I'm going to be picking up my first ever 50 from my FFL this coming week. I am not interested in the cartridge for precision shooting, and decided to go with a Barrett M82A1, specifically the 20" Vortex PST II package deal. The gun will be pretty much just for fun, and maybe an investment if someday they're somehow restricted, but that's mostly just an afterthought. I wanted the M107A1 20" as I enjoy shooting suppressed, and most all of my other guns have a can or two, but just couldn't make the couple of thousand dollar jump for the upgrade, and also didn't want to try to save more and in doing so end up high and dry should things get crazy because of the election year being compounded by the other nonsense going on.
So far I've got a LaRue 50bmg specific mount for the Vortex coming, and I already have a Comp M4 in a LaRue mount I may use with it as well (really looking forward to attempting a "run and gun" with it equipped with the red dot, I'm much larger than your average person and want to see what I can manage, seems like a great endurance exercise). I have 3 extra mags on their way, and some M33 and M8 (400rnds total) ammo as well. I'll probably stick with the M33 for range shooting, as the extra accuracy that the A-Max offers isn't worth the cost to me. I bought the spare parts kit too, as I'm worried I'll lose one of the pins and have a 35lbs paperweight until I can find a replacement. Trying to find ammo hasn't been easy, and I'm not sure if I should just get whatever I can now, just in case, or wait it out for things to settle down after November. I'd like to build a base of 1K rounds, and only shoot what I can replace immediately.
I was looking for any tips or general advice people could offer for a first time 50bmg, and more specifically, M82A1 owner. Thanks in advance.