Fired a Barrett (M-82)

[Griff Murphey]

I have a friend and correspondent of many years who is an Australian. He is into computer wargaming as well as military history. We all know what their gun laws are like.... Anyway I have fam-fired him on some of my guns on a previous vacation but this time he wanted to fire a Barrett M-82. I arranged through Tac Pro shooting Center for him to do this. Our range officer/instructor was Logan Loftin, a former active duty Marine NCO I know well from 3-gun. Because it was just a quick fam-fire we fired only at 300 yards, which is very short range for the .50! I got to fire the gun 6 times; I must say, it is an impressive experience. The main negative effect is the concussion from the muzzle brake, which exhausts at about a 45 degree angle on both sides. I need to go back and watch HURT LOCKER to see if the spotter is close enough to the shooter. After firing 6 rounds with my old 10X shooting coat, from prone, bipod in the dirt (mud), I felt as if I'd fired maybe twelve 12 gauges wearing a sports shirt.
I fully admit this was only the briefest of familiarizations but it was well worth doing if only to give us a glimmer of an appreciation of what this piece can do. Yee Hah! Great!
After the Barrett was put away I had him work out on my Romak "sorta-Dragunov", M-1D, and SSA M-40 replica. So, a great day on the range, many "Diiiings"!
For those of you wishing to indulge, I highly recommend Tac Pro in Mingus, Texas.

[paul v]

Don't ever fire one without ear protection, I learned the hard way. I really liked the muzzel blast, almost more than shooting it. Paul

[Griff Murphey]

Yeah; I had both of us wearing G.I. earplugs plus normal headset type ear defenders, which I stuffed with tissue.

I understand a lot of GI's in Iraq and Afghanistan are having hearing loss from firing .50's from vehicle ring mounts without proper ear protection.

[mike24d20]

1) Never wear ear plugs while on patrol. Can not hear the click of safteys beign taken off or the suttle lack of natural sounds. 2) No time durning a ambush to stop an insert plugs, might get yerself KIA or even worse your buds. 3) Ear plugs OK in the rear, but bright orange ones make a perfect target if worn outside of TA-50 gear.

[Griff Murphey]

Perfect summation of why they are impractical for gravel crunchers in combat. A vehicle gunner maybe could get away with them. You would think the military would make them in sand color. In the 60's they were caucasian skin color, in about 1970 they changed to the bright orange. For peacetime or the range, great. In combat... I agree totally - potentially fatal!

Correspondingly, when I hunt, I do not wear any hearing protection. However, I also developed tinnitus at 58, and I'm sure the few rounds I fired WITHOUT ear protection did not help...

[TomSudz]

Griff, a vehicle gunner might not notice a "miss" if he had plugs in and not know he was being shot at until things got closer. That snap might be the only indicator of rounds going by. They do make ear plugs that are yellow on one side and green on the other (one side for ranges, the other for combat), but for the previously stated reasons they don't get used. When my wife asks why I never hear her I tell her, "Machine guns make you deaf."

[Griff Murphey]

Tom;
Thank you for your service. I am sorry about your hearing loss. My brother wears those sonic type earplugs when we hunt. Personally I do not care for them but they might be better than nothing.

Let me be clear that I have seen stuff going off at a distance when I was on the RVN evac but have never been shot AT. Frankly, the further away, the better. With that disclaimer, I will say I've pulled a lot of targets in the pits, and the supersonic crack is unmistakable. Whether earplugs could or would make a difference if they were unfriendly rounds, I cannot say; but would demure to an actual combat action vet.

Interesting how these threads change direction!

[Dan In Indiana]

Bought one of these last year, you can wear your helmet over these, hear a bug fart, but .30 caliber rifles are just a low muffle.


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