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Canadian elite Special Forces Sniper makes world record-breaking kill shot in Iraq

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A sniper with Canada's elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,450 metres.

Sources say a member of Joint Task Force 2 killed an Islamic State insurgent with a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.

”The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces," said a military source, who stressed the operation fell within the strictures of the government's advise and assist mission. ”Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn't have a clue what was happening."

The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.

”Hard data on this. It isn't an opinion. It isn't an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was," another military source said.
A military insider told The Globe: ”This is an incredible feat. It is a world record that might never be equalled."

The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner with a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle from 2,475 metres away in 2009.

Previously, Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong had set the world record in 2002 at 2,430 metres when he gunned down an Afghan insurgent carrying an RPK machine gun during Operation Anaconda.

Weeks before, Canadian Master Cpl. Arron Perry briefly held the world's best sniper record after he fatally shot an insurgent at 2,310 metres during the same operation. Both soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...d-breaking-kill-shot-in-iraq/article35415651/
Beat out the previous record by about a kilometer.

For Americans, 3450 meters is about 2.14 miles
 
Man, when you start factoring for the Coriolis Effect to line up a shot you're honestly closer to rocket science than conventional marksmanship.
 
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim based on thousands of hours of experience? Also, I wonder if this was a one and done or if he was taking multiple shots at targets in the same area and this one just happened to land.
 
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim? Is he taking multiple shots at the same target?

I mean, normally you just use a range-finder to get the distance and hopefully it's pretty close to an interval you've previously ranged the weapon at. You do a bit of windage, spare a thought for leading the target to account for travel time.

This kind of shot? God only knows. His spotter might have been doing some gee-whiz tech work to set it up.
 

VariantX

Member
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim? Is he taking multiple shots at the same target?

I think they do. I think they also have to take into account temperature and wind too.
 

Allforce

Member
I get the skill needed to kill a human being but I'd really like the "world record" for sniper shots to be something like hitting a watermelon at that range.

Also then I could actually watch it being done.
 
I get the skill needed to kill a human being but I'd really like the "world record" for sniper shots to be something like hitting a watermelon at that range.

Also then I could actually watch it being done.

There are separate marksmanship records for sport or test shooting. This is specific to a live target. I'm sure if you poke around YouTube there's footage of people making ridiculously long shots on various targets that I do not personally need in my search history.
 

kswiston

Member
~10 seconds is a long time to wait to see if you landed your shot. That would probably feel like 5 minutes when you are in that situation.
 
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim based on thousands of hours of experience? Also, I wonder if this was a one and done or if he was taking multiple shots at targets in the same area and this one just happened to land.

Yes there is the coriolis effect which needs to be accounted for at range. They have a spotter to help those things as well.
 

linkboy

Member
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim based on thousands of hours of experience? Also, I wonder if this was a one and done or if he was taking multiple shots at targets in the same area and this one just happened to land.

Snipers usually only get one shot, since their cover is instantly blown if they miss, and their targets will spread out.

That's what makes the shot so incredible (for all the wrong reasons).
 

gaugebozo

Member
Why would they need such a thing?
Best guess, gravity doesn't pull straight, it pulls towards the center of the earth. When you move far enough, the gravity felt by the bullet would pull slightly differently than if you assumed it was straight down.
 
hockey medals and sniping records it's how we do now in the 00s

what's the world record moose kill tho hhhh growing up i was with my dad he made like a 900m shot across a lake up north BC once ;p took like an hour just to get over there to get it (mostly cuz it was a lake with a forested shore lol). basically thought he was the greatest haha
 

RS4-

Member
Do snipers actually do calculations for the curvature of the earth or do they just instinctively have a sense of how they need to aim based on thousands of hours of experience? Also, I wonder if this was a one and done or if he was taking multiple shots at targets in the same area and this one just happened to land.

You have to coriolis (on top of the usual stuff like wind, etc) into effect when you're taking shots over x distance. Shooting north at 1000 yards is different than doing so, say westward.
There's even more shit to calculate if you're shooting from elevated iirc, distance is sorta calculated differently.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
Last paragraph in the excerpt is confusing. How could that other guy have had the record at 2310 metres a few weeks earlier? Or am I reading something wrong?
 
Ghillie suit kings.
relatively are pretty kingly for the same of our army

http://nationalpost.com/g00/news/canada/best-shooter-in-canadas-military-has-a-long-red-ponytail

"Despite its relatively small army, Canada has a recognized penchant to turn out uncannily good shooters.

One of history's deadliest snipers is Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ontario Ojibwa who killed 378 Germans during the First World War.

During the war in Afghanistan, two successive Canadians broke the world record for longest recorded sniper kill. In March, 2002 Arron Perry hit a Taliban fighter from a distance of 2,310 metres. Only a few days later, Rob Furlong bested the record with a hit at 2,430 metres.

Canada has long had the benefit of recruiting its soldiers from a populace that is relatively accustomed to shooting moose, geese and the like. And according to Danylyshyn, it has bred a strong culture of marksmanship in the Canadian Forces."

lol at the bold
 
From the article

The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,450 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.

“It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling,” said a source with expertise in training Canadian special forces.

“You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth.”

That... that is a lot to take into account
 
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