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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
Absolute amateur gun guy question: Is this anywhere near real?

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.

45 posted on 08/04/2006 12:39:11 PM PDT by Fatuncle (Of course I'm ignorant. I'm here to learn.)
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To: Fatuncle

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.


47 posted on 08/04/2006 12:41:48 PM PDT by Sergio (If a tree fell on a mime in the forest, would he make a sound?)
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