Record for long-range sniper shot in Afghanistan – 1.5 miles

The bullet was in flight for just over six seconds, and it dropped just over 132.5 yards in a rainbow-like trajectory.

I crunched numbers and show the bullet went transonic at 1400 meters. 1 shot I would chock up to luck, but 2 back to back, thats good shootin.
I wonder if Furlong will pull a Farve and re-enlist to get his record back.

I'd rather be lucky than good! One hell of a shot.

1 shot I would chock up to luck, but 2 back to back, thats good shootin.

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Two shots I chock up to really, really lucky.

For those interested in the environmental effects, from wikipedia:

According to JBM Ballistics[23], using drag coefficients (Cd) provided by Lapua, the L115A3 has an approximate supersonic range (speed of sound = 340.3 m/s) of 1,375 m (1,504 yd) under International Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (air density ρ = 1.225 kg/m3) and 1,548 m (1,693 yd) at the 1,043 m (3,422 ft) altitude or elevation (air density ρ = 1.1069 kg/m3) of Musa Qala. This illustrates how environmental condition differences can significantly affect bullet flight.

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I thought the brits used metrics?

Nope, they straddle the line between imperial and metric measurements just like Americans.

Rembrandt said:

Gotta wonder what kind of scope these guys are using....

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Uh, the Hubble maybe!!

Damn. I can't imagine just being there, minding your own business. And from out of nowhere...

That is amazing.

Being able to predict and overcome the many influences on the bullet as it traveled that distance repeatedly is a testament to both the skill and the equipment of the shooter. Personally I'm curious as to how the problems associated with passing through the transonic region were overcome (not having a lot of practical experience with extreme range shooting or this caliber myself, I'm probably missing something entirely ).

Can anyone verify the drop of the bullet at that range?

JamisJockey said:

Can anyone verify the drop of the bullet at that range?

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It largely depends on how long the bullet took to get there. If it took 3 seconds, then theoretically the most it could have dropped in a vacuum and due to gravitation alone was just over 44 meters (48 yards), and if it took 6 seconds then the maximum possible drop would have been about 176.5 meters (193 yards). The actual drop would have been less than this upper limit (I'll be able to do better once I seriously get into rifles and long-range ballistics, but at least this gives us some idea of what is plausible).

General Geoff said:

Nope, they straddle the line between imperial and metric measurements just like Americans.

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The key difference is, of course, that only Americans take heat for doing so. Well, I think we would change over pretty quickly if the metric system didn't have such arbitrary units that don't make much sense in the real world. It's nice in some ways, such as being able to easily convert between different units of convenience (many of which people don't care about anyway like decimeter and deciliter ), but as a result of basing everything on multiples of 10, they're not as "organic" and intuitive as the units we're accustomed to, so .

I do not think the soldier's name should have been published in the middle of a war.

I'm not buying it meself.

The story says he hit his targets consecutively, ie, one right after the other, however, the ammo and equipment he had is just not capable of that type of accuracy.

British troops do like to make reporters look like the idiots they are, so who knows.

The important part is that being a member of the Household Cavalry he made those shots in an impeccably starched uniform and with spitshined boots.

I'm not buying it meself.

The story says he hit his targets consecutively, ie, one right after the other, however, the ammo and equipment he had is just not capable of that type of accuracy.

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On a perfectly windless day with uniform atmospheric pressure and known distance, he could have hit the guys with a black powder .45-70. From what the article says, the conditions at the time of the shots were windless and very favorable. His equipment was not designed to reach out that far, doesn't mean it's not capable of it (which it obviously is).

At high altitude and with warm temperatures, a 250gr Scenar fired at 2950 fps will be just under 1200 fps at 2700 yards; it will have about 30 mils of drop; a 10 mph cross would cause about 11 mils of drift. At that distance it's dropping about 3" per yard.

His equipment was not designed to reach out that far, doesn't mean it's not capable of it (which it obviously is).

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Capable, sure.

Unlikely though.

ESPECIALLY from a "household cavalry" shooter. They don't get the training and equipment resources, or the individuals, that create shooters of that caliber.

IMO, it's either a deliberate "feel good" story devoid of facts, or an unintentional story based on misconstrued "facts".

Zak, you know what to do. Next time you're out, set up a target at 2700 yards and see if you can repeatably hit it with a .338LM rifle.

For what it's worth, I think you can do it.

The story says he hit his targets consecutively, ie, one right after the other, however, the ammo and equipment he had is just not capable of that type of accuracy.

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My AI-AWSM .338 will shoot half MOA or better using Lapua ammunition. At 2700 yards 0.5 MOA is 14 inches, so the hits are within the mechanical accuracy of the rifle.

In long-range shooting, the best data you can use to make a hit is the same data made to make a hit an instant ago, so a second hit within seconds of a first hit is much, much easier than two hits an hour apart.

Making a hit at extreme range, much past the normal expected effective range of a cartridge, is not impossible, it's just a lot harder. Given enough tries, it'll happen eventually. (And with a first hit, the second is much, much easier.) How many 2000+ yard misses do you think happen between 2000+ yard hits?

Wow, great shot sir!

I knew Accuracy Internationals were expensive but £23,000!!! Did I hear that right on the youtube video linked (I think from the first page).