Insurgent Snipers

[fletcher]

Here is a cool look at firefights in Afghanistan. It details how the Afghans are fighting and with what equipment. For being the NYTimes, it seemed like a pretty even handed piece.

Insurgent Snipers.

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[Cougfan2]

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting read.

 

[landcbeitner]

It goes to show what a little marksmanship can achieve even without a modern weapon (holding down all those soldiers). I think these new "state of the art" sniper rifles are somewhat overrated... the optics, however, are not.

 

[Dan-Dee Sales Inc]

I did not see any marksman on our side.

 

[landcbeitner]

Me either.... hopefully they broke away from the group trying to locate the exact position of the accurate rifle fire... hopefully.

 

[GED]

Reminds me of Kipling's Arithmetic on the Frontier -his poem about the NW Frontier & Afghan Wars-private school educated("two thousand pounds of education") British officers getting picked off by tribesmen with their handmade "ten rupee jezails" .

An excerpt:


A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe --
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villanous saltpetre!"
And after -- ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station --
A canter down some dark defile --
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail --
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

 

[clearconscience]

Power vid.

I'm actually surprised with the money the opposition has they don't have better weapons then what they stole from the russians.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

If one Taliban with an ancient Enfield can pin those guys down, I don't think an army, US or otherwise would stand a chance against the greatly more numerous US militia. Most of us have accurate, sighted in scoped high power rifles

They would have hated it big time if I were out there dialing them in with my scoped PTR 91

 

[Decker]

If one Taliban with an ancient Enfield can pin those guys down, I don't think an army, US or otherwise would stand a chance against the greatly more numerous US militia. Most of us have accurate, sighted in scoped high power rifles

They would have hated it big time if I were out there dialing them in with my scoped PTR 91

Until the Predator Drone flew over...

-d

 

[SonicBlue03]

Until the Predator Drone flew over...

-d

Why is it always Predators? Don't forget to give love to the Reapers.

 

[toobigtofail]

I bought one of their "sniper rifles" today -- well, same general type gun. A Mosin-Nagant. I'll see if I can hit a piece of plywood at three hundred yards.

 

[fijekladias]

I want to preface this by saying I have never served in the military and in no way shape or form are my comments meant to demean or insult our guys and gals serving our country. This is simply an observation I made from the above video and I thought of some questions that perhaps someone here can answer for me.

It seemed that the Marines in the video were content on trading pot-shots with Afghan-Archie vs. what I thought was one of their infantry mantras of locate, close with, and destroy the enemy through fire and maneuver. I did notice them lay down a base of fire but I did not notice any other actions by the Marines in that video, perhaps they radioed for another platoon to try and flank? Or are we much more dependent on air and artillery support now days? If there are any old salts around I'm curious of their thoughts regarding infantry operations now days vs. years gone by.

Again, most of what I know of combat operations are gleamed from military history and yes I'll admit, video games. But I'm wondering if someone here may shed some light on this for me. Thanks!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Until the Predator Drone flew over...

-d

Few and far between. In fact I am reading a book by H. John Poole, entitled "The Tiger's Way, a US Private's best chance for survival".. the theme is that we rely way too much on high tech and we do not train front line troops in the most effective ways of warfare

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I bought one of their "sniper rifles" today -- well, same general type gun. A Mosin-Nagant. I'll see if I can hit a piece of plywood at three hundred yards.

Scout Scoped with silvertip mine do 2 MOA

 

[gnarkill]

I want to preface this by saying I have never served in the military and in no way shape or form are my comments meant to demean or insult our guys and gals serving our country. This is simply an observation I made from the above video and I thought of some questions that perhaps someone here can answer for me.

It seemed that the Marines in the video were content on trading pot-shots with Afghan-Archie vs. what I thought was one of their infantry mantras of locate, close with, and destroy the enemy through fire and maneuver. I did notice them lay down a base of fire but I did not notice any other actions by the Marines in that video, perhaps they radioed for another platoon to try and flank? Or are we much more dependent on air and artillery support now days? If there are any old salts around I'm curious of their thoughts regarding infantry operations now days vs. years gone by.

Again, most of what I know of combat operations are gleamed from military history and yes I'll admit, video games. But I'm wondering if someone here may shed some light on this for me. Thanks!

What could you do? Did you see the landscape they were dealing with? They were behind the only cover I could see for hundreds of yards. If They even tried to venture out there and get that guy they would have probably suffered several casualties. They did what they could, called in help and waited it out. That seemed like the perfect definition of being pinned down to me, even if it was only a couple afghanis with some old rifles. There wasnt much they could do to improve that situation.

 

[Cougfan2]

Reminds me of Kipling's Arithmetic on the Frontier -his poem about the NW Frontier & Afghan Wars-private school educated("two thousand pounds of education") British officers getting picked off by tribesmen with their handmade "ten rupee jezails" .

An excerpt:


A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe --
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villanous saltpetre!"
And after -- ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station --
A canter down some dark defile --
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail --
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

Kudos to you for Rudyard's prose.

 

[trainsktg]

I bought one of their "sniper rifles" today -- well, same general type gun. A Mosin-Nagant. I'll see if I can hit a piece of plywood at three hundred yards.

It depends on the condition of the rifle of course...and you. I expect you will be pleasantly surprised.

Among my many Mosins, my most accurate is a $100 Big-5 Mosin 91/30 'ex-sniper'. (For those that don't know, an ex-sniper was a scoped sniper during WWII then returned to infantry rifle status by removing the scope and replacing the bent bolt with a straight.) Using open sights, good surplus ammo (not handloads) and shooting from the prone unsupported position (sling only, no bench...Riflemen do not shoot from the bench), how does hitting an 8" square at 200 yards or a 20" square at 450 yards, every time, over and over, with boring consistency, and never missing sound? It makes me happy . Oh, I forgot to mention that the rifle is counterbored. And I wear glasses 'cause my eyesight sucks. The rifle is more accurate than I can shoot. For those counting, sure that's marginally 4moa, but at 450 yards, that's a hit on a chest-sized object everytime the trigger is pulled, and in war that's all that counts .

Keith

Edit: Here's an excellent way to deal with insurgents...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzzFvYawMc

 

[toobigtofail]

I went to the English Pit range yesterday and shot the Mosin. It performed flawlessly. With my bad eyes (legally blind w/o glasses) I was able to keep the rounds on a piece of copy paper at 100 yards. I wanted to shoot offhand, but they don't allow that at "The Pit". That was my M-38/M-44. Today I think I will buy a 91/30. Hundred dollars all day at Big 5.

 

[fijekladias]

Edit: Here's an excellent way to deal with insurgents...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzzFvYawMc

Now that is funny...

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I went to the English Pit range yesterday and shot the Mosin. It performed flawlessly. With my bad eyes (legally blind w/o glasses) I was able to keep the rounds on a piece of copy paper at 100 yards. I wanted to shoot offhand, but they don't allow that at "The Pit". That was my M-38/M-44. Today I think I will buy a 91/30. Hundred dollars all day at Big 5.

Bring a live round, remove or allow the clerk to remove the bolt and keep it, and insert the bullet into the muzzle end.. if it falls close to the shell case, select another Nagant, because it has muzzle erosion. Reject counterbores, there are plenty of good bores to select from. My Big 5s allow me to clean the bores, too. As a result, 95% of my Nagants are 98% or better, mechanically