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It must be comforting to know that, in consideration for the law, crooks and gangsters would not use one against a person.

Originally posted by Thomas D Curry
Actually .50 cals are outlawed against the use of personnel only against equipment. So I shoot at weapons, steel pots, web gear etc. Of course they were outlawed after either WWII or Korea not sure. Not that it stoppped them from being used in Vietnam

If you are sitting in your tank behind your m2 and you see a man with a rpg about to fire are you are you going to spray him or reach for your side arm?

Well since I would be sitting in an Abrams MBT I think I would give the command driver, tracks, infantry as an RPG would just mar the paint job and piss off the crew.

I always use MG42's in my defensive mission (as long as I'm playing as Germans, of course). In every German campaign I've played, the MG42's have later become such powerful toys that I can almost totally count on them on taking out the enemy infantry. More experienced crews easily score 3-5, even 8 (!) casualties on a single shot.

MG42's rate of fire was 1200 rpm, and the design itself has been slavishly copied. Nowadays, almost every MG in service is more or less a modified MG42.

Originally posted by Thomas D Curry
Actually .50 cals are outlawed against the use of personnel only against equipment. So I shoot at weapons, steel pots, web gear etc. Of course they were outlawed after either WWII or Korea not sure. Not that it stoppped them from being used in Vietnam

This comes up from time to time and as far as I know nobody has been able to quote from any official military source as to why this would be. Can you help me out Thomas being as how you are (or were) in the Army?

I didn't think Vietnam was a war, therefore the Geneva convention didn't apply.

Same thing that goes for Cops and SWAT teams using Hollow Point bullets at Criminals, even though you can't do it in war, as far as I know, you can in those cases.

I tried to dig up some info on the Web concerning the Geneva convention and MG's... the only thing I find is mostly with the IV Geneva convention, stating how civilians shall be treated during a conflict. (and, not surprisingly, turned up a buttload of links with Israel-Palestinian subject). Seems you can't use MG's on civilians. :p

Also tried to search for .50 cal in combination with 'prohibit'. That only resulted in a lot of pro-gun NRA-style sites. :rolleyes:

Also tried to see wether it's mentioned in the Army Regulations on Firearms, but couldn't find anything of interest. UN.org or army.mil would be the sites to find info like this, though.

The previous consensus was that this is an urban myth.

It's ok to drop a 155 howitzer round on somebody's head but shooting them with a .50 cal is somehow beyond cruel?

Well for whoever asked me about fift cals being outlawed for use against people. I will stated this I am using memories from 20 or more years ago so here is what I remeber. SSG Fuller was telling me how a .50 Cal could take out a BMP or other lightly armed vehicles at ranges of 800 to 1,000 yards. He also told me that it was also against the geneva convention for a .50 Cal to be used against personnel so I will shoot at there web gear rigles etc.
An SFC Davis told me just about the same story with an addition that is also against the geneva convention to use WP against personnel so god help them if they have a jeep. i in my meager spare time will try and do some reserach on wether these quotes are true. Dont hold me to finding them true or False.

Use of .50 against personnel is not prohibited by any treaty. It's urban legend that pops up now and then. Surprisingly many US service members report that they have been said that it is by their training sgts etc. , but there is no international treaty prohibiting it's use.
There is treaty prohibiting the use of exploding/expanding bullets against humans..but it has nothing to do with .50.

Cheers,

M.S.