Posted on 05/23/2010 6:29:19 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
It was recently revealed that, last November, a British sniper (corporal Craig Harrison) set a new distance record when he killed two Taliban in Afghanistan, at a range of 2,620 meters (8,596 feet). He did this with a L115A3 rifle firing the 8.6mm Lapua Magnum round. The previous record was held by a Canadian soldier, corporal Rob Furlong, who dropped an al Qaeda gunman at 2,573 meters (7,972 feet) in 2002, also in Afghanistan. Furlong, however, was using a 12.7mm (.50 caliber) rifle. These weapons are good at 2,000 meters or more, but weigh twice as much as the 6.8 kg (15 pound) 8.6mm rifles. Three years ago, the British Army began replacing most of its 3,000 7.62mm L96A1 sniper rifles with one modified to use the .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum caliber round. This Accuracy International "Super Magnum" rifle is basically a L96A1 "Arctic Warfare" rifle modified to handle the larger, 8.6mm Lapua Magnum round. The new rifle (the L115A1) weighed 6.8 kg (without a scope), was fifty inches long and had a 27 inch barrel and a five round magazine.
Snipers in Iraq, and especially Afghanistan, have been calling for a longer range round, but find the 12.7mm (.50 caliber) weapons too heavy. The .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum round has an effective range (about 1,500 meters) about 50 percent greater than the 7.62mm standard NATO round. Like most long range rounds, if the weather (clear) and winds (calm) are right, you can hit targets farther away. Those were the conditions Harrison encountered when he took his three shots (the third one hit the machine-gun the two Taliban were using.)
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
...set a new distance record when he killed two Taliban in Afghanistan, at a range of 2,620 meters”
—should be a new Olympic event.
When he used a .50 cal it was using an M2 mounted on a heavy tripod with a 10x Unertl scope. Pretty cool.
Yep. I read the book about 10 years ago.
This is a pretty entertaining competition: How far away can you kill bad guys? Has Guinness picked up on this?
Go with the .50 BMG. Ammo will be far more available for that in the coming days than any of the other platforms you are considering.
I have a 6.5mm 1896 Swedish Mauser. The ballistic coefficient on that bullet is out of sight. The cartridge itself, however, is puny.
Or Simo Hayha!
The 50BMG looses too much energy, and hence accuracy, at the ranges that the .338LM, .408Chey-tac, and the .416Barret are still driving nails.
I like the 6.5 x 55 for smaller game at long distances. It’s one of the best kept secrets out there. I used to have a model 70 chambered for it. Sorry to say, I let it go.
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