Army Sniper Incredible Shooting

Cougfan2 · May 3, 2010

Sharpshooter In Afghanistan Sets New Record: 8120 Feet

An army sniper has earned a place in military history by killing two Taliban machine gunners from more than a mile and a half away.
Craig Harrisons record breaking shots felled the insurgents with consecutive bullets even though they were 3,200ft beyond the official range of his rifle.
The Household Cavalry veterans kills from a distance of 8,120ft beat the previous record by 150ft.
He was using the British-built L115A3 Long Range Rifle, the Armys most powerful sniper weapon.

timbernet · May 3, 2010

That takes some serious skill!

Glad he is on our team and not theirs

Cougfan2 · May 3, 2010

timbernet said:
That takes some serious skill!

Glad he is on our team and not theirs

You ain't kiddin' and two consecutive shots at that range! :s0001:

toobigtofail · May 3, 2010

That is awesome shooting. And it wasn't with the big .50 BMG Barrett!

SonicBlue03 · May 3, 2010

AI sets the standard with their rifle-building, and Brit snipers know their stuff. This'll shut the Canadians up for a while.

jimwsea · May 3, 2010

Just wondering...what velocity would the round have at that distance?

SonicBlue03 · May 3, 2010

@ that distance? Tough to gauge. Stronger than a pellet gun, but probably more closer to a .45ACP @ 100 yards. Enough to kill you if it hits you just right, but otherwise you're going to live.

Cougfan2 · May 3, 2010

At that distance, the bullet is basically in a free fall and would be coming almost straight down on top of you from quite a height. If it hits you in the noggin you're toast. Anywhere else and it might not kill you, but I guarantee you would be combat ineffective for some time if you weren't looking for your arm that was just there a second ago.

SonicBlue03 · May 3, 2010

Harrison said the first shot hit the first gunner in the gut, and the second shot hit the second gunner in the side.

timbernet · May 3, 2010

jimwsea said:
Just wondering...what velocity would the round have at that distance?

Without more details on the load, etc it would be hard to say.

But 8120ft = 2706 yards

Running some numbers through my iPhone app for Bullet Flights - I am assuming 250gr bullet and a muzzle velocity of 2900fps (based on some data from Wikipedia for the .338 Lapua Magnum)

At 2700 yards, you can expect 851fps Velocity and 402 foot/pounds of energy.

Again, a lot of variables we don't have here... but one heck of a shot. I left my calculator loaded with a "100 yard" sight data... and with that data, it says there is 4952 inches of drop :s0001:

SonicBlue03 · May 3, 2010

More on the shooter from his own mouth:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor..._assassin_breaks_record_kills_target_fro.html

A British soldier dubbed the Silent Assassin has broken a distance record after taking down two targets from a mile and a half away.

Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison, a British Army sniper, killed two Taliban machine gunners in Afghanistan from a distance of 8,120 feet, Sky News reported.

"The first round hit a machine gunner in the stomach and killed him outright. He went straight down and didn't move," the 35-year-old said of the incident, which took place in November 2009.

"The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead."

Harrison was nearly 3,000 feet beyond the effective range of his British-built L115A3 Long Range Rifle.

The powerful weapon is reportedly only effective up to 4,921 feet, the Daily Mail reported, which is less than a mile.

"Conditions were perfect, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility," Harrison said, according to Sky News.

The father of one child from Gloucestershire in Southwest England pulled off the impressive shots while protecting his commanding officer and several Afghan soldiers, who were on patrol when they were attacked in the Helmand Province.

The sniper's shots broke a record previously held by Cpl. Rob Furlong, a Canadian Forces soldier, who in 2005 killed an Al Qaeda gunman from about 7,972 feet away.

Sgt. Brian Kremer of the United States Army held the record in 2004 with a shot in Iraq that struck its target from about 7,545 feet.