BIG BORES... NOT BORING

There are big guns, and then there are big guns.  The former usually typifies those various forms of reasonably large magnum-calibre guns; Rem Mags, Ultra Mags, Super Short Mags, and even occasionally Norma Mags, and we say "reasonably large" in the literal sense; these are calibers that in some way can be reasonably justified to a critical hunting buddy or significant other. The latter, on the other hand, well...

Bushmaster BA50

30 pounds of sensory overload, rendered in high grade carbon steel and aluminium, that's the Bushmaster BA50 in a very large, very heavy nutshell. Having originally been concocted by a company by the name of Cobb Manufacturing, who billed the gigantic rifle as the FA50(T), or Fast Action 50 Target, the Bushmaster BA50 represents the ultimate evolution of the original Cobb design, and is one of a handful of rifles available in Canada capable of firing the colossally large .50 Browning round.

Design

In fact, the .50 BMG round, and the BA50 that fires it are both so colossally large that communicating precisely how big they both are isn't a task that's easily handled. Sure, we could tell you the raw specifications and figures, such as the rifle's overall length of almost five feet, or it's loaded weight that's somewhere north of 33 pounds, but somehow those raw numbers don't quite seem to do this gun justice. It's just too big to grasp in such a manner. So consider this: from buttpad to the tip of its brick-sized muzzle brake, the BA50 is roughly as long as an older Ford Ranger is wide. And its weight? Unloaded, and without an optic, it tips the scales with about the same weight as the average cinder block. Hell, a loaded 10 round magazine tips the scales at 3.3 pounds alone; as much as almost three dozen doughnuts from Tim Hortons. But when you're firing rounds that are larger than a highlighter marker, assembling a gun that weighs over 35 pounds fully kitted out gives you a certain sense of security. After all, we're talking about something that's going to launch a 660-grain (continuing with our weight analogies, 660 grains is ironically almost exactly 1.5 ounces, or one single shot of liquor) projectile out of a barrel at near as makes no difference to 3,000 feet per second. Having a cinder block of steel sitting between you and that explosive event that generates 13,688 foot-pounds of energy is, in a word, comforting.

And if the pure size of the BA50 isn't comforting enough, the shape that much of that weight takes should be. Because while smaller caliber rifles typically center much of their engineering around the design and manufacture of a solid and true action, big bore rifles such as the BA50 see a lot of that effort get re-directed toward the creation of ever-more effective muzzle devices, as the importance of taming recoil on rounds such as .50 BMG takes precedence for obvious reasons. And the muzzle device that lives on the end of the Bushmaster's huge barrel is something else. Although at first glance it may appear overly large and brick-like, closer examination reveals that it's actually closer to sculpture than masonry, with three distinct chambers divided by artfully curved gills, all carefully engineered to capture and harness as much the escaping gases as possible to mitigate recoil. And trust us, it works.

Moving after from there, the BA50's free-floated Lothar Walther-produced barrel is supported by a very stout and simple bipod that's affixed to a stud on the bottom of the barrel shroud/heat/hand guard. Obviously required to support the heavy fore end, the bipod can be deployed either forward, downward, or aft, but is not adjustable for height; undoubtedly due to the massive weight it must support. Above it, the fore end incorporates an integral M1913 Picatinny rail at the 12 o'clock position, in line with the accompanying rail atop the upper receiver in order to allow the mounting of night optics in line with conventional scopes.

But if the muzzle brake is the BA50's most appreciated asset, its most underappreciated has to be its action, because hidden away inside that literally monolithic-looking upper receiver is the key to what earned this rifle the "Fast Action 50" name it once bore. Because the majority of large bolt action rifles utilize scaled-up and modified versions of conventional bolt action designs, they typically utilize single-piece or similar bolt designs in which the bolt handle rotates both the bolt body and head into position as one, just as you'd find on a Remington, Savage, Winchester or just about any other traditional bolt action rifle. However, the downside to this design is that moving such a large bolt body as the .50 BMG round requires to feed and chamber correctly can mean a lot of drag on the action, especially when it comes times to peel a massive torpedo out of the magazine and lift it into the chamber. The BA50's designers rectified this by basing their rifle's design around something that's more akin to a manually-actuated semi-automatic style of bolt design, in which a rotating bolt head has been fitted into a bolt carrier that does not rotate. This allows tighter tolerances between the bolt carrier and receiver than would typically be allowable, and has also allowed the engineers to fit a series of ball bearings to both the bolt carrier and head to further smoothen the action. With two ball bearing races atop the bolt to reduce torsional play, and another affixed to a stud that comes off the bolt head itself, they make for a butter smooth action that literally rides on rails. It also reduces the amount of wear the hardened bolt imparts upon the extruded aluminium of the upper receiver.

Fit and Finish

If anyone were to ask you what the term "form following function" meant you could do worse to explain it than to simply point at a BA50. Because while every bit and bob required for its operation may be well fitted and handily made, there are not many that would call it pretty. It may certainly overwhelm with its comical sense of scale, but it does not impress with a myriad of softened corners, pretty finishes, or artfully machined complexities. The finish, for example, is standard military grade hard anodizing the aluminium components and manganese phosphate on the steel. The magazines, although being perhaps the most giggle-inducing of the gun's components due to their raw size, resemble giant versions of your average stamped USGI STANAG magazine. In fact, just about the only luxuries the BA50 provides are two-fold: the aforementioned artfully made muzzle brake, and that super-slick, low-friction bolt assembly. Now, this may sound crazy, given the BA50's $5700 price point. However, considering that the magazine-fed BA50 occupies a price point in the Canadian market that's otherwise populated by single-shot bolt action rifles sporting far less impressive actions, it is hard to begrudge the BA50 its workhorse aesthetic when so much effort has been put into its function.

Operation

And all that effort certainly hasn't been for naught. Sliding behind the massive BA50 is a daunting task for the uninitiated; if it's a big gun to assemble, pick up, and put down, it's an even bigger gun to shoulder. And sitting behind this massive lump of metal, throwing the left-handed bolt through it's over 6 inches of travel to chamber the absolute largest round you will find on any gun store's shelves, you become abundantly aware of the gravity of the situation. And not surprisingly, it has exactly the effect you'd expect it to. But after all the nerves have settled and you've successfully (and nervously) fired off your first shot, you realize it was all for naught because the Bushmaster BA50 kicks about as hard as the .243 Winchester they advertise it does. Now, undoubtedly that claim sounds like the multitudes of similar claims  firearm enthusiasts have heard on every occasion, but as an independent party that is no overly large fan of recoil, we can say with 100% honesty that in the case of the BA50 it's entirely true. And if you've not shot a .243 Winchester, we'd say that the nearest alternative approximation of the BA50's recoil we can think of would be a snappy but light high velocity 12 gauge target load. It's that light.

In fact, the big Bushy's recoil was light enough that we managed to put over 40 rounds through it in just a few hours without even the slightest hint of soreness, and we undoubtedly owe much of that to the gun's highly efficient and huge muzzle brake. However, that same piece of equipment that makes the BA50 downright pleasant to shoot also makes it apocalyptically loud to everyone but the shooter, and doubling up on the hearing protection is certainly recommended. As is avoiding any sort of ranges with nearby walls, because you definitely do not want to hear this gun's report reverberating off anything.

After it has blown all the leaves and dust around your firing position into the atmosphere for the first time with its muzzle brake, the Bushmaster's other excellent design feature, that cool bolt carrier, comes into play. And until you try using a bolt to shuck a .50 BMG round out of a magazine and into a chamber, it's hard to appreciate exactly how important a smooth, friction-free bolt assembly is. Because those big .50 BMG rounds are both long, and heavy, which means they offer up more resistance when being pushed out of a magazine than a smaller round. Also, it means they have to cover a lot more distance to go from the magazine, up the feed path, and into the chamber.

Performance

But for all the sound and fury it unleashes upon the world at the firing line, what it does at the firing line is nothing compared to what happens down range. Those big 660 grain rounds hit with apocalyptic force, and the BA50 itself makes scoring those hits absurdly easy. In fact, while our groupings typically hovered around the 1.5 MOA mark, we have no doubt that a bit more practice and handloads would easily render groups under 1 MOA at any distance. Why? Well, obviously a solid action and that big Lothar Walther barrel play a mechanical role, but the pure mass of the BA50 can't be discounted: the gun's so heavy that once you've obtained that elusive solid shooting position, its mass cancels out much of the small movements of your hands and shoulder impart significantly less movement to the gun than they would on something smaller.

If only it was easier to get behind. Shooting it on crown land out of necessity, and a desire to waylay the onset of tinnitus, and shooting the rifle from the prescribed prone position (you can't shoot it any other way realistically) we found the solid bipod to be a particularly frustrating. After even a single shot, the combination of the recoil and the muzzle blast would shift the gun and ground cover so the bipod's ski feet would sink into any loose ground, and repeated shots without first digging them out just exacerbated the issue. This obviously makes it hard to obtain a repeatable shooting position. Also, the lack of adjustment in the tall bipod meant the muzzle always seemed too high, which in turn forced us to orient the gun uncomfortably downward to hit level targets.

But, for the issues we had with that bipod, we'd certainly recommend everyone shoot a BA50 at least once in their life, and in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." It'll leave you both awe-struck, dumbfounded, and giggling all at the same time in much the same way that first exploding pop can did when you plugged it for the first time with a .22. And just like that first time with a .22, you'll definitely never forget the first time you pull the trigger on one of these.

Barrett MRAD

When it comes to putting really, really big holes in objects really, really far away, few brands can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of one brand: Barrett. Having built a 30-year reputation on the back of its wildly popular and exceedingly well-loved M82 (or M107 as American military members know it) .50-calibre semi-automatic rifle, Barrett firearms has more experience with large-bore precision rifles than any other manufacturer, having delivered and maintained an armoury of thousands of M107s to American theatres of operation over the past 30 years. But their latest effort, the MRAD, is something entirely different.

Design

Although officially the brainchild of Chris Barrett, the son of the firm's founder Ronnie Barrett, the MRAD owes the majority of its design to one of Ronnie's older designs: the Model 98 Bravo or M98B. Originally created in 1998 with the aim of pairing the power of the .338 Lapua Magnum round with an innovative action specifically created for long-range, precision and tactical work, the M98B's action proved capable of excellent accuracy, but the unitized construction precluded much of the modularity and portability many owners and operators of such rifles were already beginning to look for in a modern tactical rifle. Unsurprisingly, this need led to the creation of the MRAD, or Multi-Role Adaptive Design rifle.

The basis for the MRAD remains the M98B's unique action. Designed to operate with less lubricant in dirtier conditions than other bolt-action rifles, many of the action's unique features are centred around keeping the bolt clean and stiction-free. The most obvious of these is the full-length upper receiver that houses the entirety of the long and beefy bolt assembly throughout its entire throw. Inside, the bolt body itself is shrouded in a sort of polymer tube that serves as a sort of dust cover when the bolt is closed and provides an added degree of lubricity, sealing off the action from the incursion of dust and dirt and keeping the bolt travel slick and smooth.

Ahead of that, a positively massive bolt head bearing 9 (9!) locking lugs arrayed around the bolt face in a trio of gill-style lug arrangements locks into the barrel with the security and strength of a bank vault. And the barrel itself isn't anything to sneeze at. With three match-grade barrels to choose from with lengths available including 20, 24, and 26 inches, the difference in weight between the 20" and 26" barrels is over 1.25 pounds; that's how heavy the barrel's profile is. All three boast the same tighter-than-average 1-in-9.25" twist rate though and the same high efficiency two gilled muzzle brake at the business end.

But while it may look pretty, if conventional, the MRAD's barrel is probably its biggest feature. As the key component in the "Multi-Role" portion of the MRAD's name, the barrel is secured to the upper receiver by a pair of T30 Torx bolts that pass horizontally through notches machined into the lower portion of the barrel. Simply remove the bolts, and the barrel can be pulled free from the receiver by hand, allowing easy replacement in literally seconds. And since the aforementioned bank vault of a bolt head is attached to the bolt body by a single pin, the MRAD could be hypothetically converted from .338 Lapua Magnum to .300 Winchester Magnum or .308 Winchester in mere minutes... we say hypothetically, however, as neither the .300 Winchester Magnum nor .308 Winchester barrels and bolt heads have made it to either US or Canadian markets as yet.

Surrounding all this is the MRAD's various furniture components; a mix of conventional rails, shrouds, and service rifle-style components spiced up with a few interesting features. Of particular note is the MRAD's other big departure from the M98B's design: the folding stock. Constructed of billet aluminium and incorporating adjustments to allow for perfect tailoring of both cheek weld and length of pull, it is completely solid when extended and handily uses a friction fit over the bolt handle to lock into its folded position.  It is also attached directly in line with the bolt and barrel, meaning recoil impulses are directed straight back, rather than rearward and upward. Also, the monolithic-style upper receiver sports a 12.75" long top rail that's privy to a 30 MOA taper front to back; essentially pointing optics slightly downward in order to afford a greater degree of elevation adjustment on longer shots.

Least surprising is the MRAD's AR-15-inspired pistol grip and fire control ergonomics, all of which is housed and accessed by splitting the upper and lower receivers in much the same way as one would an AR-15; simply pop the rear takedown pin and fold. The 60 degree safety switch can be swapped from left to right for some degree of ambidexterity, and the paddle-style magazine release is both large and equally accessible from both sides, so with the exception of the bolt handle and ejection port, the MRAD's not entirely lefty unfriendly. Also, it's worth noting that the modular trigger group can be popped out of the lower receiver and adjusted to better suit the operator's tastes, but we'll leave our discussion of that trigger for later.

Fit and Finish

Now, while some would consider the Barrett's design interesting if not entirely intriguing, there can be no such debate about the quality with which that design has been rendered. From stem to absolute stern, there isn't a component, surface, or assembly within the MRAD that doesn't simply ooze quality. We've tried to capture that essence in our photos for we fear that words alone may not be quite capable of capturing the unerring standard to which it's plainly been manufactured. But while the pictures demonstrate the degree of uniformity and care that's gone into the MRAD's design and manufacture, what they do not communicate is the tactile sensations that drip off every square inch of the baby Barrett. The safety, for example, traverses exactly the amount of throw you want it to, and not one degree further. The barrel shroud, with all those carefully chamfered edges milled off it, fits the hand comfortably, and makes cradling the admittedly hefty fore end as pleasant as you could ever want it to be. And the folding stock? There are guns out there with actual actions that don't lock up as tightly.

Operation

So, after heaping hyperbole upon the not inexpensive Barrett's completely predictable level of quality, what's it like to shoot? Well, if we might once more wax poetical; it's an absolute dream. From loading the big 10-round double stack resin magazines to chambering rounds, each and every task required to get this Barrett barking is about as good as you can imagine a bolt gun ever being. The magazine, for example, is nice and wide, which in turn allows Barrett to run a wider staggered column of rounds when loaded. As a result, the magazine can be physically shorter, making the gun easier to load in the prone position. But the real treat is what happens after you've got a magazine seated.

Because it's then that you get to cycle the MRAD's action. Admittedly, we happen to be of the opinion that shrouding the bolt body in Gaston Glock's favourite material and further encasing the entire bolt travel in aluminium may be a bit excessive insofar as engendering cleanliness goes, but we cannot deny that it definitely has had some positive effect on the bolt throw. Due to the combination of the gun's exacting tolerances, the comparatively massive bearing surface provided by the huge polymer shroud, and the fact that the bolt remains supported by the receiver throughout its travel, the MRAD's bolt is the absolute smoothest bolt action you will ever find from a large scale manufacturer, and it glides fore and aft with less friction and almost none of the bolt droop and tilt you get from conventional bolt action rifles.

Which bring us to the aforementioned trigger. Imagine breaking a glass toothpick with your index finger and you've got a pretty good approximation of the MRAD's trigger. Factory set at 2-2.5 pounds, ours was on the lightest side of that scale, and felt even lighter thanks to the wide blade and good ergonomics. And while further adjustment to both pull weight and overtravel can be made with a 1/16th-inch allen wrench, anyone would be well served with the factory setting. In fact, just about the only thing that the MRAD could benefit from would be a new pistol grip equipped with a palm rest to really allow its owner to take better advantage of that great trigger.

Performance

After 1,367 words expounding the virtues of the Barrett MRAD, we can honestly say that while its $6,300 price tag represents a serious investment, the performance it provides and the groups it shoots stand as evidence that it is not egregiously priced. Shooting 300-grain Lapua Scenar loads into 3/4 MOA territory and 285 grain Hornady match into roughly 1 MOA, the MRAD isn't just accurate, it's boringly accurate. Just slide the crosshairs over any target this side of 300 yards, breath, and squeeze. Even relatively new shooters had no trouble picking small crabapples apart at 200 yards with the MRAD, and the highly effective muzzle brake tamed recoil down to a level that was more akin to what you'd experience from a conventional hunting rifle firing .223. We aren't entirely sure if that's a good thing though; all-day comfort behind a gun firing rounds that ring in at $7.50 might be fun, but the credit card bill you may be rewarded with might hurt more than any recoil ever could!

And it's not entirely perfect. Almost 15 pounds before optics, bipod, and other accessories, it's not an overly light gun and for that reason alone probably won't find itself being packed out to too many hunting camps. Replacement barrels and bolt heads to complete caliber changeovers were slated to begin production in early 2013, and seem to exist on a plane of existence between vapourware and unobtanium, rendering one of the largest key features separating the MRAD from its $1,000 cheaper forebear (the M98B) relatively useless. And while we're whining, although the bolt sleeve and upper receiver definitely make for a faster and smoother action than a conventional bolt action, we couldn't help but wonder why the MRAD's folding stock wasn't somehow used to retain the bolt rather than closing off the rear of the upper receiver. That would at least allow the removal of the bolt without cracking the upper and lower loose from one another. But like we said, that's really just whining; it does work fine the way it is.

So, is the MRAD worthy of its admittedly colossal price tag? Yes and no. Unlike the Bushmaster, which provides validation for its similarly gargantuan price tag with a commensurately large dimensions and raw material, the Barrett's value is in the attention to detail that's obviously gone into its creation. And there is very real value there. But Barrett needs to provide MRAD owners with the barrels and bolt heads required make those most out of the rifle's keynote feature, because until then it remains for all intents and purposes a brown Model 98 Bravo equipped with a folding stock and a $1,000 steeper price tag.