Marine sniper credited with longest confirmed kill in Iraq...

Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing ^ | 1/2/05 | Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

[GarySpFc]

That is all well and good, but the receiver group on a machine gun is going to be loose as a goose, and there is no way of sighting in the gun at that range. Any shot made would be luck, nothing more.

[Tailback]

Apparently the M-2's cyclic rate is slow enough that you can fire individual shots.

Actually the design of the M-2 allows you to fire in either single shot or fully automatic mode. John Moses Browning was an absolute genius. The M-2's accuracy is also helped by the fact that it fires from the closed bolt in single action as opposed to most MG's that fire from the open bolt only. There is also no torque on the barrel from a gas system because the M-2 (and the similar M1919 light and heavy MG's of WWII) use a recoiling barrel system of operation. This system is a bit more heavy than a gas system but more accurate, simple, and reliable than gas. Once again, John Moses Browning was a genius.

[kellynla]

I don't doubt it, it's GarySpFc who you have to convince. LOL

[kellynla]

That is all well and good, but the receiver group on a machine gun is going to be loose as a goose, and there is no way of sighting in the gun at that range. Any shot made would be luck, nothing more.
the well documented facts say you are wrong. I suggest you read up on what actually happened.

[Tailback]

I'm guessing he just didn't spend much time with the M-2. People that do tend to get absolutely amazed at how much it's capable of. It was adopted in the 1920's by the Military and nobody has been able to come up with a better design yet. If you can't tell, I absolutely love the M-2. I was sent to armorers school in the regular army and learned a lot about the absolute genius involved in the design. If there was one guy I could bring back from the dead it would be John Browning. He also designed the M1911A1, the BAR, and the Browning Hi-Power to name a few.

[GarySpFc]

The M-2 receiver, barrel, and M-3 is the version I lugged and fired. I did read where it was used as by snipers, and I do remember setting range cards, but I cannot believe it would be more accurate than the Barrets.

"The M2 machine gun on the M3 tripod provided a very stable firing platform. Together with its slow rate of fire and its traversing and elevating mechanism, the M2 was used to a very limited extent as a sniper weapon during the Vietnam war at fixed installations such as firebases. Snipers prefired the weapons at identifiable targets and worked the data into range cards insuring increased first-round accuracy. The 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division constructed 20-30 foot high shooting platforms, adding steel base plates and posts to further stabilize the M2 on the M3 tripod. Together with the use of Starlight night vision scopes, the M2 severely limited enemy movement within 900 yards (1,000m) of the perimeter of a firebase."

[Tailback]

You weren't making a comparison to Barretts previously. I haven't fired Barretts in my career but I would have to guess that they at least as accurate and probably more accurate than the M-2. I would point out, however, until recently there hasn't been any match grade .50 ammo that can compare to the quality of the 7.62 M118 special ball. That means that even though the inherent accuracy of the Barrett may be better than the M-2, the actual accuracy difference might be statistically insignificant.

The "slop" you may have experienced in the M-2 could also be caused by the fact that they've been used and abused by less highly trained individuals than the folks that have access than Barretts over a much longer (decades) period of time. Compared to the Barrett I would say that you are correct that the M-2 is not necessarily a "sniper" grade weapon. As a person who participates in match shooting with a fairly extensive knowledge of the M-2 I'd be willing to bet a beer that the difference between the Barrett and M-2 is much smaller than you think.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[Rakkasan1]

I'm proud to say I have 2 autogrphed 8x10's hanging on the
wall at home of Gunny Hathcock.
God rest his soul.

[kellynla]

He was quite a guy and a hell of a Marine.

I join ya! God bless Gunny Hathcock!

Semper Fi,
Kelly

PS Have you read "Marine Sniper"?
If you haven't, I think you'd enjoy it.

[Rakkasan1]

Read it? I own it!

[sixburghfan]

Not at all clasified, THE United States MARINES does not care if hodgy and our other eanemies know what weapon systems they use, they can not stop it anyway. The weapon system used by this Recon Sniper is the long lived weapon of choice by the United States Marines, it is an icon of freedom, the Remington 700 or M40. As advertised itll wake the enemy up, just long enough to put em to sleep. The rem 700 shoots a .308 winchester round, however if i remember the story corectly, the marine hero in story rounded out on day one, for the rcord shot i believe he was using a similar round given to him by canadians it WAS jacketed differently and burned cooler than the winchester round giving it increased distance. But remember regardless of the weapon system a shot like this requires skill unmatched by any other than a Marine and his weapon.