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Carlos Hathcock Method of Sighting in a Rifle
Am Shooting Journal ^ | G Fisher

Posted on 04/20/2018 7:11:34 AM PDT by w1n1

Sighting in a rifle is an important thing to do if you want your rifle to be dead on when taking a shot.
Which brings us to the Carlos Hathcock way of sighting in a rifle.
For those that don’t know who Carlos Hathcock is, he was a United States Marine Corps (USMC) sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills.
Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He was a serious threat to the NVA (North Vietnamese Army), which they placed a bounty of U.S. $30,000 on Hathcock’s head.
The following is a story by Gus Fisher a retired MGySgt USMC who talks of the time he met Carlos.
What was unique was the way Carlos had taught Gus to sight in a rifle.

Here's a short excerpt:
I bought a sporterized Mauser in .308 with a scope on it from a fellow Marine during the time I was going through the Armorer’s OJT program on Camp Pendleton. I used that for ground squirrel hunting, but was never really satisfied with my zero on the rifle.
So after I came up on “The Big Team,” I asked the second senior Armorer – Ted Hollabaugh, if he could show me how to REALLY sight in a rifle with a scope. He said sure and he would do it, but since we had all the talent in the world at MTU, why didn't I ask one of the shooters?
Well, I was a young kid and I didn’t know any of the shooters that well – most of them were much older than I. That’s when he suggested I ask Carlos Hathcock for some help.
I didn't know Carlos then and did not know of his exploits in NM and Sniper shooting. Ted talked to Carlos about it and Carlos stopped by the shop later that afternoon.

Carlos looked at me and said, "So you want to sight in your rifle, eh? OK, thoroughly clean the bore and chamber. Dry the bore out with patches just before you come down to Range 4 tomorrow at noon on the 200 yard line. Have the sling on the rifle that you are going to use in hunting." Then he went on about his business.

When I got to Range 4 the next day, he had a target in the air ready for me. He told me to get down in the best prone position I had. He checked me and adjusted my position just a bit. Then he said, “Before you shoot.
The MOST important thing I want you to do is take your time and make it the best shot possible. It doesn’t matter how long you take, just make it a good shot.
ALSO, and this is as important, make sure you give me an accurate call on where you think the bullet hit the target.” After I broke the shot, I told him where I thought the bullet had hit.
He checked it by using a spotting scope when the target came back up. He grinned just slightly and said, "not a bad call." He then took a screwdriver and adjusted my scope a bit. He had me record everything possible about the shot and weather, humidity, temperature, wind, how I felt when the shot went off, what kind of ammo I was using, the date, and virtually everything about the conditions on the range that day. Read the rest of Carlos Hathcock method of sighting a rifle story here.


TOPICS: Hobbies; Military/Veterans; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: banglist; carloshathcock; hathcock; sniper
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1 posted on 04/20/2018 7:11:34 AM PDT by w1n1
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To: w1n1

Sounds like “Long Trang” recalled and passed on basic marksmanship training from boot camp. These was the same process taught to we humble lieutenants at The Basic School, which are still taught to this day.


2 posted on 04/20/2018 7:26:27 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: w1n1

Interesting article!


3 posted on 04/20/2018 7:28:42 AM PDT by caver
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To: w1n1

Interesting read.
Thanks


4 posted on 04/20/2018 7:31:24 AM PDT by Tamatoa (Fight for our America, Fight for our Country I fought to defend!!!)
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To: w1n1

Excellent read!


5 posted on 04/20/2018 7:32:47 AM PDT by Howie66 ("Tone down the tagline please." - Admin Moderator)
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To: w1n1

Bookmark.


6 posted on 04/20/2018 7:33:10 AM PDT by SunTzuWu
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To: w1n1

Thanks for sharing. Excellent advice.


7 posted on 04/20/2018 7:36:50 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: w1n1

Thanks for posting. That was the best read of the year.


8 posted on 04/20/2018 7:40:17 AM PDT by FXRP (Just me and the pygmy pony)
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To: w1n1

Thanks for posting. That was the best read of the year.


9 posted on 04/20/2018 7:40:18 AM PDT by FXRP (Just me and the pygmy pony)
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To: w1n1

That awkward moment when the Communist Insurgency uses the profit motive to try to kill an enemy


10 posted on 04/20/2018 7:40:37 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: w1n1

Four inches of snow on the ground at Camp Pendleton??? He must have moved to Camp Lejeune somewhere in that story.


11 posted on 04/20/2018 7:50:29 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: w1n1

BFL


12 posted on 04/20/2018 7:54:51 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Perhaps we should care less about who we may offend and care more about who we may inspire.)
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To: w1n1

For later/ Thanks for posting.


13 posted on 04/20/2018 8:11:43 AM PDT by matthew fuller (Thank God for Donald J. Trump- El Presidente Por La Vida !!)
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To: w1n1
Per Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Hathcock

Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honored by having a rifle named after him: a variant of the M21 dubbed the Springfield Armory M25 White Feather, for the nickname "White Feather" given to Hathcock by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).

During the Vietnam War, Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills of North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong personnel.[4] In the Vietnam War, kills had to be confirmed by an acting third party, who had to be an officer, besides the sniper's spotter. Snipers often did not have an acting third party present, making confirmation difficult, especially if the target was behind enemy lines, as was usually the case.

Hathcock estimated that he had killed between 300 and 400 enemy personnel during his time in Vietnam.[5]

The North Vietnamese Army placed a bounty of US$30,000 on Hathcock's life for killing so many of their men. Rewards put on U.S. snipers by the NVA typically ranged from $8 to $2,000. Hathcock held the record for highest bounty and killed every known Vietnamese marksman who sought him to collect it.[6] The Viet Cong and NVA called Hathcock Du kích Lông Trắng, translated as "White Feather Sniper", because of the white feather he kept in a band on his bush hat.[7][8][9] After a platoon of Vietnamese snipers was sent to hunt down "White Feather", many Marines in the same area donned white feathers to deceive the enemy. These Marines were aware of the impact Hathcock's death would have and took it upon themselves to make themselves targets in order to confuse the counter-snipers.[10]

One of Hathcock's most famous accomplishments was shooting an enemy sniper through the enemy's own rifle scope, hitting him in the eye and killing him.[11][12][13][14] Hathcock and John Roland Burke, his spotter, were stalking the enemy sniper in the jungle near Hill 55, the firebase from which Hathcock was operating, southwest of Da Nang. The sniper, known only as the "Cobra," had already killed several Marines and was believed to have been sent specifically to kill Hathcock.[10] When Hathcock saw a flash of light (light reflecting off the enemy sniper's scope) in the bushes, he fired at it, shooting through the scope and killing the sniper. Surveying the situation, Hathcock concluded that the only feasible way he could have put the bullet straight down the enemy's scope, through his eye, would have been if both snipers were zeroing in on each other at the same time, which gave him only a few seconds to act, and Hathcock fired first.[10] Given the flight time of rounds at long ranges, the snipers could have simultaneously killed one another.[15] Hathcock took possession of the dead sniper's rifle, hoping to bring it home as a "trophy", but after he turned it in and tagged it, it was stolen from the armory.[16]

A female Viet Cong sniper, platoon commander, and interrogator known as "Apache," because of her methods of torturing U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese Army (SVA/ARVN) troops and letting them bleed to death, was killed by Hathcock. This was a major morale victory as "Apache" was terrorizing the troops around Hill 55.[17]

Hathcock only once removed the white feather from his bush hat while deployed in Vietnam.[18] During a volunteer mission days before the end of his first deployment, he crawled over 1,500 yards of field to shoot a high-ranking NVA officer.[19] He was not informed of the details of the mission until he accepted it.[15] This effort took four days and three nights, without sleep, of constant inch-by-inch crawling.[19] Hathcock said he was almost stepped on as he lay camouflaged with grass and vegetation in a meadow shortly after sunset.[2] At one point he was nearly bitten by a bamboo viper, but had the presence of mind to avoid moving and giving up his position.[19] As the officer exited his encampment, Hathcock fired a single shot that struck the officer in the chest, killing him.[20][21][22][23][self-published source]

After the arduous mission of killing the NVA officer, Hathcock returned to the United States in 1967.[15][19] He missed the Marine Corps, however, and returned to Vietnam in 1969, where he took command of a platoon of snipers.[10]

He fell into a state of depression when he was forced out of the Marines because he felt as if the service had kicked him out. During this depression, his wife Jo nearly left him but decided to stay. Hathcock eventually picked up the hobby of shark fishing, which helped him overcome his depression.[27]

Hathcock provided sniper instruction to police departments and select military units, such as SEAL Team Six.[28]

Hathcock died on February 22, 1999, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, from complications resulting from multiple sclerosis.[33] He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

14 posted on 04/20/2018 8:16:18 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: w1n1

Ping for later


15 posted on 04/20/2018 8:18:00 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: w1n1

Great story. If you want to read more about Carlos Hathcock, check out the book “Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed Kills” by Charles Henderson. A real interesting book about the Sgt.


16 posted on 04/20/2018 8:24:31 AM PDT by dwg2
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To: dwg2

GREAT book.

~W


17 posted on 04/20/2018 8:44:30 AM PDT by wheresmyusa (A knight without armor in a savage land...)
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To: pfflier

Likely camp Perry.


18 posted on 04/20/2018 8:47:27 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: w1n1

Bfl


19 posted on 04/20/2018 9:01:34 AM PDT by pigsmith (Liberals can't make the connection between their politics and the decline of everything around them.)
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To: w1n1

ping 4 later


20 posted on 04/20/2018 9:04:46 AM PDT by READINABLUESTATE
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