DEPARTMENTS / SNIPER By Mark Lang Police sniper with his Barrett M82 .50-caliber rifle. (Photo courtesy of Andre Dall’au) or too long, the .50-caliber rifle, or end, and it is finding its niche in law law enforcement. This incident involved F“Light Fifty,” has lived a meager enforcement. The .50-caliber rifle has a lone gunman driving an armored and secretive existence in the equipment emerged as a justifiable means to an van. The suspect drove to Dallas Police rooms of many SWAT teams around end at SWAT operations present and Headquarters, placed an IED in the visi- the country. Sitting in a hard case those yet to come. tor’s parking lot and opened fire on the with only a box of ball rounds to its front entrance. As responding Dallas name, many operators have forgotten THE SUCCESSFUL USE OF A officers arrived, the suspect began to they even have the rifle. Whether the .50-CALIBER fire his 7.62x39mm semi-automatic weapon was seized, donated or pur- rifle at them through shooting ports on June 13, 2015, is a significant date, chased, the SWAT .50-caliber has gone the van. After a freeway pursuit and a neglected and under-deployed for years. because it was the first use of a .50-cal second rifle fight between the suspect Immediately recognizable as the largest by a SWAT team to interdict a suspect and pursuing officers, the suspect was caliber weapon system by virtue of its held up in an armored vehicle. There subsequently stopped several hours bold stature and design, it is finally have been several uses of the .50-cal to later by a Dallas police sniper utilizing carving out a definitive place on the defeat vehicles by various SWAT teams a .50-caliber Barrett M82A1 semi-auto- use-of-force spectrum for SWAT teams. in the past, but this incident in Dallas matic rifle. The exhaustive hyperbole of this black was the first intentional firing at a hu- There is much more to this inci- ops or military-only rifle is finally at an man being to stop his actions in civilian dent, but the focus of this article is 64 TE/SPRING 2017 to illustrate how the .50-cal rifle was utilized to bring the safe resolution of this incident. Dallas SWAT established a .50-cal Establishing a .50-caliber program requires everyone involved program in 2005, some 10 years be- to see what is on the horizon; instead of being reactive, be fore this incident. The gunman in this proactive and get ahead of what is going to occur in our coun- case was driving a 1995 Ford Econo- try. It has been said by many that what is occurring overseas line 350 that had been up-armored will happen in the states. Some of this has already begun. as a cash-and-carry van. The vehicle subsequently made its way into other uses as it changed hands throughout the years. Purchased off eBay days before the planned attack and adver- It has been said by many that what is about the rifle itself and its terminal tised as a “zombie apocalypse” vehicle, occurring overseas will happen in the capabilities, but also the different it had six shooting ports on three sides states. Some of this has already begun. areas in which the rifle could be used of the vehicle. The front windshield One only has to look to the Dallas in operational deployments. Because was seven layers in composition and incident for justification. A mistake law enforcement then had little to no nearly an inch thick. The relative ease is believing this only occurs in major deployment and operational use of of purchase of this vehicle should be metropolitan areas, and thus only full- .50-caliber by SWAT teams, the mil- troubling to all in law enforcement. time SWAT teams need to have this itary was leaned on heavily for much capability. The suspect in Dallas was of the formal training and information Due to the totality of circumstances not ISIL, al-Qaeda or Hezbollah. He regarding its use and deployment. of the gunman’s actions, including two was a white American male whose son separate rifle fights and homemade had been removed from his custody explosives inside the van, Dallas SWAT BOLT ACTION OR SEMI-AUTO by a family court judge and award- immediately deployed two .50-cal rifles There exist pros and cons between ed to his mother. The Dallas Police at the scene. The previous 10 years the two. Bolt action .50s tend to be Department had no involvement in of training for these police snipers, a little more accurate out of the box. any part of this case, yet was targeted. coupled with multiple mission-specific The biggest disadvantage of a bolt rifle A well-laid-out presentation should .50-cal rounds, allowed for the safe be the starting point of justification is the follow-up shot. When interdict- resolution of this incident. to the chain of command. Some in the ing a hard, static or moving target, command structure may envision the follow-up shots must be trained and BEGINNING A .50-CAL PROGRAM “Ma Deuce” .50-caliber machine gun planned for. Even with the powerful Acquiring a .50-caliber rifle and mounted atop a Humvee that has been kinetic energy that is being brought to starting a program usually begins with seen on television and in the movies. It bear on the target, one round may not the police sniper on the SWAT team. will be the police sniper’s task to break be enough to disable an engine or stop The .50-caliber falls under the police down walls of misinformation and a threat. Due to the larger bolt, locking sniper umbrella and is a specialty rifle educate all those concerned. lugs and chassis, more is involved with that has certain capabilities that the rechambering a second round. This traditional .308-caliber does not. The THE DALLAS PROGRAM translates into more time to fire the sec- police sniper can be the driving force ond or third round if needed. Semi-auto In 2005, the Dallas SWAT team .50s tend to be not as accurate out of the behind convincing the chain of com- acquired two Barrett M82A1 rifles and mand of the justification for this hard box as bolt .50s. The industry standard began their .50-caliber program. The for a precision rifle is one that is capa- target weapon even if an incident has program consisted of formal training, ble of one minute of angle accuracy (1 not occurred in the agency’s particular sustainment training and qualification. MOA). In layman’s terms, the rifle can area. Due to the way many in the com- Formal training was received under the consistently group one inch or better at mand structure likely view this type of direction of Master Sgt. Neil Mor- 100 yards. There are .50-calibers that rifle, they may need some convincing. ris (USMC Ret.). Morris introduced can achieve this standard with quality Establishing a .50-caliber program the Barrett M82, 95 and 99 rifles to rounds. One must remember that the requires everyone involved to see what the police snipers. At that time, the .50-caliber does not necessarily need to is on the horizon; instead of being thought of a SWAT team having this meet the precision rifle definition to be reactive, be proactive and get ahead of weapon and capability was not com- an effective option. what is going to occur in our country. monplace. Not only did Morris teach ntoa.org 65 DEPARTMENTS / SNIPER KINETIC ENERGY armor, multiple layers of mild steel, or must develop new techniques, tactics Kinetic energy is often overlooked substantial brick, concrete and other and procedures (TTPs) to deal with and not understood as it relates to the materials that may give hard cover these incidents safely. One potential .50-caliber’s capability on a hard target. to potential suspects. In comparison, use of the .50-caliber is the disruption Kinetic energy is the striking energy a .338 Lapua 285-grain round at the of homemade explosives. In a situation that is delivered by the projectile once muzzle exits with approximate 5,000 ft/ where a suspect is claiming to have sub- it impacts the target. This is one of the lbs of energy. A .308 155-grain A-MAX stantial net weight of explosives, either most important reasons to be .50-cali- round exits with 2,300 ft/lbs of energy. in a structure or mobile setting, with ber-capable. Kinetic energy is measured Once the .50-caliber projectile travels no other option to mitigate, thought in foot pounds (ft/lbs). An example of down range, it rapidly burns off kinetic should be given to utilizing the .50-cal- this is as follows: A typical .50-caliber energy by means of sound and heat. iber with mission-specific rounds to armor piercing (AP) 700-grain round at The amount of energy that the .50-cal- disrupt the explosives and minimize any the muzzle (29-inch barrel) delivers ap- iber begins with is substantial when risk to public safety and SWAT team proximately 13,000 ft/lbs of energy. If compared to its nearest competitor, the members. This is definitely outside-the- you had a 13,000-pound block of con- .338 Lapua. box thinking, but these days, with team crete and the rifle was aimed straight members in close proximity to such a up at the concrete, the projectile, once IED MITIGATION potentially large explosive device, big thinking and strategies are called for.