Posted on 08/04/2006 12:15:58 PM PDT by Brit_Guy
A BRITISH sniper waging war on the Taliban is so deadly he has earned a chilling nickname The Man Who Never Misses.
The unerring Army sharpshooter has killed 39 rebel fighters single-handedly.
His marksmanship is so lethal that rumours have spread like wildfire through insurgents camps, causing panic and confusion.
The sniper who The Sun is not naming to prevent him becoming a target himself is a member of elite 3 Para.
Described by sources as the best shot in the Army he is responsible for over five per cent of the 700 insurgents killed by Paras since British forces returned to Afghanistan.
He is based in the wild Helmand province, where our troops launched a massive assault on the Taliban this week.
A source said yesterday: This sniper is truly something else a silent assassin.
In the deadly terrain of southern Afghanistan, where guerilla warfare rules, he has been invaluable. The rumours are sweeping enemy camps that he is the man who never misses.
The snipers actual toll is probably higher than 39 but the Talibans tendency to reclaim bodies makes deaths difficult to confirm.
His lethal L96A1 rifle has a range of 1,000 yards and is fitted with electronic sights and laser range-finders.
He works with a partner called a spotter, who locates the target and helps judge wind speed and distance so the bullet travels accurately.
Each day the pair risk their lives away from fellow Paras, taking up covert positions and often lying hidden for as long as ten hours at a time. Once the shot has been fired they need nerves of steel to stay concealed while Taliban rebels wielding rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns desperately try to hunt them down.
The Ministry of Defence would not discuss the crackshot for security reasons.
But he is regarded as one of the most successful British snipers since World War Two.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the Army is creating an elite force of almost 700 snipers, with all 38 infantry battalions required to have an 18-man platoon of sharpshooters by 2008. It will be the first time formal sniper platoons will have existed since the end of the First World War in 1918.
The decision follows the success of British and US sniper teams who have killed dozens of terrorists on recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2003 Royal Marines sniper Corporal Matt Hughes killed an Iraqi gunman from 900 yards with a wonder shot in which he aimed 56ft to the left and 35ft high to allow for wind.
The bullets trajectory was calculated by his spotter after he studied the movement of dust in the breeze. And Irish Guards Sergeant Eddie Waring lay on a roof for hours to take out three Iraqis who were laying mines in Basra.
Planning for the next (anti-Islamist) civil war.
That Islamists actully believe the leftwing drivel, and apparently base their strategy on it, is oddly reassuring.
That's the United Kingdom for you. The elite running the UK...can't control everything [as much as they'd like to]. Folks even in the UK...can still think for their selves.
Very real.
I had the pleasure to work with the scout sniper school. On the range, they routinely make these kinds of shots out to 1000 yards with a 308. They can reach even farther with a 50 cal. I didn't get to play with them in the field but if you hang out with them, you hear about some miraculous shots.
Before desert storm, they desimated the Iraqi front line soldiers. They liked to maximize psychological effect. They would pick a target and wait hours until he was in the middle of a discussion with someone else, then they would make his head disappear leaving the other guy talking to a corpse.
Eventually the Iraqis moved back a mile from the front line, beyond the reach of the 308. That's when the Barret rifle arrived. The snipers say that the Iraqis never figured out that they were getting shot purposefully at that range allowing them free hunting until the war started.
Yes. An example - with nothing but the standard M1, sharpshooters in the Second World War, firing over open sights, routinely killed targets they could not directly see.The M1 has a very long reach, far more than most realize.
They did so with the aid of a spotter. The shooter would fix on something he could see, say, a tree or a rock - and the spotter, using binoculars, would observe the strike. The spotter would direct the shooter to adjust the M1's sights, to move the impact. The shooter would stay focused on what he could see, and the spotter would 'walk' the rounds onto the target. This is the same technique used for spotting indirect mortar or artillery fire, just with much smaller caliber.
An experienced team could kill beyond range of the unaided eye, one round to locate the hit, the second to kill. And some good teams - much as described here - could do it with one round. The spotter adjusts his shooter's sight picture from visual clues as to wind and distance. The shooter may be looking at one thing and hitting another.
if he's sited in at 600 (which he should be) he'd only have 144 inches of drop (12 feet) at 900 yards. he'd have to be shooting up a mountain to shoot 35 feet high.
Great explanation, makes perfect sense. I was fixated on the target having to be somewhere within the scopes field of view. Thanks for the education.
Target could have been below him, or above him.....What the hey, it was a heckuva shot regardless.
We are. The Army is proposing a heavy sniper team, and a individual sniper, be attached to every infantry company. And of course SOCOM is beefing up their forces.
Unless the sniper was already on high ground shooting down at the target and they are including the elevation change as part of the measurement.
". . .so lethal that rumours have spread like wildfire through insurgents camps, causing panic and confusion."
Why would one looking forward to matyrdom panic over getting the type of death he was hoping for???? Maybe this was in the leadership section of the insurgent camps . . .
I know it'd probably compromise their ability to sneak in close undetected, but man... I view these guys as being so valuable, I wonder if our respective military planners couldn't figure out some way to provide them with an infantry squad, or a few mortarmen, or something, to cover them while they withdraw from a position? I hate losing anyone, but I really hate it when we lose snipers (and their highly accurized rifles).
I'm sorry, I didn't catch the 'feet' when I read the article. I think you are right, that the correction was for inches, not feet.
We are. The Army is proposing a heavy sniper team, and a individual sniper, be attached to every infantry company. And of course SOCOM is beefing up their forces
Think of the money we would save:
Terrorist Leader ranting in city square: "We must keel the infidels, cut their throats, make their blood run to the red sea.
Sniper1: Got him in sites.
Sniper2: Take the shot. If we miss, Command is gonna smart-bomb this valley.
Sniper1: **POW** Done.
Sniper2: Good shot. His shoulders are lighter. Wait, another has stood up on the platform.
Sniper1: Fine. I have plenty of ammo.
In a word, Yes
Which is why so much of the training for snipers is 'sneak school', not just shooting. Hopefully, no one knows you are there until they suddenly are being offered their 72 virgins.
56 ft can be subtended easily by your little finger from 900 yds out. Not nearly as impressive as your initial assumptions would lead you to believe.
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