Record-breaking sniper kills ISIS terrorist with two-mile shot

http://nypost.com ^ | 06/222017 | Gemma Mullin

[Magnum44]

Did the sniper take some shots to get his ranging?

He probably had multiple ways to confirm his range. If he couldn't range with a laser range finder (that a long way, but I am guessing someone makes one that reaches out that far, an expensive one no doubt), then he could look at a map of the city and figure his range to where he was observing the target.

Would not think he would want to fire for finding range, as that would likely make the gophers go to ground. But there was a video a few months back of the idiots in Syria dancing around and firing in to the air while a sniper was taking shots, and one of them celebrated "for the rest of his life" if you know what I mean.

[Gay State Conservative]

I once saw a claim that our ICBMs are so accurate today that if you were to fire one from 5,000 miles away and were to be aiming at the pitcher's mound of Yankee Stadium the missile would land somewhere inside the stadium.

How,they're guided by sophisticated electronics.

Although I'm no expert on such matters (me: M-14-1969-qualified two points lower than "expert") this had gotta be chalked up to luck more than anything else.

[buffaloguy]

The guy had a very good scope modified for this type of shooting and the first time he tried it he greased the dog. It worked!

[xone]

Does it count if he was firing into a group and happened to hit a target, but not necessarily the specific person that he was aiming at initially?

Two different shots.

[xone]

this had gotta be chalked up to luck more than anything else.

He did the math and the parameters didn't change in the time he finished the math and the time of flight. Strong skills, only luck was the parameters held.

[Gay State Conservative]

Well,I can't claim any real expertise in such matters.The biggest boast I can make about military marksmanship is that I scored two points below "Expert" when qualifying with my M-14 in 1969...which,admittedly,isn't particularly impressive.

But I'd still like to see figures of Armed Forces marksmen's achievements at 1/2 mile....1 mile...1 1/2 miles...2 miles.

[Redcitizen]

“...Actually you have to compensate for coriolis, the rotation of the earth!”

A lot of people do that after a few drinks. ;)

[Big Red Badger]

Billy Dixon!

[simon says what]

Yup! I shoot Ultra Long Range so I know a little. Latitude plays a role, the closer to the equator the more effect on the bullet. Basically, the earth spins fastest there and there is a higher amount of centrifugal force. The biggest correction you need to make our win shooting east or west. When shooting north or south you’re making a change to your azimuth as opposed to elevation. Bullets shot to the east fly higher and bullets fired to the west shoot low. When shooting to the north bullets fly to the right and to the south bullets fly to the left. You really don’t need to start making corrections and to start pushing back beyond about 1000 yards.

Excellent knowledge transfer. Thanks for sharing. I was in the army during peace time, but the longest distance I shot was 300yds with the M16. Thanks again for the information. Very interesting.