads because they fall apart, is this true? The person who told me this said he used to make his owns bullet for reloading out of solid brass that he turned down on a lathe.

[Jcordell]

Very nice Nyles. You're ready for the Zombies.