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Transmetropolitan•

Yeah, Carlos Hathcock (The previous record holder) hit someone 1.42 miles away with a Browning M2 mounted with a telescopic sight. He maintained this record for 35 years. Since then ballistics technology has changed significantly. I mean, Carlos didn't have a PDA that gave him streaming data about the weather/humidity/wind/curvature of the earth/ect ballistic coefficient in real time.

I'm not saying I'm a better shot, or that Cpl. Furlong is a less of a soldier I could never be that good a shot.

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sisyphus•

I wonder how many times out of 10 he makes that shot.

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apotheon•

I suspect that particular range of shot was only tried once -- and that he took the shot because he was pretty sure he would hit. Luckily, the target didn't move in an unexpected manner during those 4.5 seconds.

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Maj12•

Absolutely amazing feat. Kudos to Cpl Furlong. Jeers to the CF brass for demonizing these fine men and losing some valuable assets to our military.

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EatSleepJeep•

I would like Cpl Furlong to get within 1.51 miles of Fox News' Greg Gutfield.

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[deleted]•

Holy fuck, I remember the controversy over this, but never actually watched the clip. What an immature bunch of ignorant disrespectful assholes.

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Transmetropolitan•

The type of marksmanship that impresses me these days is urban combat marksmanship. The Russian snipers during the siege of Stalingrad come to mind. It really takes raw skill to be able to handle that environment.

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gliscameria•

I don't think any bullet fired from a machine gun counts as a sniper kill.

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[deleted]•

If I recall my reading from days gone by, they used the gun to fire single shots in a sniperesque role, and this is what inspired the development of the .50 rifle.

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gliscameria•

I stand corrected sir.

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Transmetropolitan•

I've shot a series of .50BMG rifles. But I would love to shoot something similar to what Carlos used in Vietnam. Also, even with the M95 you might need to take several shots if you are aiming in a hurry or need to halt a moving vehicle.

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apotheon•

He wasn't firing full-auto. He squeezed off a single round. If I recall correctly, the first-ever dedicated .50 BMG sniper rifle was a modified Browning machine gun, and they got the idea from snipers like Hathcock who recognized the viability of the machine gun as an excellent sniper rifle platform, mostly because of barrel length, projectile size, and projectile velocity.

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