I am going to be new to .50 cal shooting, and I was wondering if there is any ammo to stay away from? I will be using a Barrett M-99.

If you run across any Yellow Tip ammo from the Dominican Republic stay away from it. Also, Maine Cartridge Company had some real issues a couple years ago. Yugo 50bmg was reported to be "mildly " corrosive. Other than that I know of anythingto look out for.

The yellow tip Dominican Rep ammo has no identifying headstamp. Some people have tried to acetone off the yellow paint on the bullet tip. Stay away from brass that has no arsenal markings on the brass.

Older Talon had troubles with it being under powered. The charges were short by 30g or so. Won't make a difference on a bolt gun. But you will notice reduced recoil.

Thanks,  I am looking forward to getting into .50cal.

Ive had good luck with Bosnian ammo If found it for about $1.15 per round at a gun show. It claims to be new production non-corrosive and reloadable.

Quoted: Ive had good luck with Bosnian ammo If found it for about $1.15 per round at a gun show. It claims to be new production non-corrosive and reloadable.

The Bosnian ammo is what is commonly refered to as "Yugo". The mildly corrosive thing resulted from tests about 3 years ago by Keith Pagel of the FCSA. He is probably about as expert as you can get when it comes to 50bmg ammo. I don't know if its true, but I'd do some serious cleaning just in case.

Ok thanks for the heads up.  I guess a extra few minutes of extra cleaning will be well justified with $4,000 and $8,000 rifles.

Besides the Dominican AP which would void your warranty (only ammo they mention as such as far as I know), you also generally can't shoot SLAP or SLAP-T rounds.

These rounds are sabots with .30cal heavy tungsten penetrators.  SLAP-T is the tracer version.  The usual myth is because they get caught up in the muzzle brake.  This is untrue.  You can fire them without problem using the muzzle brake.  However, the barrel must be cut for it.  The military saw signs of overpressure when firing the high pressure SLAP/SLAP-T.  Barrett sells a barrel specifically cut (chamber I guess) for that round and the military has bought them.  I got this information directly from Barrett.

Oooh! I see a M82A1 with the SLAP barrel for sale! (Goodle)

However, the rarity of the SLAP rounds is such that you probably won't ever have any unless you are a collector.  It's rare and more than $40-$45 per round last time I even saw it for sale, which I almost never do.

I sure would like to see what it can do, I understand it is supposed to be able to penetrate several inches of steel???  Because it can extend the range of AP effect to 1500 feet, is it not such a penetrator as a range extender for AP effect?  SLAP velocity = 3985 fps

Quoted: However, the rarity of the SLAP rounds is such that you probably won't ever have any unless you are a collector.  It's rare and more than $40-$45 per round last time I saw it for sale.

Damn one of my Marines gave an Iraq almost a whole can of SLAP when he opened up with a AK, didn't know it costs so much.

Well, Mk211 Raufoss rounds (you can shoot those in a Barrett if you can get it) sold for $40-$45 per round last time I saw it but I almost never see the SLAP for sale so I was just guessing.  It's probably even higher.

You guys get all the cool ammo!  We can't even get M262 77gr 5.56 NATO!

A whole can?  Converted the guy into a holey dude huh?