The massive .50BMG rifle ammunition was developed around 1910. Its primary use was established in WWII as an anti-aircraft machine-gun round, intended to throw a lot of lead in the air fast with little concern about accuracy.
In the 1970s, precision long-range rifle shooters were looking for something that could fire with interesting accuracy at very far targets, 1000-2000 meters. They repurposed the .50BMG ammo, built large long rifles to fire it, and put it to a completely new use from its original intent. In 1980, the Barrett M82 semi-automatic rifle was created - something that the military had no interest in the development of, and which was created solely by the civilian market.
The military suddenly took notice of this hard-hitting very long range rifle that used standard military ammo, and suddenly military snipers had a new tool - thanks to civilians - to enhance US national security using this one-man gun which could take out significant targets a mile away.
Had there been a ban on civilian ownership of .50BMG guns, which some groups have been pushing for hard for decades, the M82 would never have been developed, and a lot more military targets would have been taken out with far more expensive missiles with far more collateral damage & casualties.
Actually, soldiers had been using scoped M2 HMGs as sniper rifles since Korea.[1] After Hathcock's success with one, Barrett decided to build a real sniper rifle around the cartridge.
There's a big difference between a sniper being issued a 30 pound rifle he can carry, and the mode in which Hathcock used M2s, by borrowing the use of one if it was handy (128 pounds with tripod if not mounted on a vehicle).
I agree, which is why Barrett made those rifles. My point was that the .50 BMG had been recognized by the Army as an effective long range marksman's round, to the point where they were procuring and issuing scopes for the M2, 30 years before Barrett made their first rifle.
But the military did nothing beyond procuring scopes for M2s, effectively keeping the powerful .50BMG out of snipers' hands as the M2 was a heavy crew-seved weapon (vehicle or tripod mounted), unsuitable for a lone sniper to haul for miles. Sure, Hathcock et al could make amazing shots with it, but only from where it could be little farther than driven into position. It took the civilian market to translate it to the true sniper's rifle prevalent today.
I'd add that .50 BMG is more precisely a "material destruction" round (aircraft being "material"), it's rather excessive for a human target except at very long ranges as pioneered by e.g. Carlos Hathcock in Vietnam (a serious "competitor" to Chris Kyle modulo the very different terrain etc.).
I've read that the Barrett M82 has been used a lot in explosive ordinance disposal, something for which a single aimed shot (at a very long distance) is ideal, whereas a full auto M2 would be gross overkill, not to mention not particularity man portable (30 pounds, a bit over the weight of our medium general purpose machine gun (but that also requires spare barrels and a lot of ammo), vs. 128 pounds with tripod).
The massive .50BMG rifle ammunition was developed around 1910. Its primary use was established in WWII as an anti-aircraft machine-gun round, intended to throw a lot of lead in the air fast with little concern about accuracy.
In the 1970s, precision long-range rifle shooters were looking for something that could fire with interesting accuracy at very far targets, 1000-2000 meters. They repurposed the .50BMG ammo, built large long rifles to fire it, and put it to a completely new use from its original intent. In 1980, the Barrett M82 semi-automatic rifle was created - something that the military had no interest in the development of, and which was created solely by the civilian market.
The military suddenly took notice of this hard-hitting very long range rifle that used standard military ammo, and suddenly military snipers had a new tool - thanks to civilians - to enhance US national security using this one-man gun which could take out significant targets a mile away.
Had there been a ban on civilian ownership of .50BMG guns, which some groups have been pushing for hard for decades, the M82 would never have been developed, and a lot more military targets would have been taken out with far more expensive missiles with far more collateral damage & casualties.