[Texas_Jarhead]

no, .223 is not a typical sniper round

[Rebelbase]

I shot of box of the .22 subsonic this past summer. It makes almost as much noise as a regular .22 long and did'nt have that great a pentration.

[Pahuanui]

No, it's not.

.308/7.62mm and up are usually the call of the day, along with other foreign rounds like .338 Lapua (derived, if memory serves, from a .416 case) all the way up to .50 cal.

[Chad]

But the .223 could be used in compact, more easily concealed rifles similar to the Mini-14, or short barrel versions of the AR-15.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

From what I've heard, a .308 is a lot more typical for a sniper round.

[x1stcav]

From what I've heard so far, the ranges are under 400 meters and therefore one doesn't need the superior ballistic coefficient of the 7.62mm. 5.56mm is very flat shooting, low report, and as another poster pointed out, the weapon can be very compact. Also, easier to teach a quickly trained individual how to handle the recoil. The round doesn't have penetrating ability as the jerk found out the first shot when he tried to place a shot through a window and missed.

[Hugin]

OTOH, .223 is very low recoil which means it is easier for most people to be accurate with since they don't develop a flinch. They are quite popular as varmint hunting rifles. Also the sniper is using expanding hunting ammo, which is illegal for the military. That makes it more deadly than the same armor peircing military round.

[RightWhale]

The sniper is apparently shooting 100-200 yards. The round is totally adequate at that distance for a medium weight target, although for heavier targets such as moose or elk it would not be adequate. One question is whether the 223s are factory load or hand-loaded. Hand loads can produce much greater repeatable accuracy; factory loads have a wide muzzle velocity spread that would adversely affect longrange shots. But 100-200 yards isn't long range. 100 yards is a pistol shot, although 223 in a pistol would be kind of harsh on the shooter and still wouldn't have the power of a long barrel weapon.

[RLK]

It depends upon what is defined as a sniper. At 300 yards a 20-06 is jusy getting started. There was a high school kid two years ago shooting at small targets at 1,000 yards with an M14. I think his name was Schuster. 100 yards is not sniping in my book. It's close range. The idiot in Maryland is not a sniper in all probability. He can use any caliber or weapon he wants. Thirty years ago I used to regularly shoot at 100 yards with a Ruger single .22 pistol. (Today, I can't even see 100 yards. I'm down to three inch targets at 75 feet with pistol.

[Pushi]

No, and this sniper is no typical sniper. In spite of what the ignorant anti-gun politicians are ranting, I am at least that good a shot--and I don't consider myself an accomplished rifleman.

[SBprone]

Military sniping has almost always employed .30 cal rifles and very recently has gone to .50 cal in some applications. These rounds give longer reach (much longer for the .50) than the modern .22 Nato and Russian service rifle rounds.

The .223 is a very deadly cartridge within about 200yds or so, as is the Russian .22 used in the AK-74 which the Afgans call the "poison bullet." Given that the .30s are louder and slightly more work to shoot, and that the objective of the shooter(s) is to inspire terror and not to make a humane kill, I would say that they made an excellent choice with the .223.

I hope our guys make them eat some .30s.

[yarddog]

Well actually, the .223 would be a pretty darn good choice for urban/suburban sniping. Now that I think about it a .22 magnum would be pretty efficient at close ranges.

I had not even thought about it until now but it is entirely possible that it is a .22 magnum. It shoots a lightly jacketed .224 diameter bullet.

I suspect that the cops actually know exactly the type cartridge and rifle which is being used but are for some reason not giving details.

A .308 would be better for longer ranges but one of the high capacity .338's or 300 magnums would be even better.

[icantbleaveit]

"is the .223 a typical 'sniper' round? "

No but there's enough of them in the country to fight the UN forces who want to take them away.

[cryptical]

afterall, wouldnt they be using eastern block type caliber?

I know someone will correct me, but there are more accurate .223 rifles than 7.62x39. Availability is probably a factor as well, although both are reasonably available.

[BIGZ]

The caliber .223 Remington cartridge, 55 grains, factory load, drops 3.5 inches in 100 to 200 yards, 13.1 inches at 300 yards. One would have to be a very good shot even at 100, to 200 yards. Not a sniper rifle, these people are morons who talk this way. On TV last night the Media was talking about 4 mile shots, this is obviously a 50 cal. sniper rifle not a .223.

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE DO.

[genefromjersey]

For urban use, an IDEAL " sniper " round : fired at close ranges,a fast-moving varmint-style bullet would be devastating. Move out to the 200-300 yard line, and it would still be pretty deadly-just not as expansive.

I do believe the word "sniper" is being misused somewhat- mainly because it fits media pre-conceptions.

To the media, a sniper is anyone who fires a shot from concealment-or without being noticed-regardless of range.

To the media, a rifle is automatically a high-powered rifle- even if it's great grandpaw's old .44/40 lever action.

Similarly, any rifle using the 5.56mm / .223 caliber cartridge is automatically an "assault rifle " - even if it's a single shot pistol ,or a bolt action, small magazine repeating rifle . The media "knows" this is a "military cartridge" - even though it was based on an older .22 centerfire woodchuck/varmint load , developed in the late 50's. The performance of the two rounds would be very nearly identical.

[DoughtyOne]

These are my gutt fellings. I could be wrong. Others should chime in.

I don't think the 0.223 has much powder behind it when compared with the larger rounds mentioned on this thread.  I believe the fifty caliber is the military weapon of choice.  Lesser calibers would work for lesser ranges.  I don't believe the 0.223 is accurate for much more than 200 yards.  Others may disagree.  I've heard the media rattling off figures like 400 yards.  I wouldn't agree with that.

The combination of the light slug, plus the limited powder behind it, make the 0.223 an unreliable weapon except in peacetime use such as we are seeing.  The slug is light enough that wind could affect it's accuracy quite a bit.  And the rain this morning would play havoc with it as well.

The 0.308 or 7.62mm rounds are superior to the 0.223.  I'd think the 0.308 would be accurate for between 300 and 400 yards.  The 7.62 could be accurate for 800 yards or more.  But the 50 caliber would be accurate for serveral thousand yards.

The shape of the actual slugs is also important.

With any of these slugs, it's accuracy would depend to a large degree on the weapon used, it's length of barrel and the sighting system employed.  Course the final variant is the shooter himself.  Evidently this guy has become quite adept at using his weapon.

[Radioactive]

A Thompson Contender single shot pistol in .223 caliber can be a very accurate weapon. With a scope, it is still small enough to be concealable yet accurate enough to do what this maniac is doing. Carrying around a mini 14 or an AR15 is not the smart thing to do.

I would think a Thompson Contender would be more of a choice in order to conceal and for accuracy.

IMHO----I would shoot this sick sob in the head and keep him away from the lawyers if he is ever caught.

They are now saying that there are several people who may be involved. Sounds to me like a terrorist situatuion.

[LibKill]

No. A .223 is more of an urban 'counter-sniper' round.

That is to say that most cops have AR-15s or similar rifles in their lockers and would use them to take out a sniper, if they can find him.

Seriously, any caliber from .22 rimfire on up could be used for murder.

I hope they take this !@#$!^^&&!! out soon.

[shootist]

Want sniper cal? 22-250 Ackley imp., 243 Ackley imp. or factory 243, but the best 257 Ackley imp with 87gr bullet at 3400 fps