We never thought about putting .50 BMG in a shotgun, for good reason!
Firearms manufacturers have probably loved the rise of the shooting YouTube channels. Mostly because these creative men and women are finding ways to abuse firearms that their designers never dared to dream about. Case in point, last year when Edwin Sarkissian stuck .50 BMG in a shotgun just to see if it would fire.
He conducted the experiment using a fixed gun and a remote trigger system of course. However, he showed that yes, a shotgun will fire a round it was never intended to shoot!
We thought that first experiment was the end of it. We should have known better. Months later, Edwin is back with a new shotgun. This time it's a nearly 100-year-old side-by-side. This time he decides to put not one, but TWO .50 BMG cartridges in the shotgun. And to make it more interesting, he tries to fire both at the same time!
Once again, let us remind everyone to NEVER try this kind of stuff at home. After all, the BMG portion of the .50's name stands for "Browning machine gun." This type of ammo was never meant to be fired from a shotgun and it shows with the way the case expanded inside the barrel. The gasses were not building up properly to force the bullet out of the case and down the barrel at the speeds it would leave the gun in a proper rifle.
Still, it is fascinating that this type of experiment works at all. It's pure coincidence that a .50 BMG even fits into the chamber for a shotgun. However, the basic principles of firearms design still allows it to fire. The most amazing part of this experiment today was the tracer that was still burning on the ground. A further indication the round wasn't working as it should.
Even though the .50 BMG is obviously not leaving the barrel at the 3,000 feet per second speeds it is known for, we still don't want to stand in front of this thing when it goes off. It does make us wonder what John Browning himself would have thought had he lived to see the unique ways people have shot one of his greatest inventions.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
NEXT: THE 5 BEST HOME DEFENSE SHOTGUNS
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