Barrett Firearms recently provided us with a commercial M82A1 for testing. The rifle came in an olive green Pelican holster with two 10-round magazines. We had the opportunity to fire it, from a machine mount with an IMI-loaded M33 FMJ bullet equivalent, under the direction of S / Sgt Aman, an armorer of the Weapons Training Battalion USMC in Quantico.
Our results shooting at targets from 300 yards. they are shown in the attached table. Accuracy results aren’t as good as the bolt-action BMG .50s we’ve tested in the past, including Barrett’s M99, but they were fired with quality cartridges loaded with hollow point bullets. The results, however, are better than the military standard of 4 m.a.
Later, in our own test range, we pulled the Barrett M82A1 off the bench. The pistol behaved well and did not scratch either the cheek or the shooting hand.
The recoil pad had a lot of spin to absorb recoil force and was a bit sticky like neoprene so it wouldn’t slip out of the shoulder pocket. The oft-cited comparison to firing a 12-caliber. The shotgun is pretty accurate in recoil, but when the trigger is pulled the noise and shock wave coming back from the muzzle reminds the shooter of the enormous energy going down. The explosion of the muzzle brake attests to its effectiveness, and after firing more than 70 shots, it neither loosened nor missed. Observers should stand directly behind the shooter and the firing line should be clear of other shooters as the noise and explosion are directed at angles of approximately 45 degrees towards the firing line. To paraphrase what the movie character Ferris Bueller said about a Ferarri, if you can afford it, shooting the M82A1 is an experience not to be missed.
