That would be Household Cavalry Man Horse Corporal Craig Harrison, of of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire:
Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000 feet beyond the most effective range of his rifle.
“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.
“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.”
The shooting — which took place while Harrison’s colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.
Harrison also got off a third shot that hit the machine gun."A third shot clipped the weapon - as I was hoping to render it unserviceable."
"They were firing on the troop commander - I gave them the good news. They didn't f****** like it."
I'll just bet they didn't.
The distance? An amazing 8,120feet, or 1.54 miles.
Since this was way beyond the effective range for Corporal Harrison's weapon of choice, an L115A3 sniper rifle, he had to compensate for the spin and drift of the .338 bullets using good old fashioned Kentucky windage, aiming 6 feet high and 20 inches to the left.
Three shots, three hits.
The last record holder was a Canadian in Afghanistan eight years ago, who took out an al-Qaeda fighter at a mere 7,972 feet.
Had to aim 6 ft high huh? Never had a physics class I take it. That's absurdly incorrect.
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled, Josh.That's what three different sources said.
ReplyDeleteBut I wonder how many hits you've scored with a sniper's rifle at 1.54 miles when the effective range of the weapon you're using is under a mile?
I confess I've never fired a L115A3 or any other weapon at those distances, so I accepted what was written..but then, my knowledge may not be on a par with yours if you have.
BTW, the 'Kentucky windage' I mentioned is an old and well known rifleman's term that originated with our legendary Kentucky riflemen back in the 1800's. It involves the skill an experienced shooter develops to take into account the wind, distance and trajectory of the shot to score kills at long distances far outside the normal range of his weapon.
Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Alvin York of Tennessee used the term to describe some of the hits he made against entrenched Germans in WWI.
Regards,
Rob