So, where in the world can I buy some of this stuff bulk? Everything I can find online seems to be single cartridges for collectors.
Would it be extremely autistic to spend thousands on an anti-material rifle I could never practically use. Yes... a man can dream.
Ukraine
I've shot a 14.5 in the army (not US). At the time I didn't pay much attention but I think it was was a Geoegian gun.
I never really understood why 50 bm is the standard amr cartridge.
The bulllet itself is better in terms of ballistics and effect downrange AND can host API, APIHE rounds much better. The weight of the rifle isn't really a huge issue as most of the time you split it between the two members of the team anyway (same as the 50).
I guess it was some autism similar to the one that lead to the adoption of 5.56.
Packs a kick though.
M2s on Mars basically. There were enough of them in service and the cost to upgrade it simply isn't worth it when we have enough guns to last us into the next millennia.
It is better than the 50bmg in every way.
Cost to upgrade is a fricking meme for the US army. How many 50 cals do you think are in service? More than 1000?
The real reason is probably a combination of bureaucratic inertia and not wanting to adopt a round marked as "soviet".
Eastern countries are ordering though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM312
They spent a few million trying to find an upgrade and actually made a newer better M2 but figured an upgrade package was better. At this rate we'll be drawing dicks on Pluto with them.
Also the XM107, it’s a shame as the 25mm weapon systems had promise with all sorts of interesting payloads like airburst rounds
Do you know how big the US military is
>RWD GAY
frick you google israelites, I wont buy FF garbage.
Not to mention it just werks, we've already got the ammo plants and tooling cranking it out by the millions every day. Same reason the Russians are still holding on to 54r. It does its job fine enough.
>That captcha
My sides
It's trying to tell you to go AWD m8
so good a cartridge literally only the north koreans replaced their 12.7/50 cals with it problem with 14.5×114mm is you're not too far from 20×102 or 20x82mm in chamber pressure and overall size and for what, most vehicles are armored against 7.62 or 14.5 ap not 12.7
heck, the rifle in OP can fire both 14.5 and 20x82 but weighs twice that of an M107 not even including ammo
SOCOM switched to using a .338 MG over .50BMG for mobile(non-mounted) anti-personnel MG roles.
I would love to see the US drop .50BMG and move up to something more akin to 14.5mm or even something like 15-17mm for a true dedicated AMR/HMG caliber.
>inb4 they replace the m2 with a bigger version of the m2
>not 25x59mm
Basically nowhere. You are operating on the premise that getting a gun and Ammunition would present any serious legal hurdles, so I will assume that you are European.
For the US market 14.5mm is over the ATF's 50 cal limit, and as far as I am aware has no sporting exemption, so I think that would make the rifle and each round of ammo qualify as destructive devices, each one requiring a $200 tax stamp. That is why they are basically unobtainium here domestically, and also why no factories have tooled up to make 14.5mm for public commercial consumption. I doubt it would be profitable. So you're basically stuck with soviet/post-soviet mil surplus, and I can't help you there, sorry.
The guns are DD's in the USA, the ammo is not. Large-caliber ammo isn't automatically a DD. The ammo would only be a DD if each round contained more than 1/4oz of HE. Note not propellant, but explosive in the bullet itself.
Surp comes and goes, I remember seeing primed steel cases for about $3 each and loaded cartridges for about $10 each 20 years ago.
Yes, and Anti-material RIFLES regularly share a common caliber with a heavy machine gun for logistical reasons.
Fair enough, that was kinda my point here
Autism and inertia. The US Army has spent millions on completely moronic shit and military-industrial complex shit. It is far from a super efficient mechanism.
If you wanna shoot some nice shit go to Bulgaria or Serbia.
this
if they're ever going to phase out the 50 cal its not going to be for a new rifle, itll be for a new mg. Anti material rifles are secondary to machine guns.
There are plenty of sniper rifles in (comparatively) oddball calibers in military use, but its easy to just keep using .50 because there's a frickton of it and it works.
Hmm. For the NTW specifically, there was supposedly a factory .50 conversion for practice use. Not much info beyond that though.
Why not just use .338 Lapua?
These yuge anti-material guns may as well be single shot cap guns since immediate target re-acquisition is impossible without something similar to an artillery gun's recoil spade anchored into the ground and outriggers. You'll also scramble your brain if you fire it more than once. At that point the gun isn't mobile and requires a turret.
.338 Norma mag is what SOCOM started using
The recoil aint that bad.
The real problem and the apparent "reason" as to why everyone here has misconceptions about what the 14.5 is or isn't, is that its not an american cartridge.
This means that there is less data online, because in the countries its produced people don't make youtube videos, or are sensored or are not in english or are not allowed to fire 14.5mm rounds. No english speaking forums to discuss it either. Data on it is scarce.
The round itself is extensively used by many countries in the balkans and the middle east, as well as all the ex-soviet slav area. It is effective as frick and mass produced. The main problems are
1)Steel case (there is brass but you have to seriously underload it, to the point where there is no need to use 14.5)
2)Cost because of the above
3)Eastern manufacturing, R&D and precision (if this round existed in the US, the barrels would already be running 0.5 MOA with some Hornady match grade.
4)The API/APIHE/SLAP rounds are also designed and manufactured by eastern countries and gram for gram about half as effective as american made rounds
t. Greek SF
Welp, think its time for a Eurotrip
>unguided munitions