[hga]

"What goes up must come down", and while that's often not such a big deal if the bullet goes at a high enough angle due to relatively low terminal velocities, a bullet that heavy (1.4 oz/29 g and on up) would do considerable damage if it hits someone.

That said, some crazy big game hunters use it for long range shots. WAY too much tissue damage for my family's tastes (as it were, what we hunt, we eat), but it is used.

[jlgreco]

I don't really know much about hunting, but I imagine such a large round might legitimately be necessary for things like bears or moose. You have a good point though, you shouldn't be firing stuff other than birdshot into the sky.

[hga]

Anti-material rounds like .50 BMG are way overkill for anything you'll find in North America, calibers in the .338/.375 range, with around 1/3 the weight and energy are probably good enough (would have to check for bear, my family's never hunted them and none are to be found in my home town). For "thick skinned" dangerous game in Africa, heavier stuff is legally required, but the energies are still quite a bit lower than .50 BGM.

Hmmm, while it gets into "destructive device" territory ($200 Federal "tax" per round and of course paperwork, which they aren't exactly required to accept), something that explodes with a fuze that sets it off way before it nears the ground is called for. You want proximity fuzing anyway ... send a microprocessor after a bundle of them wrapped in an airframe ^_^.

[stan_rogers]

Anything in the "military .30-calibre" (.308, .30-06, .303) range is good enough for bear (and moose) hunting; there's no need for exotics of any sort when you can choose the presentation, and any of that class of round will perform a humane kill (by any hunting standards) without unnecessary waste.

That said, one might want something heavier for stopping bear, but the ranges involved would suggest something more along the lines of a good 10- or 12-gauge slug than something with enough ballistic efficiency to have a kill potential more than a mile away.

[lifeformed]

True, but not thaaat large. 50BMG is meant to destroy vehicles and small structures.

[jlgreco]

Well I mean, both bears and moose are very capable of destroying vehicles too... ;)

[baddox]

You're also unlikely to hit a UAV with a rifle, unless you're given perfect conditions (e.g. a very stable hover or very low and slow flying).

[fnordfnordfnord]

Oh, you never know who might show up to hunt game like that http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/17000-linux-powered-r...

[superuser2]

Where is your moral superiority to (and right to shoot down) other people's drones if your weapon isn't "the old fashioned kind" either?

[fnordfnordfnord]

Somewhere in the vicinity of incidents like this one. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/so-thi...