goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
Anybody catch the History Channel's Sniper show last night? I thought it was fairly interesting. I had never heard the whole story behind the longest confirmed sniper kill and what I did hear was embellished a bit. But after watching the show, I was somewhat let down by the story. Well, of several of the stories actually.
For those who didn't see it, there were several stories of history's sniper kills besides the longest recorded kill. There was a story of the famous "one mile" kill, the longest 308 winchester kill, and a story of the "scope" shot Carlos Hathcock made.
The 308 kill is usually referred to when you tell a serviceman that the 308 is not really a long range cartridge. They say well it was good enough to kill a an insurgent at 1300 plus yards. But in the show, they admitted that the recommended range of the 308 is just a bit over 1000 yards. ANd when the Sniper told the story of the shot, he admitted that he just wanted to put a shot into the insurgent's hideout area to keep him from shooting at the Marines. He had no idea that he would actually connect on the guy. He said it was a one in a million shot and he probably wouldn't be able to do it again.
Then the Sniper who made the "mile long" supporting shot told his story. He made his kill with the 50 bmg. But he explained that he saw three men go behind a wall and begin to set up a machine gun. He guessed where they were behind the wall because he couldn't see them and simply put a shot through the wall hoping to hit one of them. But it was almost a guarantee that someone was going to get hit because of the round he was shooting and how it "shotguns" bits and pieces through the wall. He never knew how many of the three he hit, where he hit them, or how bad. All he saw was blood on the wall behind their position. Oh yeah, and he admitted that the kill shot was the second shot. The first shot he tried was shot way low because he didn't realize the distance had changed from where he had ranged other insurgents.
Then when they got to the "longest kill", I had to shake my head. This Sniper was a Canadian who was assigned to an american sortee. The shot was made at an elevation of 9000+' which was an elevation the SNiper never had practiced in. He also said that he made the shot with "american" ammo because he had ran out of Canadian ammo earlier in the day. The "american" ammo is loaded with a more aerodynamic bullet, and heavier bullet to boot at a totally different velocity. He had no experience with this "american" ammo and never sighted in with it either. Then he said he did a "sniper trick" by placing his ammo out in the sun to heat it up and gain some extra velocity. WHAT? I've never heard of any sniper doing this! So he was shooting ammo that wasn't tuned to the gun and then it was even heated up too. Amazing.
Then the Canadian Sniper went on to say that he bottomed out his scope turret and used his mil-dots for extra elevation and windage. And his first guess of which mil dot to use was wrong. The shot landed low and right. But the dumb Taliban rebels (it was a group of three men) just stood there and watched the dust cloud come up by them! So the Sniper loaded another round and fired again using a different mil-dot. This shot hit one of the rebels in the backpack tearing it from his body. But still, the rebels didn't believe they were being shot at. The next guess of kentucky wind and hold proved to be the kill shot. It hit one of the rebels square and knocked him off his feet. Wow, the greatest shot in history? No, but probably the luckiest given all the unusual circumstances.
But, the story of Hathcock's shot was a true one shot one kill sniper shot by a guy who knew what he was doing and that sort of redeemed the show in my opinion. Carlos put a bullet straight through the scope of an enemy's rifle just a spit second before Carlos himself was about to be killed. If he had to take two or three shots in a "guessing" manner to kill the enemy, Carlos would have been sent home in a box.
I guess it just goes to show what a great Sniper Carlos was and he did his feat all those years ago without the gadgets we have today.
For those who didn't see it, there were several stories of history's sniper kills besides the longest recorded kill. There was a story of the famous "one mile" kill, the longest 308 winchester kill, and a story of the "scope" shot Carlos Hathcock made.
The 308 kill is usually referred to when you tell a serviceman that the 308 is not really a long range cartridge. They say well it was good enough to kill a an insurgent at 1300 plus yards. But in the show, they admitted that the recommended range of the 308 is just a bit over 1000 yards. ANd when the Sniper told the story of the shot, he admitted that he just wanted to put a shot into the insurgent's hideout area to keep him from shooting at the Marines. He had no idea that he would actually connect on the guy. He said it was a one in a million shot and he probably wouldn't be able to do it again.
Then the Sniper who made the "mile long" supporting shot told his story. He made his kill with the 50 bmg. But he explained that he saw three men go behind a wall and begin to set up a machine gun. He guessed where they were behind the wall because he couldn't see them and simply put a shot through the wall hoping to hit one of them. But it was almost a guarantee that someone was going to get hit because of the round he was shooting and how it "shotguns" bits and pieces through the wall. He never knew how many of the three he hit, where he hit them, or how bad. All he saw was blood on the wall behind their position. Oh yeah, and he admitted that the kill shot was the second shot. The first shot he tried was shot way low because he didn't realize the distance had changed from where he had ranged other insurgents.
Then when they got to the "longest kill", I had to shake my head. This Sniper was a Canadian who was assigned to an american sortee. The shot was made at an elevation of 9000+' which was an elevation the SNiper never had practiced in. He also said that he made the shot with "american" ammo because he had ran out of Canadian ammo earlier in the day. The "american" ammo is loaded with a more aerodynamic bullet, and heavier bullet to boot at a totally different velocity. He had no experience with this "american" ammo and never sighted in with it either. Then he said he did a "sniper trick" by placing his ammo out in the sun to heat it up and gain some extra velocity. WHAT? I've never heard of any sniper doing this! So he was shooting ammo that wasn't tuned to the gun and then it was even heated up too. Amazing.
Then the Canadian Sniper went on to say that he bottomed out his scope turret and used his mil-dots for extra elevation and windage. And his first guess of which mil dot to use was wrong. The shot landed low and right. But the dumb Taliban rebels (it was a group of three men) just stood there and watched the dust cloud come up by them! So the Sniper loaded another round and fired again using a different mil-dot. This shot hit one of the rebels in the backpack tearing it from his body. But still, the rebels didn't believe they were being shot at. The next guess of kentucky wind and hold proved to be the kill shot. It hit one of the rebels square and knocked him off his feet. Wow, the greatest shot in history? No, but probably the luckiest given all the unusual circumstances.
But, the story of Hathcock's shot was a true one shot one kill sniper shot by a guy who knew what he was doing and that sort of redeemed the show in my opinion. Carlos put a bullet straight through the scope of an enemy's rifle just a spit second before Carlos himself was about to be killed. If he had to take two or three shots in a "guessing" manner to kill the enemy, Carlos would have been sent home in a box.
I guess it just goes to show what a great Sniper Carlos was and he did his feat all those years ago without the gadgets we have today.
