Giving the Good News - New sniper record

[Angus Cowman]

Heck of a shot

A guy who bought some land across from me was a sniper in the military and he has worked for the Madison Wisconsin police Dept for around 20 yrs he has some serious rifles

 

[HOSS]

Not knocking our military snipers in any way but, ya'll want to beware of fellas you run into at the range wearing a sniper t-shirt and a generic boonie hat.

I watched one such fellow shoot 2 boxes of ammo thru a brand new Savage tactical rife a couple of years ago trying to find a zero. I asked him as we were walking down to put up some targets where he attended sniper school and he said with a sneer"which time".

I ended up cleaning his rifle for him and getting him zereod in 2 shots. He was not a "sniper"

I see these guys at the range all of the time. Usually wearing fatigues and a black t-shirt with a skull and a Kill'em All" type slogan. I have known and trained with many military snipers from the Army, Marines and even SEALS. I also attended the basic marksmanship and hides portion of sniper school as part of a program to create marksmen (sniper-lite) at the platoon level. I have never met any real sniper from any branch that acted like this. They are usually reserved and even somewhat reclusive. They are very professional and you would not know who they were if you met them on the range, wal-mart, bar or at church. At the range you would note their performance and they might tell you if they got to know you some. There has been such a stigma in the public about snipers that most don't advertise. Allot of people outside of the military look upon snipers as cold-blooded killers, murderers, back shooters or cowards. In reality it is a very dangerous job in very uncomfortable situations. 90% of a snipers job is recon and intel. The shooting is performed for startegic reasons or to protect other friendlies in an operation. Snipers are very dedicated, tough and have high I.Q's. It takes a special individual to be able to compartmentalize the job of killing in a legal, planned, pre-meditated way and go back to his family and regular life. The yahoos at the range in fatigues and boonie hat are just wannabe's that have watched too many movies.

 

[3waycross]

Not knocking our military snipers in any way but, ya'll want to beware of fellas you run into at the range wearing a sniper t-shirt and a generic boonie hat.

I watched one such fellow shoot 2 boxes of ammo thru a brand new Savage tactical rife a couple of years ago trying to find a zero. I asked him as we were walking down to put up some targets where he attended sniper school and he said with a sneer"which time".

I ended up cleaning his rifle for him and getting him zereod in 2 shots. He was not a "sniper"

I see these guys at the range all of the time. Usually wearing fatigues and a black t-shirt with a skull and a Kill'em All" type slogan. I have known and trained with many military snipers from the Army, Marines and even SEALS. I also attended the basic marksmanship and hides portion of sniper school as part of a program to create marksmen (sniper-lite) at the platoon level. I have never met any real sniper from any branch that acted like this. They are usually reserved and even somewhat reclusive. They are very professional and you would not know who they were if you met them on the range, wal-mart, bar or at church. At the range you would note their performance and they might tell you if they got to know you some. There has been such a stigma in the public about snipers that most don't advertise. Allot of people outside of the military look upon snipers as cold-blooded killers, murderers, back shooters or cowards. In reality it is a very dangerous job in very uncomfortable situations. 90% of a snipers job is recon and intel. The shooting is performed for startegic reasons or to protect other friendlies in an operation. Snipers are very dedicated, tough and have high I.Q's. It takes a special individual to be able to compartmentalize the job of killing in a legal, planned, pre-meditated way and go back to his family and regular life. The yahoos at the range in fatigues and boonie hat are just wannabe's that have watched too many movies.

Funny thing about that fellow was he could actually shoot pretty well(he was a good trigger puller) but he didn't know squat about rifles of ballistics. I have a very good friend who was a shooting instructor in the Army. He told me he flunked out of sniper school twice. He went on to be the world record holder @ 1000 yds for score.
He and I used to play a game with a couple of other friends shooting 8oz pop cans at 450 to 550 yds where a friend would call the can and you had 15 seconds, and one shot, to hit it. You could not change your scope settings and had to shoot with no use of a rangefinder Just estimate and fire. We got real good at it and none of us would have made a pimple on a snipers be nice. This same guy had my 12 yr old son hitting a one square foot target a 1000 yards with pretty good regularity. I agree with Hoss it takes a lot more than a good shot to be a sniper. My buddy Bill told me many times that he just wasn't smart enuf to do the job, but by God he sure can shoot.

 

[AngusLimoX]

I assume most of you have read "One Shot One Kill" about Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock???

If you haven't you should make a real effort to get your hands on a copy. Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills in Nam and the book is a pick it up and not be able to put it down till the last page kind of read. A real US hero. And as HOSS mentioned , even in his time there were military folks who didn't understand the kind of "force multiplyer" a sniper could be.

There was a second book as well that I have had my eye out for at stores, White Feather or something similar?

I loaned my copy of OSOK to a "friend" who I haven't seen in 15 years, guess what my first words will be to the dickweed when I see him!!

 

[VanC]

I assume most of you have read "One Shot One Kill" about Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock???

If you haven't you should make a real effort to get your hands on a copy. Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills in Nam and the book is a pick it up and not be able to put it down till the last page kind of read. A real US hero. And as HOSS mentioned , even in his time there were military folks who didn't understand the kind of "force multiplyer" a sniper could be.

There was a second book as well that I have had my eye out for at stores, White Feather or something similar?

I loaned my copy of OSOK to a "friend" who I haven't seen in 15 years, guess what my first words will be to the dickweed when I see him!!

Great book, and Hathcock was a man to be admired. Didn't know there was a more recent book out. I did some checking and it's called "Whitefeather". Amazon has it.

 

[AngusLimoX]

Got some pm's on it Van and Barnes and Noble has it as well.

 

[Sean M]

My first recall of something to do with "sniping" was a movie, I think called Sugarland Express.

There was a scene where a couple of local "marksmen" were called out by the police to deal with Goldie Hawn and her boyfriend.
Probably some places where things haven't changed much.

They should have got Ga.prime out there, he can shoot a bird on a wire :banana: .

 

[ga.prime]

[youtube]6thuiB_Kl7E?[/youtube]
That's right, Sean! I coulda played Blondie!

 

[rusty]

From what I have read the spotter is the one who has to do the figures on the shot and also has to be able to make the shot.Pulling the trigger is the easy part.

 

[gimpyrancher]

Rusty,

Easy part? :shock:

 

[TexasBred]

From what I have read the spotter is the one who has to do the figures on the shot and also has to be able to make the shot.Pulling the trigger is the easy part.

That doesn't even deserve a response.