Same crack sniper rifle killed SEVEN British soldiers in Basra with American-made bullets

Daily Mail ^ | 9th April 2008 | Staffer

[Lurker]

I've pinged Archy and Squantos as they may be able to supply a few more details.

L

[Trailerpark Badass]

Most by the rifling.

They're both 1x7 twist. The M16A2/A4/M4 all have 6 grooves, IIRC. Don't know how many grooves the L85 has. The Brits don't use the M249, do they? Just the GPMG, I think.

[the scotsman]

Exactly what the journalist concerned needs...lol

[Squantos]

Gonna be Mk 262 Mod O or Mod 1 ammo is my “””guess””” using a stolen / battle field pickup Mk 12 rifle w/ 3-10X optics......

[Trailerpark Badass]

Gonna be Mk 262 Mod O or Mod 1 ammo

Good point, didn't think of that.

[Trailerpark Badass]

But is Lake City making MK262 now?

[Squantos]

I think there is some of that being made by LC but NOT SURE AT ALL.......... I will research and get back too ya !

Stay safe !

[Squantos]

http://stevespages.com/pdf/5_56mm_military_info.pdf

[archy]

Gonna be Mk 262 Mod O or Mod 1 ammo is my “””guess””” using a stolen / battle field pickup Mk 12 rifle w/ 3-10X optics......

If it's 5.56mm. But it could be 7.62 NATO M118LR with a 175 gr. Match HPBT.

Remember this little episode from 2002? I don't know that the Israelis ever caught up with that shooter, either.

IDF sources reported that a lone Palestinian sniper, probably trained by Force 17 and using an old World War II-era carbine outfitted with a telescopic sight, had taken up a position on a hilltop overlooking a military checkpoint near the settlement of Ofra. From about 50 meters away, the sources said, the gunman had begun cutting down the soldiers at the bottom of the hill.

The 6:40 A.M. attack began on three soldiers who were out in the open. One had gone to check an Israeli car coming from the north, while the other two had waited behind at the checkpoint. An officer and eight more soldiers were in residential quarters near the checkpoint at the time.

The sniper shot single rounds, at a rate that IDF sources said later had been about one shot every 45 seconds. First, he shot at the soldier and the car, killing the driver and the IDF man immediately. He then took aim at the other two soldiers who were outside, killing them instantly too. After stepping out from behind a building, a fourth soldier was wounded in his hand.

Platoon commander Lieutenant David Damlin heard the shooting and left the barrack. He went around the building to the north of the checkpoint and was shot dead when he appeared in the sniper´s sights.

At this stage, the medic emerged, looking for wounded. He tried moving around the checkpoint from the south and was shot dead. The remaining soldiers understood that whoever left the barricaded barrack was in danger, so they tried to conduct a battle from there. But they were unable to pinpoint the source of the gunfire.

The soldiers had been told of intelligence reports saying that they might be attacked from the east, where there had been some suspicious movements before the attack began; so they fired toward the eastern hill. But the sniper was on the western one. Indeed, the fact the gunman fired single shots made it even more difficult to identify the source of the shooting and from his commanding position overlooking the checkpoint, the gunman could see everything below, while remaining hidden behind an old olive tree on a terrace above.

The seventh victim was a civilian who arrived from the north. The eighth was the reserve company´s sergeant, Avraham Ezra, who arrived on the scene in a patrol jeep after the soldiers at the checkpoint had radioed for help. When Ezra tried to aim at the sniper, he was shot and killed. Some of the soldiers in the jeep with him were also wounded.

The last two victims of the attack were soldiers who arrived in the area in civilian cars. Lieutenant Ariel Hovav, 25, from the settlement of Eli, was due to command a unit of basic trainees in the Paratroop brigade and was on his way to a training session at the brigade HQ. He was shot when he got out of the car to try identifying the source of fire. The tenth victim was a new immigrant from France.

Those killed in the attack were Hovav; reservist Kfir Weiss from Beit Shemesh; Damlin, 29, from Kibbutz Meitzar; Ezra, 38, from Kiryat Bialik; Sergeant Yohai Porat, 26, from Kfar Sava; Sergeant Rafael Levy, 42, from Rishon Lezion; Eran Gad, 24, from Rishon Lezion; Yitzhak Didi of Eli; Sergei Beauturo from Ariel; and Vadim Balbula from Ariel.

The gunman got away after claiming his tenth victim and 25 minutes of shooting, apparently because his weapon gave out. As of dusk, the IDF had not found any evidence to support the theory that there was more than one shooter. The carbine was found, dismantled, though it´s not clear if this had been the result of one of the soldiers´ bullets or simply because it was old and had given out. There were signs of a telescopic sight, but none was found.

Three people wounded in the Ofra checkpoint attack and 11 wounded in the Saturday night bombing in Jerusalem remained in hospital last night.

[Squantos]

Yeah once they said 5.56mm I didn;t even go for M118 varianys......good points.

BTW do ya have a favorite 10mm load ?

Using Speer GDHP’s right now .

[archy]

Yeah once they said 5.56mm I didn;t even go for M118 varianys......good points. BTW do ya have a favorite 10mm load ? Using Speer GDHP’s right now .

Those things'll work. I kind of favor the Hornady 180-grain JHP-XTP meself, though I don't have a G20 right now. I've got two pals who've owned and carried 10mm Glocks for better than a decade now, and both love the things. One is a Wyoming rancher who raises cattle in wolf and bear territory [too close to Yellowstone] and traded in his S&W M29 44 mag on a Glock 20 when the things first came out. He tends toward a heavier bullet [230s and 240s] though I don't know if he's actually dropped a bear with one- I know he has used his Glock on injured cows and bison. And has no complaints, or he'd be carrying something else. The other guy is an ex-cop, whose old dept carries the Glock 17/19. Now more on his own than previously, he's happier with the Glock 29, and he likes the Hornady 180s as well.

If I was to be carrying one again, I expect I'd start out with either Winchester 175-gr STHPs or the Hornady loads, either from the factory or from Cor-Bon.

[Squantos]

Your the second person recommending the silvertip 175gr. I am leaning toward the corbon powerball for my arena....any good or bad on that ?

[archy]

I am leaning toward the corbon powerball for my arena....any good or bad on that ?

The Cor-bon powerballs are excellent. I gave the retired guy I mentioned a call last night and found he's now part-timing as a court bailiff. I asked him if he was using his 10mm as his carry gun [kinda noisy in an enclosed space!] and he said yep, though he now loads with the Cor-Bon 135-grain *for when it's crowded.*

I think in the same situation, I might go with a 1911 in .400 Cor-Bon, but a .45ACP would likely do okay up close- it's when things stretch out to 100 meters or so that a warmish 10mm really shines [same ME as a .45 ACP at the muzzle, and only a 2" drop at 100] These guys have pretty much figured out what can be done with a 10mm, and what works in it, and know more about the subject than I do.

I'm particularly fond of these things in .45, unfortunately not available as loaded ammo in 10mm. But they do make the bullets available, and the 165-grain for the .40 S&W might be just the ticket in 10mm...or for us old dinosaurs who still like the .41 magnum S&W wheelguns.