My Windrunner M96 .50BMG Arrived, now looking for place to shoot it.

uziduzit

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It finally arrived! If you never seen a Windrunner M96, This thing is pretty awesome and well worth the 5 month wait. The quality of the machining and finish is just superb. Bill at EDM arms provides the best customer service in the biz. The rifle arrived in a little briefcase size case, which I could never imagine being able to house a full size 50BMG rifle. The takedown design of this rifle is so unique that it allows the entire rifle to breaks down into a small enough package to fit in this little case.

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Bill guarantees every M96 rifle to group 1MOA which translates to a 10" or less group at 1,000 yards and a 20" group at 2,000 yards. He personally holds the current 50bmg 1000 yard record with an identical rifle scoring an amazing 5.5" group at 1,000 yards. I can't wait to shoot it, and try out the rifle with my new US optics SN3 scope. So, does anyone know where I can open this baby up? as I am pretty sure that FT. Devans is not longer open. I would like to get at least out to 800 yards if possible to sight it in.


I originally purchased a Barrett M107 and then a Barrett M82A1 which both did not impress me with their accuracy. So I contacted Barrett to see if I was doing something wrong and was informed that the Barrett was not designed to be a sniper rifle, but as a anti-material weapon. Even though the Barrett looks cool, I wasn’t going to be shooting at moving trucks in Iraq, so I decided to see if there was another rifle out there that was capable of shooting better than the 2.5MOA I was getting with the Barretts. After doing some extensive research and like Mark mentions, hearing about that 2300 yard shot made by Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong using a McMillan Tac-50 50bmg rifle (Rob actually missed the initial shot, but corrected quickly, fired again and got the kill), I spoke to several manufacturers and was most impressed with EDM Arms, as I received great customer service from the company. I was able to speak directly with the owner of the company, Bill Ritchie, who took the time and spent over an hour talking to me about different options I had. Bill has been setting world records in 50BMg long distance competitions since the 1970’s. Bill is a very knowledgeable individual and extremely friendly. He did not push his product on me and instead told me to do more research so I would be happy with my purchase. So finally, I was able to narrow my choices to three rifles: The McMillan Tac-50 which was very accurate but its lightweight made for heavy recoil; the CheyTac .408 Intervention Rifle, which actually was designed by EDM and shares 90% of all components with the M96, but the .408 is a proprietary cartridge and costs almost $10 per round. So finally, I decided on the EDM Windrunner M96 Take Down rifle in 50 BMG because of the customer service I received, the 1MOA Lifetime Guarantee, the rave reviews it got from the 50 bmg community, its takedown capability and manageable recoil. Besides, frankly I just love the way this thing looks.

Tonight I finally installed my long awaited US Optics scope on the rifle. BTW, if you are looking for superb clarity, function and a tank of a scope, the US Optics SN3 5-25x TPAL can’t be beat. This thing is a monster. Here is a pic of what the scope looks like on my rifle.


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US Optics specifically custom build each SN3 scope tailored to your individual rifle, the BDC is also calibrated specifically for the ballistic coefficient of your particular load, so there’s no guess work when doping shots at long distances. They also offer several tube sizes ranging from 30mm to 35mm and objective sizes from 44mm to 58mm to best suit the type of shooting you are going to be doing.

I would like to try out the Reading range and Woodcock Rd Range that were mentioned but ultimately, I would like to organize a trip to Montana to Bill Ritchie’s and Tom Miller’s 2000-yard range to which I was invited by Bill to come out and bring a few friends along. So anyone who is interested in stretching the legs on their 50BMG , let me know.
 
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I have been testing my Serbu at 250 yards at Quaboag Sportsmans Club in Warren, bbut I would love to launch some out there, so keep me in the loop!

Time for an NES .50BMG match !!!!!
 
Nice rifle,

There is a guy that posts about some matches that he has organized at Ft. Dix & Camp Perry that might have a good idea about the best places to shoot it. I think one of them was a .50 cal match. A lot of places don't allow them because they are tough on the targets. You might want to check out the FCSA website. They have a list of shoots. Looks like the closest one is Quantico VA.

B
 
Reading Rifle & Revolver has a 600 yard range. Harvard Sportsman's has a 300 yard range. I'm not aware of anything longer than 600 yards in MA.
 
FCSA

Thanks BPM, I went on the FCSA today and registered and was told they hold annual shoots in New Mexico at 1000 yards. The new comer rookie with the best score gets a free McMillan rifle. Thats pretty cool, will have to consider that for my next trip out west.
 
Well my USO scope is damaged so it will be a few more weeks before I go to Woodcock Rd. as I have to mail the scope back to US Optics for repair.

Jose, did you say 1000 meters with a .308? [shocked] Does it go through paper at that distance? The .308 has about 200 ft/lbs of energy left at that distance, my air rifle is more powerful than that. Also I hope you have a lot of elevation adjustment in your scope, as to get the .308 to 1000 meters you need to come up about 500 inches.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Accuracy International AW in .308 but I know its limitations. If you are going to shoot 1K consistantly, at least get a rifle in .338 Lapua
 
In the UK they typically shoot to 1200 yards with unmodified .308s. Lot's of 1000 yard shooting in the US with .308.

B
 
The scope arrived damaged, but USO were extremely receptive. They even paid for the return label to have it shipped back and fixed for free.

Like I said, it is possible to shoot 1k with a .308 just as it is possible to unscrew a bolt with a pair of channel lock pliers, however, just like in the latter, there are better tools for such work.
 
The scope arrived damaged, but USO were extremely receptive. They even paid for the return label to have it shipped back and fixed for free.

Like I said, it is possible to shoot 1k with a .308 just as it is possible to unscrew a bolt with a pair of channel lock pliers, however, just like in the latter, there are better tools for such work.

The cartridge is capable of shooting well under a minute for ten shots at that distance. In fact the .223 will shoot just as well at that distance. I'm not quite sure what you mean by work, but In the realm of thousand yard target shooting, the .308 is by far the most popular cartridge in the world.

B
 
Once again, I am not saying its not being done, what I am saying is there are better caliber choices for 1K+ distances. The only reason why .308 is so popular is because 50bmg is much more expensive to shoot. If you dont like the 50BMG, there is always .338 Lapua but its almost $8 a round as well. However, I am not talking about popularity or cost, I am talking straight ballistics.


At 1,000 meters the .338 Lapua Magnum yields 1,308 ft.-lbs. of energy and the .308 yields just 221.

The Lapua bullet drops 13 inches at 300 meters, 370 inches at 1000. The .308 bullet drop 16 inches at 300 meters and 506 inches low at 1000 meters. Thats over 40 feet of drop, why would you want to crank your dope up that far?

The .338 Lapua also drifts less than half as far as the .308's in a 10-mph wind so its more predictable at longer ranges.

You cant argue with logic!
 
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Once again, I am not saying its not being done, what I am saying is there are better caliber choices for 1K+ distances and this logic cannot be argued.

Define better. If the definition is learning marksmanship, then I would bet that the .308 is way better and more cost effective. You can probably shoot five times as much as a .50 for the same cost. If the definition is punching holes in armor plate or shooting a 2000+ yards, then the .50 is way better.

This as with most things is not zero sum. If you say it is better, you need to define what better is.

B
 
I think I have already beaten this point into the ground, but here is my last post on this topic.

I have an exceptionally accurate Feinwerkbau air rifle, which shoots great at 25 meters, I can even shoot a pretty good group at 50 meters with it. However, I am not going to use it for 200 meter shoots when I know that there’s something better out there for that distance.

My .308 Accuracy International AW rifle is a great rifle, and I love to shoot it up to 400 yards. But come on, it would take me over SIX complete revolutions of my Nightforce Scope’s elevation knob just to get the .308 even close to 1000 meters. Then I would have to calculate excessive wind drift data, wind my scope with ridiculously long come ups and windage adjustments just so I can hit the target at 1000 meters with the power of a bb gun.

Additionally, if the wind changes unexpectedly during my shot, which it often does, since it takes over 2 seconds for a .308 to reach the target at 1000 meters, the .308 would deflect off target much farther than my 50 BMG or a .338 Lapua would. Predictions of unexpected wind drift cannot be foreseen, that’s not marksmanship skills, that’s just life.

If you like lobbing rounds in with the .308 to 1000 meters, god bless you. I personally will pay the extra money and use something more powerful with a flatter trajectory.
 
Will you be fitting this out with a can? [devil]

Yep, I got an Elite Iron Alpha .50 can coming, I am just waiting for the paperwork to clear. The can adds some additional weight and bulk, but it definately cuts down on the concussion and has a stabilizing effect on the round, making it more accurate at longer distances.
 
Yep, I got an Elite Iron Alpha .50 can coming, I am just waiting for the paperwork to clear. The can adds some additional weight and bulk, but it definately cuts down on the concussion and has a stabilizing effect on the round, making it more accurate at longer distances.

Awesome rifle UZI.If you don't mind me asking,what did the entire setup run you? If you wish not to advertise you can just PM me.Thanks![smile]
 
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