this story is hard to believe. let me explain
at over a mile, my guess of bullet flight time is 2 seconds.
that means that the bullet will drop 64 feet from line of sight.
I just don’t think you can ‘hold’ 64 feet, and get within 2 feet of your target.
perhaps someone could enlighten me
The shooter may have been on a hill and he allowed for drop...and likely wind in his aim.
Not to pick nits with your answer but the vertical drop from line of sight would actually be 48 feet ... 16 feet in the first second and 32 feet in the second. And yes, if the sniper is positioned higher on the vertical than the target, the 48 feet figure would be reduced by the estimated vertical difference. The spotter figures all that out.
Helluva a shot in any case.
Yeah, cold-bore? One shot? Anything is possible, just not very likely. This is not like taking your deer rifle down to the local gun club range and sighting it in at 100 yds. You’d need a skilled spotter adjusting your fire and a quick follow-up shot. It’s more like an artillery strike.
There are such things as lucky shots you know!!!
“this story is hard to believe. let me explain”
I couldn’t do it . But it’s been being done since Vietnam days with the 50 cal. I believe the record was 2 miles from a Canadian sniper in Afghanistan
“I just don’t think you can ‘hold’ 64 feet, and get within 2 feet of your target. Perhaps someone could enlighten me”
We had weapons 40 years ago that could make the shot but we did not have the optics to put on those weapons that make the shot possible. Our optics today are incredible for these sniper weapons. You dial in altitude, temperature, humidity, and position. Position is important as it takes in the rotations of the earth relative to the direction of target. The toughest part is estimating wind across the terrain. The optics on these weapons cost much more than the rifle.
I can make a 500 yard shot with my very ordinary optics on a 300 Win Mag and my 7.62-51, both are Remington 700s. With optics costing many thousands I could do that 1 mile shot. I wish I could afford those optics, my wife would kill me if I bought them.
ps
With the advent of computer driven laths and machining the barrels on just an ordinary Remington and most manufactures of barrels are superior to the barrels costing thousands of dollars 50 years ago. A very high quality weapon can be bought today for just a few hundred dollars.