doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 2.14 mile shot.

I'm hoping this won't turn into a political bunfight but, just read in the newspaper that a Canadian sniper has recently made the longest confirmed kill in military history by picking off one of the enemy at 2.14 miles with a Mc Milllan TAC-50 rifle.
Apparently, the round took over ten seconds from leaving the muzzle to hitting the target.

Before that shot, the record was 1.54 miles.
Mindboggling !

It's mindboggling but not so much if factoring hits and misses and luck, according to persons invested in the craft I've been talking to. Taliban would have been using mountain trails and particular stops that snipers could have taped with hits and misses without Taliban around, similar to lines of fire in regular warfare. JTF-2 wouldn't have gone to all the confirming evidence otherwise, in my opinion. US and Canadian special forces have been working together for decades.

With your imaginary pal John F. Kennedy as your spotter King, I have no doubt you could do better... offhand... shooting with the rifle facing backward over your shoulder, and sighting with a mirror.

Then after knocking off the leader of the Taliban at a paltry 3 miles or so, you both could celebrate with a glass of your award winning wine which was actually made by someone else.

At a distance of 2.14 miles I expect the bullet would have gone subsonic? If so, would the target hear the shot or would the round hit before the sound?...Geo

50bmg should go below supersonic speed at 1600-1650 yards. That will vary depending on altitude, thinner air, and what grain bullet is used. At 2000 yards I calculate the drop to be near 180' . My math may be off a little, 10% little because there are so many variables. Point is that any shot at 2k is near the extreme end of equipment and shooter. Not saying it can't be done but not by me for sure given fifty chances or five hundred. Hats off to those who can.

I believe that sound travels at around 1050 ft per second (give or take) if the shot was fired 2 miles away and it was in the air for 10 seconds the muzzle report would be well behind (plus was a moderator fitted) but it's a question of how far before the round slows to sub sonic and whether that would make enough sound to be audible from the position of the target.
It was at this point that I broke out in a sweat and realised why I failed my maths exam in school. I'm going to have a cup of tea and a lie down now but if anyone fancies doing the sums I'd be interested to know the outcome

I don't believe it.....

Alright I broke down and did the math. A 750 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity if 2750 fps, which is a fairly average 50 cal BMG round, will drop -2275.7" at 2000 yards. Shooting into any wind would make it more. That's assuming calm conditions. Converted into feet is 189.6 feet drop. On top of that the bullet will drift due to spin and the Earths rotation. But those factors have already been worked before hand and they get added into the setting for the scope. Might be 10' or might be more. My minds tired from figuring out the drop.

I once killed a crow with a .22 lr in my youth. Had a 30 -35 mph cross wind and the crow was 200 plus yards away. .22 was sighted for 50 yards I think. Anyways I held about 4 1/2' into the wind and 3' above the crow shooting off hand. No rest. Just a pure guess work shot kids take while leading its harder than it looks. Bullet took a couple seconds of reach the crow and killed it instantly. As luck would have it I even had a witness. If I had to do it again I could not hit it once in a hundred times.

John M, I wasn't a bad shot, placed well in the Earl Roberts Memorial Shoot for British Commonwealth high school cadets, using .303 Lee-Enfields. open sights over 100-500 yards.

I'm a viticulturist/grape grower who sells to wineries, who label the winery, type of grape, name of vineyard and the owner. It takes a good grape to make a good wine, and ours has won won 34 national and international awards.

Making good wine is not rocket science. The local winemaker and myself sampled my first L'Acadie after two days on fermentation. He said it would go straight to the top. It won gold at Chicago.

If your shift makes you growly, suggest change your shift.