Dieter said:
My .02
The sound suppressor for the .50 cal is a bit counter-productive. A sound suppressor will significantly reduce the range of a weapon.
A .50 cal is meant for "reach out and touch someone" type jobs, and its range to penetration ability is pretty much the big selling point for using one.
Not necessarily. The .50 is a dual primarily-purpose small arm. It was designed for A) use as an urban sniper rifle / close support weapon, where long range is not an issue and B) as an anti-material rifle against (again, with urban environments being foremost in mind).
The "Light Fifty" was not meant to be taken into the jungle and used as are other heavy use sniper rifles, such as the M40. You're right that penetration is a major factor, but range not so much.
You might also want to note that the suppressor effectively doubles the size of the weapon, making its portability another issue. Suppressors aren't like socket wrenches...you have to make sure the threads match perfectly otherwise it's not going to do much good.
"Light Fifties" are not meant to be highly mobile to begin with. Their size and weight alone, never mind the suppressor, necessitates the use of other, more traditional, sniper weapons if you plan at being at all mobile. If you plan on perching with the .50 BMG, the suppressor's size isn't an issue because it can be attached on-site.
The laser sight (at least on a .50 cal) is also self-defeating. You don't want to let the enemy know where you are, and a big red beam coming from your position is a nice way of saying "direct your fire here.
That's only if environmental conditions allow for it. Again, the .50 is not meant for use in settings where environmental conditions that make a laser sight visible are common. You need something like fog or huge dust clouds in order to do so, but such conditions are rare in the Light Fifty's primary theaters of intended operation and, when they do exist, the operator is most likely in a high position where such conditions won't give away his position as fog and dust tend to hug the ground (and if they are so proliferant that they aren't, then their size likely makes the target inaccessible to begin).
