The Military Sniper is often associated with a certain reverence and awe, most likely due to the pure skill it takes to accomplish their mission. While most fighting units face the enemy in force these elite soldiers go out to face the enemy with only 2 men…and only one of them shoots. One shot, One kill is their motto. From over a mile away they aim for what is known as the apricot, which is actually the part of the brain where it connects to the brain stem in the back of the head. One shot here will immediately disable your target, meaning they will instantly collapse without any type of reflex.
All of this sounds great but, I’m sure to the dismay of many snipers, their job is much more mundane than going out and taking down entire army’s single handedly. Snipers are often used as scouts for reconnaissance because of their excellent attention to detail and also their skills in being close to the enemy while remaining undetected. But that part is not near as fun to blog about…so let’s talk about the skill it takes to pull of a great shot.
The longest range shot recorded for a sniper kill is currently held by Corporal Rob Furlong. Corporal Furlong used a McMillan TAC-50 bolt-action rifle to make a kill at 1.51 miles! Not bad for a Canadian...thought they just had a bunch of guys with hockey sticks as their army...just kidding Rob...Hold your fire. So let's look at the pure skill Corporal Furlong had to employ to make this shot before my office fills with a pink mist from my head.
First is the gravity. A bullet in flight has the same pull from gravity as a bullet you just drop from your hand meaning that if you dropped a bullet from your hand at the exact moment one was fired from a gun (parallel to the ground of course) they would both hit the ground at the same time assuming your hand and the gun were at the same height off the ground. So for the Tac-50, which has a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s, the bullet that Corporal Furlong fired would have been airborne for almost 3 seconds before it hit its target. That means the bullet would have dropped 144ft due to gravity in that time which basically accounts for lifting the barrel of the gun up 1 degree. If 1 degree could mean 144ft one way or the other you start to get an idea of the precision that it takes to pull off a shot like this...!!!
I am neglecting air resistance too! Now imagine that calculation with the wind blowing towards you or away from you if you're lucky but try and calculate it if it's a cross wind or even worse blowing at some angle (both towards you and to the right for instance). If you had a 3mph wind blowing from left to right then it would cause the bullet to move almost 4.5ft to the right in 3 seconds.
Curvature of the Earth is also something to consider. Unless you're still using leeches to bleed out the demons when you get a headache you know the Earth is not flat but is a sphere. For the distance Corporal Furlong shot the Earth curved 1.5 feet...when your aiming for something the size of, well, of an apricot, from 1.5 miles away...that's a BIG deal!
Spin of the Earth can also come into the equation but I'm not going to F with it...I've reached (and probably surpassed) the limits of my mathamatical abilities for the day. But the Earth spins about about 1500ft/s. The Atmosphere is not rigidly attached to the planet so it rotates at a different speed...you get the idea...hope so...my Mountain Dew has worn off and I really need to get some work done today.
5 comments:
yeah, I'm gonna play it safe and try NOT to piss off a sniper! ;)
The good thing is that I'd never see it coming!
lol. cool. i remember my kinematics days in physics. have a great day! :)
you left out whether it was a cold bore (meaning the first shot out of a cold weapon - a very critical factor), humidity, temp and that the wind (while measured at the bore) is going one direction/speed while downrange it's going another (a critical detail observation) also whether the shot travels over water (or goes through different temp/humidity zones on the way to the target) - all of these at ranges beyond 1000 yards play a factor. At 1.2 miles the round is effectively ~dropping~ through the target rather than shooting through them horizontal. Also don't forget about the kinetic energy required to eliminate the target when the round impacts so we can add powder to send the round to the mix.
I loved that you included curvature and rotation of the earth - 2 factors easily overlooked.
You mentioned the dual role snipers play in today's military. I appreciate you saying that since many people assume snipers are simply trigger pullers thanks to Hollywood. Trigger time is much less than one would assume.
Your comment above about never seeing it coming - incorrect. It's how the spotter (the other guy with the sniper) sees the round as it travels downrange to call the shot. The air disturbance can be seen, similiar to how you can see air moving off a hot road. If you were on the other end and lets assume you knew the shot was coming - you could see it as it traveled downrange towards you. The sound wave of course would follow some time after that (I would have thought you would have calculated that).
what a great subject, and you did a great job in a short amount of space to peel back a layer few people ever get to see.
One more line - "go ahead and run, you'll just die tired".
Semper Fi
I’ve learned that when a Military Sniper, especially a Marine, (especially a Marine that nearly started a war with Cuba as a joke) corrects you and gives you advice you should smile, nod, and never attempt an excuse otherwise you risk a K Bar being shoved through your trachea. URAH, DadTheDude!!!
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