I’ve had four of them. BARRETT is fun for plinking or end of the world I suppose but accuracy sucks and those who disagree are liars or fools.
The McMillan I had 10 or 15 years ago rattled itself loose with every shot and kicked like an angry mule. They knew that and that’s why they made that stupid hydraulic system which has got to be one of the dumbest inventions I’ve ever seen even though it never made it to market as far as I know. One good thing about the Macmillan was the ability to run a joule trigger with bottom safety.
An ArmaLite AR 50 is the best value out there and the break is the best 50 CAL break on the market bar none. If you can find one. Which you should and put it on just about any 50 you get besides the Barrett. Only comparable option is the K&P brake. To get a decent trigger you’ll have to have a gunsmith work on it.
I have not shot an AI, but it kicks like an angry mule too, I am told. however, that could be changed by replacing the muzzle device. That’s a lot of money for a rifle however, that doesn’t do anything better, and does some things worse than my top pic.
I sold my Barrett and my TAC- 50 when I got a hold of a Desert Tech HTI after shooting one in the Utah desert with a Desert Tech employee 10 years ago. i’m running a 40 inch Lilje barrel and an AR 50 brake and I bet I’m still shorter than an accuracy international with 12 inches less dick meaning another 150 ft./s nominally at the same length. It is truly a one hole gun and I mean again and again with four and five shot groups. None of this cherry picked three shot noncents. The ability to easily change barrels to 375 cheytac and have a different profile barrel spun up and ready to be inserted is superb. You can be into a second barrel for about 500 for the blank 500 for gunsmithing and 500 in the extension. Since you’re not going to be shooting the 50 a lot anyway, you might as well have some versatility with it so you can shoot 375, shoot from fixed position or potentially even carry around with you with a lighter weight 29 inch barrel like the factory DT offering. And the base rifle can be had for half an AI. Trigger is pretty awesome if you get it adjusted properly.
Other than the rifles I mentioned above (including AI), and the Cadex (which sports a 29” Bartlein and is $10k) I haven’t seen anything else in this thread that is even worth considering for a 50 BMG. Wind runner is 30 years outdated. BushHamster? Not for the money. Serbu, there is no point get an ARMALITTE or a Barrett. Cheytac are a bunch of clowns and nobody’s gonna buy the intervention rifle if you ever try to resell it. For me at least, resale is important even though I admit I took quite a bit on the Barrett and the TAC-50.