I did not realize that. That makes the SEALs rescue of Capt. Phillips even more impressive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/world/africa/13pirates.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Two of the captors had poked their heads out of a rear hatch of the lifeboat, exposing themselves to clear shots, and the third could be seen through a window in the bow, pointing an automatic rifle at the captain, who was tied up inside the 18-foot lifeboat, senior Navy officials said.
It took only three remarkable shots — one each by snipers firing from a distance at dusk, using night-vision scopes, the officials said. Within minutes, rescuers slid down ropes from the Bainbridge, climbed aboard the lifeboat and found the three pirates dead. They then untied Captain Phillips, ending the contretemps at sea that had riveted much of the world’s attention. A fourth pirate had surrendered earlier.
I have never actually tested the idea of shooting through glass. I do remember what Col. Jeff Cooper said about James Bond.
In one of the books it is mentioned that Bond earned his double O rating by killing a Japanese spy. He supposedly shot the guy through a plate glass window with a 30-30 (a 30-30?).
Jeff Cooper commented that they should have given Bond the crown jewels for making that shot not just a 00 number.