The more it slows, the more of the bullet that loses SoS until finally there is no remaining supersonic flow (which usually happens about 0.8x SoS). Somewhere about 1.2x SoS, airflow over small portions of the bullet will begin to lose SoS. Going transonic is the problem.Īs it slows, a supersonic bullet does not go subsonic all at once. Originally Posted By: ELR researcher.What is the effect - from the standpoints of accuracy and stability - of going subsonic? Even the 750 AMAX ammo that was around had the bullets seated very deep in the case in order to fit the mag. Yes, the Mk211 also goes transonic between 14 yards (out of a 29' barrel), and becomes quite unpredictable.Īnother drawback to current issue 50 systems is that the magazines are only long enough to hold the standard bullets. Is it a better anti-material platform? NO! 375) a better ELR sniper platform? Absolutely. The Army has spent tens of millions of dollars, and 10 years developing a 'match' 50 round (XM1022) that has yet been put into production. 408 CT system who believed that if it was only adopted, the military would develop all sorts of 'special' rounds for it. I had discussions with several individuals within the military who wanted the. 50 also can carry a 'payload' (M8API, Mk211), the. The 800 grain solids would have fared even better. As several have noted, the 750 AMAX bullet would have fared far better in a comparison. At least as far as a SASR platform.ĭefinitely an apples to oranges comparison. This was the rationale CT used to try to get the military to switch from. The 408 isn't really as far ahead as they would make it seem. You'll also see tran-sonic stability from that bullet as opposed to the bullet that they're pushing from the 408.Īdditionally, a really true 'apples to apples' would be to buy some of those high bc, super slippery 50cal solids, even go 1 step further and get a faster twist barrel on that 50, something with the same cals/turn to really compare it.īuilding test on that kind of basis instead of biasing towards the lower denominators on the other calibers would make a much more telling statement.

For applicability that is akin to saying 'let's see how the 22 long rifle compares to the 30-06'.Ī more applicable comparison would be just as Chiller said, stick the 50BMG in the game with a 750 Amax and you'll see that supersonic range increase to about 2200yd under those atmospheric conditions. There's really no point in comparing the 408 to M118 ammo, that's probably the best match up in terms of 'quality level' but it's a non-comparable setup in terms of shear size. The 250 Scenar has a BC that is lower than most of the high quality, long range 7mm bullets. M33 Ball ammo going subsonic at 1500yd is true, however, it's not intended to be ELR ammo, nor is it match grade at any distance. They took the lowest common denominator of ballistic performers from the various cases and compared them to the top level performer in the 408 that they're trying to market. Re: 50 BMG goes subsonic at 1500 Yards? Effect?Īs Chiller said, the comparison they did is somewhat worthless.

50 bmg subsonic rounds