Elmarnieh wrote:
I could make a 50 cal round out of chalk or compressed graphite and get a frangible round. 50bmg is an anti-material caliber sure but the type of ammunition one fires from it is also going to play a huge impact. A 50bmg with a nerf bullet is going to go about 100 yards or just explode in a ball of fuzz and sound.
Or you could use any one of a number of .50 caliber rounds already available. I doubt your chalk round could survive the stress of being fired.
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A helicopter is much easier to hit than aircraft
A helicopter IS an aircraft.
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and in Mogadishu the primary weapon of choice by our opposition was the AK-47 (as we both know not known for accuracy) and RPG's in a three dimensional space aren't going to be very effective either. That being said yes the helicopter would likely need to be moving slowly or hovering and someone would have to have the rifle and ammo out or very nearby but hitting a helicopter even at 500 yards isn't going to be a feat for someone who is practiced with that kind of weaponry (and .50 isn't small arms its two steps above the beginning of anti-material .338 lapua and .416 being the ones before).
Hitting the helicopter
somewhere at 500 yards is going to be of at least moderate difficulty for an average marksman. However, just getting a hit will not kill a helicopter. You need to hit something vital, and that's orders of magnitude more difficult, especially since not all vulnerable areas are visibile from all directions, especially from below.
As for the AK-47 not being known for accuracy, it really didn't matter in Mogadishu because Somalis are even less known for accuracy. Volume, however, has an accuracy all its own. Even with that volume, however, they didn't have all that much success.
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That being said, any decent hit from a .50 bmg with AP incendiary would bring one down.
No, any "decent hit", as in hit to come critical area, has a good chance of bringing one down. Getting that hit, however, is nowhere near as easy as you're pretending. Again, before it even becomes a question of marksmanship there has to be someone there with a rifle to take the shot and the helicopter has to come within range and then sit nice and still.
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If our government isn't going to act to perform its responsibility to keep out foreign invaders than I suppose there is only one option left - that of the people.
So you're in favor of expensive combat air patrols to keep out the occasional Mexican helicopter that.. actually didn't do anything?
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And everyone it isn't my "unorganized militia" it is both "our unorganized militia" and "the unorganized militia".
No, it's pretty much yours. The unorganized militia that really exists doesn't ahve people with .50 caliber sniper rifles sitting around waiting for Mexican helicopters.
Helicopters are not that easy to shoot down, although much easier than jets. If it were a trivial feat, there would not be man-portable SAMs nor would anyone bother with military helicopters.