I got to have a good conversation today with my son through Myspace and he was having a good time telling me about how the Taliban think about the military 50 cal. sniper rifle. He says there like a bunch of chickens when the first round fires off they all stick there heads up turn left and right and run like theres no tomorrow. He was talking about his unit being fully engaged with the Taliban and he was set up and ready and got the order to start taking some of them out. He said he opened up on a few of them and all of sudden it went quiet. He said all the dust went up in the air from them running away and the attack was over they decided to disengage and run. There more afraid of that rifle than they are of the Ma deuce. It goes to show in my mind one well place round can demoralize a whole army.


He also told me to never fight a Aussie there tuff bunch and really good guys to hang with.

We already know that...Seems we have a few on here...Not sure about Vince though...

Yup...I worked with their Navy in the Pacific an many an ocassion and went drinking with them a few times...Learned my leason there. Don't try to out drink an Aussie... Ya can't...A Good Bunch Of People..." Ah com'on mate...Play the game." was the thing I remember the most about them in those days...The game was fun...When I could remember what it was...

Bushmaster wrote:

We already know that...Seems we have a few on here...Not sure about Vince though... Yup...I worked with their Navy in the Pacific an many an ocassion and went drinking with them a few times...Learned my leason there. Don't try to out drink an Aussie... Ya can't...A Good Bunch Of People..." Ah com'on mate...Play the game." was the thing I remember the most about them in those days...The game was fun...When I could remember what it was...

I try to maintain the image of the aussie soldier. Its not all drinkin' and ....., but we certainly do our best in a fight as the Taliban can attest.

I don't blame the Taliban for being a bit scared of the military 50 cal. sniper rifle...its one helluva rifle, very accurate and there's a lot to be said for 600gn - 700gn of projectile's impact with tissue and bone. Works for me.

Cheers, Vince

I've seen clips of the Canadian anti sniper snipers in action.
I'd be running to. Devastating.

Bushmaster, Aussie blokes can't keep up with the aussie women when it comes to drink.

tikkat3 wrote:

I've seen clips of the Canadian anti sniper snipers in action. I'd be running to. Devastating. Bushmaster, Aussie blokes can't keep up with the aussie women when it comes to drink.

Roger that on the Canadian Snipers.

As for the Aussie's, Vince that's true that it's not all drinking, mostly but not all. The rest is fighting.

Sadly, our Canadian snipers have to be that good because the Canadian government is so cheap with ammunition that they can't afford to miss.

RePete wrote:

As for the Aussie's, Vince that's true that it's not all drinking, mostly but not all. The rest is fighting.

Yep, that is correct mate. You will commonly hear; this pub or that pub is good for a Feed, a @%#& or a Fight.

Cheers, Vince

I heard that there was a Canadian sniper that holds the record for the longest successful take-down. I don't remember the range but I do remember that he was using US ammo - seems it is a bit hotter than what the Canadians use.
True? or false?

PaulS,
I can't open the old email at the moment but from memory I think it was 2,400 metres at an altitude of 8,500 feet.
Can't recall load data.

From Wikipedia, checked against other sources (there are some variations as to which Canadian it was but the range was consistent in all):

"The longest range recorded for a sniper kill currently stands at 2,430 metres (2,657 yd, or 1.51 miles), accomplished by Corporal Rob Furlong, a sniper from Newfoundland, Canada, on March 2002 during the war in Afghanistan. Corporal Rob Furlong made this record-breaking kill while he was participating in Operation Anaconda, in March of 2002. He was serving with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) at the time. To make the kill, he used a .50 caliber BMG (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 bolt-action rifle.[8]

If one takes the time-in-flight of the bullet with air resistance to be en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...resistance about 1.5× the flight time without air resistance, that would be about 4.5 seconds (2,430m ÷ 823m/s[9] = 2.95s). Over that time, neglecting any aerodynamic lift on the bullet in flight, it would drop almost 100m on its way to the target.

The previous record was held by U.S. Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock in February 1967 during the Vietnam War, at a distance of more than 2,500 yards using a scope-mounted Browning M2 .50 machine gun."

Corporal Rob Furlong did take the shot, at the start of it all there was some "Confusion" on who took the shot but as far as I know he is the one credited by the Canadian Forces for the shot.

PaulS,

You are correct by the way, it was American M2 Ball ammunition they used to get the record cause it was hotter and preformed just as well as the "match" ammo the Canadian Government used, which as Tracker said it was "limited", and dried up early in the start of Operation Enduring Freedom (during the the take over of Afghanistan) and they had to de-link American M2 ball to get more ammunition for their guns.

Cause waiting for Ottawa to order more ammunition, then send it over to Afghanistan meant they'd be out of ammunition till the operation was over.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...n_Anaconda

Dimitri

Just for the heck of it, to see some ballpark numbers for a long range .50 cal hit at 2657 yards...

Bullet drop at 2600 yards is 1529.2 inches with a 1000 yard zero. That works out to -127 Feet, or -60.8 MOA !!!

This was done with a 16x Leupold scope, a bit of a hold on a 2657yard target. Furlong likely walked the money round into the Taliban warrior, with his observer noting impacts on the ridge that likely held the Taliban's position.

Nice shooting even with zero value wind.

Here is one ballistic program's data for a 750gr Hornady A-Max, with a BC of 1.050 and a muzzle velocity of 2700fps (vel. is likely somewhat less).
Air temp. of 59F, altitude 8,500 feet, sight zeroed at 1000 yards, sight height 2" above bore centerline. Time of flight to 2600 yards is 3.77secs.



Input Data
Manufacturer: Hornady Description: .510 dia. 750 gr. A-Max

Muzzle Velocity: 2700.0 ft/s

Sight Height: 2.00 in LOS Angle: 0.0 deg
Cant Angle: 0.0 deg

Wind Speed: 0.0 mph Target Speed: 0.0 mph

Temperature: 28.7 °F Pressure: 30.53 in Hg
Relative Humidity: 0.0 % Altitude: 8500 ft

Std. Atmosphere at Altitude: Yes Corrected Pressure: Yes
Target Relative Drops: Yes Zero at Max. Point Blank Range: No
Calculated Parameters
Elevation: 27.39 MOA Azimuth: 0.00 MOA

Atmospheric Density: 0.05918 lbs/ft³ Speed of Sound: 1083.3 ft/s

Maximum PBR: 359 yds Maximum PBR Zero: 303 yds
Range at Max Height: 167 yds Energy at PBR: 10117.7 ft•lbs



Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yds) (in) (moa) (in) (moa) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (in) (moa)
100 24.3 23.2 0.0 0.0 2633.2 2.431 11545.2 0.113 0.0 0.0
200 45.5 21.7 0.0 0.0 2567.5 2.370 10975.9 0.228 0.0 0.0
400 71.9 17.2 0.0 0.0 2438.9 2.251 9904.4 0.468 0.0 0.0
600 74.9 11.9 0.0 0.0 2314.2 2.136 8917.0 0.720 0.0 0.0
800 51.9 6.2 0.0 0.0 2193.1 2.024 8008.1 0.987 0.0 0.0
1000 -0.0 -0.0 0.0 0.0 2075.5 1.916 7172.7 1.268 0.0 0.0
1200 -84.2 -6.7 0.0 0.0 1961.7 1.811 6407.3 1.565 0.0 0.0
1400 -204.6 -14.0 0.0 0.0 1851.7 1.709 5708.9 1.880 0.0 0.0
1600 -365.7 -21.8 0.0 0.0 1745.7 1.611 5074.5 2.214 0.0 0.0
1800 -572.4 -30.4 0.0 0.0 1644.3 1.518 4501.7 2.568 0.0 0.0
2000 -830.6 -39.7 0.0 0.0 1547.7 1.429 3988.3 2.945 0.0 0.0
2200 -1147.0 -49.8 0.0 0.0 1456.4 1.344 3531.9 3.345 0.0 0.0
2400 -1529.2 -60.8 0.0 0.0 1371.2 1.266 3130.6 3.770 0.0 0.0

Well you guys all have the data on the 50 BMG shoot of the rifle but all I can say is ask my son he has been packing and shooting the rifle for almost 2 years now and he talks about some long range shots but has never told me the distance of the shots. He does not really talk about making a shot he will talk about the problems he runs into to make a shot but thats about it. I know where he is coming from and I figure when or if he is ready to talk about it I will have big ears and listen. I know from how he talks to me some times that it bothers him.

Duce, there's no doubt in my mind the shots your son and others take are real. They are amazing shots. To say nothing of the burden your son carries as a result of doing his duty - you no doubt have raised him well.

Heck, a 500 yard bench shot is an amazing shot to me, practically a miracle. Shots at 1000yds or more trigger any hunter's imagination. Heck, 2657 yards in Afghanistan's mountains is probably harder than hitting the moon on a cloudless night.

Let us know if your son ever shares more on the practicalities of such long-range shooting. Since he speaks of 'the problems he runs into to make a shot', would he mind if you shared some of those with us here?

Well from what he tells me is to have a rock hard mount on your rifle. He has told me sometimes the most expensive scopes are not the best and for military reasons has not told me what he has mounted on his rifle. (heck he is not even allowed to take pictures of his rifle like I have ask him). He has told me that never pull your eyes aways from the scope until the round hits the target that way you can watch the vapor trail and make any adjustments if needed. OW! and he told me to always plan for a second shot. There are plenty more things he has told me but there not coming to mind right now.