Purpose of the .50 BMG?

Now that we've had the time to play with the new guns a little, there is one question that nags my mind: What purpose do anti-material rifles serve in an infantry-based game like insurgency?

.50 BMG isn't really used against human targets in real life, given that you can take out such targets more than adequately with smaller calibers, hence the designation of being anti-material rifles, not anti-personnel.

As for use in Sandstorm; they're fun and loud as hell, but I don't see them offering any advantage over an M14 EBR or SVD in terms of lethality, as well as effectiveness of hitting targets through a single layer of wall, add to that the massive recoil, and there isn't really much reason to use the .50 BMG caliber rifles for anti-personnel purposes. Unless you intend to shoot your enemies through two or three layers of cover, at which point you'd presumably need wallhacks to even know their position behind those three layers of cover.

What do you think the role/purpose of the .50 caliber rifles is, what's the best way to use them, and what upgrades for these rifles would you like to see?

Personally, I think an explosive/incendiary-tipped bullet upgrade would be cool, and would increase the viability in use against infantry as you could deal fire or explosive splash damage.

Needless to say, that would probably run afoul of the Geneva convention, and isn't how this sort of ammo is generally used in real life scenarios, but this is a video-game after all and given the amount of killings by fire that happened in-game we already know there's no Geneva convention in the insurgency universe.

I would say the AMRs should be very good at hitting people through cover, be able to take out truck drivers and gunners with one shot, and disable the truck engine.

I've no idea how it works in game yet, haven't had a change to play with it.

I agree, they certainly have potential against trucks (possibly helos if you can actually hit one consistently with that recoil), but the vehicles aren't very prominent in the game at this point, and in use in PvP mostly function as target practice on wheels rather than as well-integrated implements of battle.

That being said, I do hope that we'll see some more emphasis on the vehicles in Sandstorm, there's potential for good stuff there.

last edited by seiden

@seiden said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

As for use in Sandstorm; they're fun and loud as hell, but I don't see them offering any advantage over an M14 EBR or SVD in terms of lethality...

They're much more consistent and are virtually always a one-shot kill. Also, getting collateral kills is disgustingly easy.

@seiden said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

Unless you intend to shoot your enemies through two or three layers of cover...

Actually, as of right now, the Mosin-Nagant supposedly has "more penetration power" than the AMRs. I'm assuming this is a bug.

@seiden said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

What do you think the role/purpose of the .50 caliber rifles is/what's the best way to use them...?

They mainly serve as an anti-vehicle role. They can take down Technicals with three shots to the engine block and the prop cars with two shots to the engine block. They're also more than capable of taking down helicopters. A good shot to either the pilot, main rotor or tail rotor will take down the chopper.

At this point, I think technicals aren't good enough any longer. The game now needs a light armored (easy to destroy with bullets when hitting weak points) vehicle to serve the same function while being more realistic. A .50 BMG bullet being stopped by a technical's windshield doesn't make much sense...

The .50s are actually used by snipers against human targets. The worlds longest shot (or at least one of them) was shot by a .50. They can easily penetrate a concrete wall or should I say blow it up (no, not thermonuclear explosion obviously but the debris acts like an explosion).
In Sandstorm where even 7.62x51 and sometimes .338 (assuming the M24 shoots that) takes 2 shots to kill (even though it shouldn't), there's indeed very much need for a .50 cal sniper.
I hate double tapping enemies that should have been dead or unconcious, so this sniper is like the holy grail for me in Insurgency. (Please don't tell me sometimes this takes 2 shots too, because I'll laugh my ass off)

EDIT:
Just seen videos of the .50 cal and I'm disappointed...
First of all a rusty ass van stops the .50 cal bullet, when irl you can shoot through 2 doors with a 9mm. Then while the bullet travels through 20 cm concrete wall it does not kill the other person behind instantly. Vehicle windscreen is apparently made of adamantium, since it takes at least 10 rounds of .50 cal before it completely breaks. Limbs do not fall off when a person is hit directly.
Also the fact that people can use the .50 cal sniper as an EBR is just a joke. Should have laughably big recoil from standing, especially while running.
Fuck sake guys fix this.
Youtube Video – [03:22..]

last edited by Sgt.Kanyo

@Sgt-Kanyo Lol yeah, there's much to be said about these rifles. I'll make a longer post later.

@Sgt-Kanyo said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

In Sandstorm where even 7.62x51 and sometimes .338 (assuming the M24 shoots that)...

Nah, the M24 just fires an armor-piercing .308 round. Now, it's better now, but it was notoriously bad back in the day.

@Sgt-Kanyo said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

I hate double tapping enemies that should have been dead or unconcious, so this sniper is like the holy grail for me in Insurgency. (Please don't tell me sometimes this takes 2 shots too, because I'll laugh my ass off)...

It's pretty much guarenteed. That being said, I've seen some ordinary objects stop enemies from dying in one shot, and I even have a clip where I shot a guy and he just tanked it, although that's probably the hitreg bug I've seen before and not the rifle failing to kill.

Also, if you shoot someone in the lower leg, foot or hand, he'll survive. Yep.

@Sgt-Kanyo said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

First of all a rusty ass van stops the .50 cal bullet...

The pen power of the M82 is kinda fucked. The Mosin supposedly has more penetration power than the M82 (660 vs 600), which I'm assuming is a bug since the in-game stats state that the M82 fires a round comparable in size to a 5.56 round.

Also, a lot of these random-ass props actually offer better ballistic protection than the standard solid walls you find in buildings.

Also also, after running some tests, it seems like it's impossible for the M82 to kill more than three people in one torso shot..

@Sgt-Kanyo said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

Also the fact that people can use the .50 cal sniper as an EBR is just a joke.

Eh, it's usable in CQB (kinda) but it's no EBR. You'd be way better off with that lmao. It does have strong recoil. Realistiaclly, it actually wouldn't have much recoil at all if it's got a good muzle brake.

@Sgt-Kanyo Well, now that the gun is on Live Servers, I'd like to make a small correction.

@MarksmanMax said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

Also, if you shoot someone in the lower leg, foot or hand, he'll survive. Yep.

Yeah, not anymore lmao. It's an instakill regardless of hit location.

Am I the only one who noticed that there's a delay with the barrett? I was at a custom server, so it is possible that they changed that, but what I noticed was whenever I tried to fire my M82 there was a noticeable delay making you miss those "precise" shots.

@Sgt-Kanyo said in Purpose of the .50 BMG?:

Am I the only one who noticed that there's a delay with the barrett? I was at a custom server, so it is possible that they changed that, but what I noticed was whenever I tried to fire my M82 there was a noticeable delay making you miss those "precise" shots.

Not sure if I mentioned it in this post, but yeah. There's a firing delay. On a Marksman weapon. Of about 0.3 seconds.

I do say, just used the .50s on hardcore coop, and they are very very useful for getting through cover when you can see the smallest sliver of someone, and I have been able to hit people through walls, just by guessing. Haven’t tried them on trucks yet but I assume they’re effective.

@Vixloi They are good for trucks. Just hit the front grate-thing and you'll blow em up in 2-4 shots.

Still, I think they should actually perform better against solid cover.