Posted on 03/07/2008 9:27:50 AM PST by Stoat
It is the latest weapon on the front line against the Taliban - the British Army's most powerful-ever sniper rifle, capable of killing with pinpoint accuracy from more than a mile away.
Yesterday the Army showed off its new Long Range Rifle, which has just entered service with combat units in Afghanistan to replace smaller and less powerful weapons.
The £11million upgrade programme is part of a "renaissance" of the sniper tradition - which during the Cold War was largely relegated to the sidelines - as modern commanders rediscover the huge value of pinpoint fire from sharpshooters.
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The new weapon, the L115A3, fires a heavier bullet to much longer ranges and has a state-of-the-art telescopic sight with twice the magnifying power of the old version.
More than 500 are on order from the British manufacturers, Accuracy International.
Since British forces moved into Helmand Province two years ago to take on the Taliban, demand for snipers has soared and 120 a year are now passing through the specialist training school at Warminster in Wiltshire.
One said: "It's a huge step forward. I'll be using the new rifle in Afghanistan this summer.
"It's a little heavier to carry, but the extra power is worth it. The improved telescopic sight can cut through the heat haze, which was preventing us from spotting targets at longer ranges."
Sniping is proving a hugely-important tactic in Afghanistan, where the difficulty of fighting among maze-like compounds and thick vegetation necessitates attacking the enemy at long range.
The controversy over so-called "collateral damage" from devastating airstrikes killing innocent civilians adds to the advantages of a pinpoint attack.
A senior officer at the Weapons Support School in Warminster said: "With the new rifle we now expect to be able to engage a target at 1,500 metres. With the old version it was about 1,000 metres.
"That makes a massive difference. You can keep the enemy at arm's length with snipers. Or you can have several of them firing simultaneously.
"It is devastating for an enemy's morale if a number of their fighters are suddenly shot at the same instant, and they can't even see where the firing is coming from. They tend to withdraw fast."
Training an infantryman to become a sniper can take up to a year, and only the most talented soldiers are allowed even to start the demanding courses.
First a candidate must master the technical aspects of shooting, learning to judge the strength of the wind extremely accurately using a variety of clues, and to adjust aim accordingly.
Just as importantly a sniper must learn to track his prey, move into position with extreme stealth, camouflage himself perfectly whether in natural cover or a battle-scarred city, and then disappear just as stealthily.
The senior officer said: "There is a long waiting list. Battalions are desperate to send soldiers here for training, and every soldier wants to be a sniper.
"They're held in extremely high regard. This new rifle will make them even more effective."
1600. 800m run is about 1/2 mile, 400m is about1/4 mile. Roughly 1.1 yards per meter (1.094)
There’s a difference between “accurate” and “harmful”. The former is the ability to pierce a mellon deliberately from a mile, the latter is the potential to pierce a mellon that happens to be wherever the bullet comes down.
Thing about the Sandy Hook Tests: yes they were hitting targets (large ones) at two miles, but they were using the .45-70 more like artillery at that point, lobbing rounds in the general direction. They laid out planks of wood across large areas and noted how deep the penetration was (when anything hit the area).
The .338 featured above is far more precise.
Most of the comments at all of the linked article pages that allow comments are indeed dreadful.....the sort that we might expect from DU or ANSWER here in the USA. When I was putting this post together I stopped reading them because they are so disheartening. It seems that many of the posters at those sites didn't stop to think that if it hadn't been for Snipers as well as our other Armed Forces they wouldn't be able to have a computer and internet and make inane, snippy, hysterical and anonymous comments about things which they know nothing.
They would be saluting Der Fuhrer and abiding by the whims of the local muslim Gauleiter. What utter nincompoops.
“8.59mm? What is the cartridge based on. “
Its a 338.
Thanks for posting; I do enjoy reading about 'new military technology'...
Over 14 lbs, nah, too heavy for this kid.
Barrett is better
You're quite welcome and I'm delighted that you've found it interesting :-)
yeah, but the lob on those could likely take out a low flying copter that might get in its way :)
...ffffffffffft...bloosh...plop..."Achmed! Achmed!"...distant pop...running...
what does heavy matter if you can shoot from a mile away?
just set up right on your back porch. :)
However, I do agree that the results would be about the same.
+1. my leupold is about useless over 14x unless i clamp the thing down.
I was wondering what that was - a .50 wouldn’t blow up a person like that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_BMG
I was thinking of cartridge (case) capacity in grains. I am a handloader. Now that I know what case it is, I can check it out in my handloading books. Bet it kicks.
This round is effectively a .340 Weatherby without the belt. It has about 200 fps on the .338 Win, which is to say it does the exact same thing 100 yards further out.
People have been killing deer with .338s for 50 years, they don’t shred anything
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