Was this single player or Multi? I've been playing mostly multi player and the 50 cal seems to work ok to me. More powerful than they ever were in IL2 IMO. If you land a good burst on the fuselage or wing root it seems to tear up the Dora pretty good. Having said that the few times I have played it in single player mode it seems to take more hits. Is that possible that there is a difference? I don't know!