tnieto2004 said: P.S Does the training vary greatly amongst branches??
Yes, it most certainly does.
I don't doubt a Marine can hit a man sized target out to 500 yards on the KD (known distance) course. I did it regularly. So do all Marines, or they don't graduate.
Remember though, that's after a week's worth of practice strings. By the time qual day comes around, it's their fifth time shooting the course. And it's at known distances, with range flags to judge the wind value, with consistent ammo and a rifle they know pretty well by that point . . . Because they just spent a week getting to know it well.
I hunted groundhogs for a few years pretty consistently. I'd usually kill three or four dozen a year. Each spring I had to go through that learning curve again, and I'd miss some early on until I got myself back to where I was the past October.
One windy March day I was taking shots at a groundhog across a long field. I use a specialized .308 Winchester Heavy Barrel Varmint rifle just for the job. Handloaded V-max's, Leupold mil-dot Scope, etc. It took me five shots to finally get him. Luck? No. Not luck.
Again, it was a very windy March. I estimated wind gusts up to 30 mph. But I had no range flags, so it was up to me to read the wind value with what I had available in the terrain, all along the way from me to him. And wind values almost always change along the trajectory. I also had no way of accurately knowing the distance. All I could see through my binoculars was his little pig head sticking up - not enough to range by mils accurately enough. So my shots went far - overestimated. So I dialed back and dropped them in, but too far because of the wind gust on that part of the field. A couple more adjustments, just to get the wind bracketed, and the fifth one got him in the teeth. I had estimated the range somewhere between 450-475 yards. When I paced it off, it came out to almost exactly 400 yards.
That summer I bought a laser range finder, and my hits went though the roof. I found I could hit 500 yard range groundhogs in the face and neck regularly, almost never missing. But with summer came less wind, so I had taken out two variables that plague long range shooters - wind values and unknown distances.
It can be done. But,
- it takes skill to read the conditions.
- it takes familiarity with the rifle and ammo performance.
- it requires consistent practice to retain the skill.
I don't doubt those Marines did it. But we often make assumptions as young men that our abilities remain constant over both time and dissimiliar circumstances. They don't. When I was shooting that hog, and missing, I began to doubt myself. But I trusted in my abilities and training, read the hits through the scope, and adjusted.
In Belleau Wood, Marines were involved in fighting Germans in WWI. Reports from the line stated that Marines had engaged the German army out to about 1000 yards away, and were getting consistent hits. German reports recounted their losses from these long range shooting skilled demoralized the men. "We can't even see them yet and they're hitting us with rifle fire."
It is possible. It just might take some refresher time to get back to that level of skill, and tools like rangefinders and range flags help compensate for not being on a KD course.
