"I didn’t know what to expect going into my weekend with Nick and the rest of the guys. My sport is different from the type of shooting he does and I wasn't sure how my skills would translate into his world." Posted on 06/24/2020 6:18:58 AM PDT by w1n1
"I didn’t know what to expect going into my weekend with Nick and the rest of the guys. My sport is different from the type of shooting he does and I wasn't sure how my skills would translate into his world."
"It was funny, because Nick and the others seemed impressed by what I've done, but I felt like he was the one that accomplished so much. In my eyes, what he has done has impacted things in the real world and has changed lives."
"There was a mutual respect and appreciation for each other's craft. I learned a lot about the differences in techniques between the types of shooting we do, and was happy to learn from one of the best." – Amanda Furrer
Precision long-range shooting is an absolute art. Everything has to be perfect in order for the round to impact its intended target. Factors including humidity, barometric pressure, density, altitude, wind, temperature, flight time, etc., are all considerations that the shooter must overcome to place a small projectile onto a target generally the size of human torso.
This is the world with which most military snipers and precision shooters are far too familiar.
Now take a look at the average Olympic shooter, an athlete who typically shoots in ideal conditions and at distances that don’t exceed 50 meters. Comparing the two very different styles of shooting, one may assume from the job description alone that the two have absolutely no comparison, or that military snipers are the best at their craft. This may hold true… to some extent.
Over the course of four days, I had the chance to work with Amanda Furrer, an Olympic Precision Shooter, and wanted to somehow compare the two styles of shooting and shed some light on the art of precision shooting, if it was possible. Amanda’s style of shooting does indeed differ from that of my job and what most military snipers are used to, but the difference was not as drastic as I thought before meeting up.
The first day of the project, we briefly went over the types of rifles that the modern military sniper would use throughout his career, including a bolt action rifle equipped with a Templar Tactical Suppressor. She seemed really impressed with all of the weaponry and could run through the rifle’s function with no problem.
Furrer then introduced us to her Olympic shooting rifle, something that looked like it would come out of a science fiction film. What seemed like a ton of screws, bolts, nuts, metal bars, etc., strapped onto a precision barrel was her pride, something that I wasn’t used to. I asked her how accurate the rifle was, to try and get some type of comparison to my sniper rifle. She simply stated, "I can put 40+ out of 50 rounds in a target the size of a pinky nail at 50 meters." I thought to myself, "I can do that too, can't be that hard, it's only a .22 caliber rifle." I had forgotten the fact that they do it standing, kneeling and in prone. Read the rest of this sniper story.
Bump for after work.
Would love to see an Olympic shooting event for accuracy over long distances. The 1 mile shoot would be epic (except they’d probably make it 1500 meters or something).
1100 yard hit on the second shot, with an unfamiliar rifle. Ok, remind me not to get on her bad side...
Great article.
Targets don’t shoot back. That is a large factor in the difference between the two. The pressure of getting hit in the forehead by the other side outweighs the pressure of Olympic competition.
It would be interesting to have such a crossover between military snipers and Winter Olympic level Biathlon athletes. For men it is 20km on cross-country skis, 4 shooting events at 50m range with 22LR, 2 prone & 2 standing. Lowest time wins with missed targets adding either time or required distance to cover. The same for women except distance is 15km.
A VERY daunting event that needs a top athlete who can go from skiing to slow pulse marksman as fast as possible.
Good article, thanks for the read!
Yeah ! There is that to consider.
I never mastered that position - and man did I try. Very difficult. Of course White Feather was a natural.
I believe that a major reason that Gunny Hathcock was so deadly is because he was an above-average man in every measure. The Marines simply honed that and let it develop into the legendary sniper he became.
One of the big hurdles for a long range Olympic shooting event, is there are not top many ranges in Europe. Restrictive rules re: firearms and ammunition transportation, etc. The big hurdle is the difficulty in televising the event. Running target used to be an Olympic sport, but was dropped while trap and skeet are easily televised.
There was once talk in making an attempt at rapid fire running target, I don’t think it ever got any further than using semi auto rifles while attempting multiple shots as the target ran back and forth between the houses.
.:30 cal? Must be back-bored.
Looks like a Mod 70. Bore does look large. Probably optical illusion...like holding up a bass almost to camera.
Fluted barrel. I would assume that it’s one of the Van Orden rifles. I can’t find any reference to them being back-bored, but I suppose some admirer could have repaired a crown that way.
Armorer
I don’t see a fluted barrel but do see the flat crown.
Maybe it’s the scope’s reflection in the bluing, or it’s shading that area then.
I think you are right. I don’t remember any fluting going on back in the day.
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