For a shot at that distance it requires spot on knowledge of the distance and I can't help thinking just a tiny measure of luck too. If you ever get chance to fire a tracer round over a distance you will see how unseen air currents drift it one way for a bit and then the other way on its way to the target. Allah wasn't looking down on His follower that day! Or maybe he was? Lagopus.....
Devastating shot. My late uncle sniped singleshot with the Ma Deuce in Korea when he served with the 1st Marines.
eYe bet the gent was shooting a Tss prOe'jectile....
Carlos Hathcock used the .50 cal. with a Unertl scope and a "homemade" mount to great success in Vietnam. I have a picture of his .50 and the mount was built with so much downward angle, to give extra elevation adjustment, that you can clearly see how much out of parallel the scope is with the gun.
The book about him is one of the best books of that type I've ever read. I also have a VHS tape of a live interview with him that I need to have transferred to DVD.
SRH
A good book on the history of sniping is 'Out of Nowhere' by Martin Pegler. His other book 'Sniping in the Great War' is another also 'Sniping in France' by Hesketh Pritchard. I've just managed to get a copy of 'Lady Death' by Lyudmila Pavlichenko credited with 309 kills including 29 German Snipers; yet to read that one. Best British sniper was 119 from June '44 until the end of the war. Also worth seeking out is a copy of 'With British Snipers to the Reich' by Captain C. Shore. Sorry, I'm a bit of a book worm with plenty of library space. Lagopus.....
Hi Lagopus, I've just spotted a copy of 'out of nowhere' on the popular auction site for the price of a beer.
It's now on its way to my house.
Looking forward to reading it when the dark nights start to creep in.
Well done Nick as it retailed for £25. Most in depth work you will find; you will not be dissapointed. The author worked for the Royal Armouries so had access to a lot of stuff. Another to look for is 'Drawing Fire' by Private Len Smith. He was a First world War sniper and accomplished artist. His job being to get close to the enemy lines and produce accurate drawing of their defences. He made such a detailed drawing of a blasted tree trunk that they were able to make a replica and then go out at night and replace the original so as to use it as an observation post. All hairy stuff. I collect objects etc. connected with Great War sniping. Interesting subject. Lagopus.....