Re: British sniper breaks Rob Furlong's record
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pete E</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BasraBoy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I remember reading a report (or it may even have been a thread on the Hide) about two UK Royal Marine snipers dropping two high ranking Iraqi officers with simultaneous shots in high desert winds at 800yds.
Is this latest story propaganda bullshit, real or a stretch on a less impressive feat of arms?
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If its the same report I recall, it was in the Press or on the BBC. It was at the start of GW2 and the British had formed up outside Basra ready to go in. They wanted to go in without reducing the town to rubble so a low key approach was the prefered option.
At one point, there was a bit of a Mexican stand off with two Iraqi tanks which were sitting in front of a school or hospital. The two Iraqi commanders had their heads out of their turrets observing the British some 800m away.
Not wanting to risk civvie casualties, the British commander called forward two RM snipers and asked if they could sort it out.
In very high winds, they set up (in front of the Reporter) and took two simultaneous shots, killing both Iraqi commanders, which in turn prompted the rest of the crews to abandon their vehicles and flee on foot.
The thing that struck me aout the incicent was the way it was reported ie very matter of fact. The Reporter obviously didn't appreciate the level of skill needed to make those shots and reported them as if they were the most ordinary shots in the world.
Regards,
Peter
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I may be wrong on this but a story I read on Military.com was two Iraqis, can't remember the nature of who they were, were both hit at a range of 1100m in strong winds, simultaneously. The shooters were "both required to hold off 56 ft.at that range" because of the wind.
The obvious maximum range of the 7.62 NATO was key in the story, but then they gave credit for the strong winds. But, as most of you know the distance in shooter-speak would not have been 56 ft. but rather in inches or Mil/MOA. The story did state they were British Snipers.
Even if this is the same story (as it may well be) and the range was exaggerated, I agree with you 100%. Making a shot like that simultaneously is difficult enough @800m in high winds. Stretching the truth only dims credibility of the difficult task. It never dawns on reporters that @800m in even a few mph of variable wind can cause a miss. In high winds that leaves a lot more room to miss than hit. Especially fluctuating winds where that has to be coordinated to be on, have the right measured wind, and distance, then pull the triggers simultaneously while that happens. Of course someone wants to call it routine. It's anything but.
FWIW, on the History channel program that was on the other night the first piece they did was a Marine sniper who was on overwatch for a road just under 800m. long. The thing I was appreciative of wasn't the distance but the time he was making these long shots in. Everything was within the range of the 7.62 NATO he was using, just that he only got 1-5 seconds to engage targets. And most of them were moving. He had to guess where they ended up. What he did was flat out awesome. But it won't go in any record book other than he got confirmed kills.
