Takin' them down.

[Wee Willy]

Longest shot I was ever able to pull off routinely was about 800m with a M21 in 7.62 and that was on the range where things are typically in your favor. I can't even imagine how this guy did this, not once, but twice:

Longest range sniper shot.

Wow...Here's his hardware.

Notice that the external ballistics are such that it's maximum effective range (50% chance of a hit on a upper torso-sized target by a "typical" shooter) is about 2,000 ft (600m or 0.4 mi) and capable of harassing fire (think keeping their heads down) out to 3,600 ft (1,100m or 0.7 mi). This guy is 2 for 2 at over twice that distance! Wonder what kind of optics he was using to line 'em up too. The spec says 5-25x56. That might just do it...just; some luck would help too. A person occludes about 1/5 milliradian side-to-side at that range...think really tiny. One finger held up at arm's length covers about 30 mils.

Anyway, having done this sort of DM thing once upon a time, I was completely blown away by this performance.

Enjoy,

W2

 

[rogdeb]

Incredible !!

 

[Crash Cash]

What's even better is he got a hit on the first shot. Cpl. Furlong took 3 shots to score a hit. Whoo, that's awesome.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

I'm thinkin I could take down a few coyotes with that bad boy, and I wouldn't need the camo gear either! :assassin: Thats taking care of business!

 

[OK Red]

Yup, he's good.

Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out.

This war doesn't appear to be confined to any specific set of borders.

 

[Wee Willy]

Yup, he's good.
Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out.

This war doesn't appear to be confined to any specific set of borders.

I'll be willing to bet there's a bit of "bring it" bravado involved. Attitude is everything in that business.

W2

 

[dustyrains]

Yup, he's good.
Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out.

This war doesn't appear to be confined to any specific set of borders.

"Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out."

I agree, that makes no sense to me at all.

 

[dustyrains]

In your opinion, was this a more impressive shot than the what the Navy Seals did with that pirate episode awhile back? Just wondering, 'cause I have very little knowledge on the subject.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Yup, he's good.
Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out.

This war doesn't appear to be confined to any specific set of borders.

"Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out."

I agree, that makes no sense to me at all.

Here's hoping he or his family does not "pay" for this publicity. I know I would feel like I am walking around with a bulls-eye on my back.

 

[Wee Willy]

In your opinion, was this a more impressive shot than the what the Navy Seals did with that pirate episode awhile back? Just wondering, 'cause I have very little knowledge on the subject.

It is different sides of a coin. For the pirate adventure, the trick was to simultaneously "do" all three else the hostage goes. In that situation, you wait and wait and (many times) wait some more before the right opportunity presents itself. Then you pounce right now because it might not happen again. Everyone involved is on their game, all the time. The SEALs waited patiently, the range was pretty short but the relative motion between the shooters and the targets was something you MUST be quick to compensate for (read be trained to deal with...SEAL shooters get a lot of that kind of practice...sensing the motion, getting the rhythms, etc.). The hard part here would be the waiting I suspect 'cause it went on for awhile. The shot was probably the easier part.

In the LR drama above, it is really the pounce on display. And it's quite a pounce.

25+ years ago I was told about a part of the Marine Corps STA-team (surveillance & target acquisition) training that tests for these two activities simultaneously: the patience & the pounce. After mucking through the woods for quite a while creeping, sneaking and peaking, the team being tested digs their hide then watches a building with (say) three windows in its upper floor several hundred yards away. The mission brief told you that the torso-sized target would present itself only once at anytime in a 24 hr window for some short period of time-several seconds. To pass, it needs to go down with a bullet hole in it. So here you are, you're tired, been up awhile already and now you and your spotter get to take turns watching some windows for 24 + hours. And you better be ready...

Our Army training didn't include that little gem in the early 80's. Despite that we still had about a 50% washout rate if memory serves. Did one hell of a lot of shooting too. Good memories. The training's a whole lot more sophisticated now because of the real force multiplier effect of a competent designated marksman (DM) team in the long range battles across the way.

Cheers,

W2

 

[dustyrains]

In your opinion, was this a more impressive shot than the what the Navy Seals did with that pirate episode awhile back? Just wondering, 'cause I have very little knowledge on the subject.

It is different sides of a coin. For the pirate adventure, the trick was to simultaneously "do" all three else the hostage goes. In that situation, you wait and wait and (many times) wait some more before the right opportunity presents itself. Then you pounce right now because it might not happen again. Everyone involved is on their game, all the time. The SEALs waited patiently, the range was pretty short but the relative motion between the shooters and the targets was something you MUST be quick to compensate for (read be trained to deal with...SEAL shooters get a lot of that kind of practice...sensing the motion, getting the rhythms, etc.). The hard part here would be the waiting I suspect 'cause it went on for awhile. The shot was probably the easier part.

In the LR drama above, it is really the pounce on display. And it's quite a pounce.

20 years ago I was told about a part of the Marine Corps STA-team (surveillance & target acquisition) training that tests for these two activities simultaneously: the patience & the pounce. After mucking through the woods for quite a while creeping, sneaking and peaking, the team being tested digs their hide then watches a building with (say) three windows in its upper floor several hundred yards away. The mission brief told you that the torso-sized target would present itself only once at anytime in a 24 hr window for some short period of time-several seconds. To pass, it needs to go down with a bullet hole in it. So here you are, you're tired, been up awhile already and now you and your spotter get to take turns watching some windows for 24 + hours. And you better be ready...

Our Army training didn't include that little gem in the early 80's. Despite that we still had about a 50% washout rate if memory serves. Did one hell of a lot of shooting too. Good memories. The training's a whole lot more sophisticated now because of the real force multiplier effect of a competent designated marksman in the battles across the way.

Cheers,

W2

Thanks. Very interesting.

 

[Wee Willy]

I just ran a quick set of external ballistics on this cartridge and the #'s make this all the more impressive.

Cartridge: 8.59 mm Titan (.338 in)

Bullet wt: 250 gr

Sea Level Ballistic Coefficient: 0.450 (est.)

Altitude for analysis: 5,000 ft MSL

LOS angle: 0 deg

At the muzzle:

Flt time: 0 sec

Drop: 0 in

Velocity: 3,100 fps

Energy: 5,335 ft-lbf

At 500 yds (0.28 mi):

Flt time: 0.57 sec

Drop: 4.7 ft

Velocity: 2,247 fps

Energy: 2,803 ft-lbf

At 1,000 yds (0.57 mi)

Flt time: 1.37 sec

Drop: 24.4 ft

Velocity: 1,553 fps

Energy: 1,339 ft-lbf

Round goes subsonic (1,104 fps) at about 1,500 yds.

At 2,000 yds (1.1 mi)

Flt time: 4.08 sec

Drop: 187 ft

Velocity: 898 fps

Energy: 443 ft-lbf

At 2,640 yds (1.5 mi)

Flt time: 6.44 sec

Drop: 467 ft

Velocity: 762 fps

Energy: 322 ft-lbf

This drop requires only about 3.4 degrees difference between LOS & boresight. But the shooter MUST know this range accurately (within about 10-20 ft) to make this work first time because the trajectory at this range is dropping very quickly-about 2 ft for every 10 ft traveled downrange. This is a very difficult shot to pull off.

Even more impressed now.

W2

 

[k7lvo]

Yup, he's good.
Just not sure I would have posed for a picture and gave my family information out.

This war doesn't appear to be confined to any specific set of borders.

I'll be willing to bet there's a bit of "bring it" bravado involved. Attitude is everything in that business.

W2

Ah, yes. Anyone remember Lông Trắng du Kich? Although he died way before his time, it wasn't in combat, and nobody collected the $30,000.

 

[Wee Willy]

Yes...a Marine Corp legend.

 

[Crash Cash]

Ah, yes. Anyone remember Lông Trắng du Kich? Although he died way before his time, it wasn't in combat, and nobody collected the $30,000.

Oh hell yeah. Him and Simo Häyhä are personal heroes of mine.

 

[Intech]

I just ran a quick set of exterior ballistics on this cartridge and the #'s make this all the more impressive.
Cartridge: 8.59 mm Titan (.338 in)

Bullet wt: 250 gr

Sea Level Ballistic Coefficient: 0.450 (est.)

Altitude for analysis: 5,000 ft MSL

LOS angle: 0 deg

At the muzzle:

Flt time: 0 sec

Drop: 0 in

Velocity: 3,100 fps

Energy: 5,335 ft-lbf

At 500 yds (0.28 mi):

Flt time: 0.57 sec

Drop: 4.7 ft

Velocity: 2,247 fps

Energy: 2,803 ft-lbf

At 1,000 yds (0.57 mi)

Flt time: 1.37 sec

Drop: 24.4 ft

Velocity: 1,553 fps

Energy: 1,339 ft-lbf

Round goes subsonic (1,104 fps) at about 1,500 yds.

At 2,000 yds (1.1 mi)

Flt time: 4.08 sec

Drop: 187 ft

Velocity: 898 fps

Energy: 443 ft-lbf

At 2,640 yds (1.5 mi)

Flt time: 6.44 sec

Drop: 467 ft

Velocity: 762 fps

Energy: 322 ft-lbf

This drop requires only about 3.4 degrees difference between LOS & boresight. But the shooter MUST know this range accurately (within about 10-20 ft) to make this work first time because the trajectory at this range is dropping very quickly-about 2 ft for every 10 ft traveled downrange. This is a very difficult shot to pull off.

Even more impressed now.

W2

More like a mortar shot at that range with that bullet. Very impressive indeed!

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I love gun talk! This is impressive indeed.

 

[Wee Willy]

More like a mortar shot at that range with that bullet. Very impressive indeed!

Roger that...I'm convinced he or his spotter had a laser range finder to get the range. You simply cannot pull this off without one. It would be even tougher if the shot were up or down hill because that throws yet another degree of freedom into the problem that MUST be compensated for. And he has to have consistent HW and KNOW what it does (altitude effects, temperature effects, yadda, yadda). Yeah, he either won the lottery twice in a row (very unlikely) or is one hell of a talented shooter. I'll go with the second.

Cheers,

W2