mvscal wrote:No idea. Looks more like some kind of paintball contraption to me.
It
could be a very heavily modified, superhot-rodded old Browning HMG that someone has customized for long-distance shoots.
Possibly. The reciever/upper stuff looks like it's in the right place, but it looks like there's a box-like contraption between the reciever and the barrel mounting.
88 hangs out at a gun club -- maybe he's seen something similar?
I've seen modified Browning sniper rifles for doing 600 yard shoots, but tricking out an old (and those suckers are old) HMG would be unusual.
If that is the case, don't sweat the recoil (too much). It would be fired while it was sitting on a benchrest and sandbags, and it's likely it's not being touched while fired -- they'd have a string tied to the trigger, and would have it clamped in the rest.
Again, just a wild guess -- but the basic design isn't ebtirely like the old HMG .50cal (which I believe in that incarnation was pretty much a WW1 thing, morphed into better guns by WW2).
I'm also guessing that firing it from the shoulder would result in a trip to the hospital. With a barrel that long, there'd be a whole freaking bunch of gasses moving back towards you.