Report: Brit Special Forces sniper takes out ISIS sniper 1.5 miles away(.408)

americanthinker.com ^ | 5/22/2017 | thomas lifeson

[rktman]

Imagine firing a gun and taking out a sniper so far away that the bullet takes 3 seconds to arrive, traveling at supersonic speed. With one shot! But an unnamed British SAS Special Forces sniper is reported to have done just that. The UK Daily Star has the story:

The long-range shot took place almost two weeks ago as part of a counter-sniper operation during the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The SAS soldier, a sergeant who was a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hit the Iraqi in the throat as he left a burned-out building.

The Daily Star Sunday understands the sniper was using the CheyTac M200 Intervention gun, said to be the most accurate rifle ever made.

[ctdonath2]

I did. That was about the drop for .308 when shooting 1km using a 19” barrel.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Finally. Someone posts a good news story!

[vikingd00d]

>>hit the Iraqi in the throat as he left a burned-out building.

1.5 miles away AND a moving target AND precise enough to hit him in the throat. Impressive... most impressive.

[PapaBear3625]

Compensate for that sometime you wannabe sharpshooters.

Very-long-range shooting pretty-much requires a precision laser rangefinder.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Hey are there any history channel specials on this stuff? I saw the one about the kills zones and the Vietnam river crossing but I haven’t been able to find any other ones.

[Jack Black]

“Ff you know your muzzle velocity and distance you can compute time.”

Not that simple .....

Would a brick launched at the same speed take the same time?

No.

The missing factor is how aerodynamic the object is. In the case of bullets this is a number called the "ballistic co-efficient", which is published for all bullets. BC is typically in the range of .2 to .8 or so, the higher the BC the more aerodynamic the bullet.

Here is the article on the cartridge used in the attack, the .408 Cheytac: Wikipedia: .408 Cheytac As you can see it's a necked down .505 Gibbs, which is in itself pretty awesome.

.50 BMG and .408 Cheytac

The ballistic coefficient of the bullet is about .940, among the very highest I've ever seen. It also has more muzzle energy than that for the most common.50 BMG.

[fatboy]

Thank you for mentioning the ballistic coefficient. Also I believe there would be the influence of spin rate, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, temp all mostly mentioned.

[Jack Black]

Spent time yesterday sighting in a home brew 6.5 Grendel.

If you don't mind me asking is it an AR platform? That's what the Grendel was designed for.

I've admired the Grendel for a long time, but wasn't aware that their was cheap factory ammo for it (Russian, at that!). That makes it a lot more viable choice, for sure.

Lately I've been sort of smitten by the .277 Wolverine (brass can be formed from regular 5.56mm ). It's not the specialized long distance cartridge the Grendel is, but achieves about 90% of what the 6.8 SPC does, using readily obtainable brass, standard magazines, and unmodified bolts. Just screw in the new barrel and go!

[TexasGator]

“The missing factor is how aerodynamic the object is.”

That is the main factor but their are many others.

The bullet trajectory can be calculated but it still contains many uncertainties. For this rifle/bullet combination they have verified/adjusted curves based on actual data. In addition, the rifle contains sensors for atmospheric data which is fed into a computer program to obtain ‘precise’ ballistics.

[Scrambler Bob]

Very-long-range shooting pretty-much requires a precision laser rangefinder.
= = =

Maybe they had pre-surveyed various locations.

[Pollster1]

I get more like 144 feet (on a 3 second shot). That’s a fairly substantial amount to compensate for - and stay accurately enough for a throat shot!

[Paal Gulli]

There’s always a lot of hyperbole in these accounts in the British press. The source story at The Daily Star is claiming this one was a cold bore shot. When the (2009) story of CoH Craig Harrison’s 2707-yard shot in Afghanistan was first reported they were claiming it also was a cold-bore shot. When further details emerged, it turns out he’d made nine ranging shots before he found pink. So I’ll be waiting for the other shoe to drop on that account.

Presuming he was shooting Chey-Tac’s in-house 419-gr load, according to JMB Ballistics three seconds would only have got it to 2000 yards. Real-world time of flight (to 2700 yards) would have been nearer to five seconds (using data for Mosul on a standard day) with a bullet drop of 286 feet.

Most of the other extreme range sniper shots that have been publicized since Canadian Rob Furlong bested Carlos Hathcock’s 2500-yard shot in 2002 were made in Afghanistan at elevations from 6000 to 8000 feet. The thin air at such extreme elevations gives the bullet a flatter trajectory because it slows more gradually. This is especially important when you get to the sharp end because the more steeply the bullet is descending at the point of impact, the more critical errors in the shooter’s range estimation and holdover become. A shooter at higher elevation has a larger “error budget” because his bullet carries its velocity further and so shoots flatter. So even if some of the extreme sniper shots made in Afghanistan were at slightly greater distances, a shot taken in Mosul at anywhere close to 1.5 miles requires greater precision on the part of the shooter and the rifle. All the more remarkable if this truly was a cold bore shot.

I was thinking the .408 was still a wildcat cartridge but I checked the Wikipedia page and it claims they registered it with C.I.P. in 2013. Interesting that they skipped registering with SAAMI and went with SAAMI’s European counterpart, which probably was the back door to the Brits buying them.

Chey-Tac, BTW, is shorthand for Cheyenne Tactical, so it’s pronounced “shy”-tac, not “shay”-tac.

[MUDDOG]

Col. Sebastian Moran couldn’t have done better.

[InterceptPoint]

Yikes and double Yikes. I stand corrected. Your 144 feet drop is correct. My fingers were moving faster than my brain.

The formula is correct. The execution was bad.

144 foot drop not 58.

Apologies to all.

[BlueLancer]

"Col. Sebastian Moran couldn’t have done better."

Flashman and the Tiger

12th installment of the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser, wherein Colonel Harry Flashman encounters Colonel John Sebastian (Tiger Jack) Moran on the battlefield of Isandlwana and, later, retired-General Harry Flashman plots to kill Sebastian Moran in Sherlock Holmes-era London.

[Old Yeller]

Son, that's some good shootin.

[Pollster1]

Either way, I don’t know how you hit a moving target in the throat at that range, whether it’s a 59’ drop or 144’.

[PapaBear3625]

Burris (among others) makes rifle scopes with built in laser rangefinders, which calculate the "hold up" amount for you. I would imagine elite snipers have better gear.

[Utilizer]

See post #7. :)

[TexasGator]

“Presuming he was shooting Chey-Tac’s in-house 419-gr load, according to JMB Ballistics three seconds would only have got it to 2000 yards. “

They have a lighter bullet that is about 10% faster out of the muzzle.

If you want to have some fun, they will rent you a gun for $150 where you can take training at their course at ranges of over 2000 yds.

I am guessing they have LOTS of data on the bullets.