8 Longest Shots in Military History

[PT7]

My apologies, Forum Folk. But Bandit's recent post, "New World Record at 1,000 Yards," got my stats antennae up and running again!

Back in early 2015, I saw the movie "American Sniper." Chris Kyle was the true-life sniper whose story was told in this movie. When I looked up info on the longest military sniper shot made, I found that he was number 8 on the list!! After seeing the depiction in the movie of Kyle's shot, I couldn't believe his confirmed kill was so "short" compared to the other seven!

So because I'm a numbers nut (amongst other nutso things), I'm listing the basic stats for the top 8 longest confirmed military kill shots made. This was published in the IJR News by Duane Bean on 2/26/16. There was a lot more in the report, including much detail on how these snipers accomplished their shots and the combat situations they were in. As the article is kind of long, I cut out only some stats of distances, rifles used, and war zones. Even this small amount of info is an interesting read.

And don't forget the picture that JEBar posted in Bandit's thread showing the target set at 1,000 yards out!! Adds great perspective to the military distance stats below!
PT7

Number 8 -- Chris Kyle, CPO, US Naval Team Seal Sniper (Iraq War)
2100 yards with a .338 Lapua sniper rifle.

Number 7 -- Nicholas Ranstad, Sgt., U.S. Army
2280 yards (equiv. to 25 city blocks in New York City) with a Barrett .50 Cal

Number 6 -- Name Withheld, South African Special Forces Sniper
2,324 yards (1.32 mile), gun type not released.

Number 5 -- Carlos Hathcock, Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine (Vietnam War)
2,500 yards (1.42 miles) using scope-mounted Browning M-2 .50 caliber machine gun.
(The article noted this record stood for 35 years).

Number 4 -- Bryan Kremer, Sgt., U.S. Army (Iraq War)
2,515 yards (1.43 miles) using a Barrett M82A1 rifle.

Number 3 -- Arron Perry, Master Cpl, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (War in Afghanistan)
2,526 yards (1.44 miles) using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle

Number 2 -- Rob Furlong, Cpl, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (War in Afghanistan)
2,657 yard (1.50 mile) using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle

And Number 1 longest -- Craig Harrison, Cpl of Horse, British Army (War in Afghanistan)
2,707 yards (1.53 miles) using a .338 Lapua Magnum rifle. This is current standing record.

These were some final comments written about Harrison's shots, what comprised the current record.

"Harrison fired 5 rounds in under 45 seconds taking out 2 insurgents at 1.53 miles. What makes this more surprising is that the insurgents were more than 1,000 yards away from his rifle's maximum effective range."

[Redthies]

The story you quoted is apparently now out of date. In early June of 2017 a Canadian Special Forces sniper scored a confirmed kill at 3871 yards, also with a McMillan TAC-50. All of these shots are pretty unbelievable to the average target shooter. Even Chris Kyles “short” shot at 2100 yards is some damn fine shooting!

[PT7]

Thanks for the update, Redthies. Not surprising at all since I had listed the article I found was published 2/26/16. I also read in that article that one of the 8 records was bested only one week after it was established!

Wow! 3,871 yards (2.199 miles) is way beyond my understanding of what it takes to place a bullet on a target so far out. My son-in-law is a former Marine sniper, and this last year participated in long-distance competition at 1200 yards. I can understand his passion for this sport whenever he has an exceptionally good round of shooting. He really enjoys the challenge, and keeping up-to-speed with his long-distance shooting skills.
PT7

The story you quoted is apparently now out of date. In early June of 2017 a Canadian Special Forces sniper scored a confirmed kill at 3871 yards, also with a McMillan TAC-50. All of these shots are pretty unbelievable to the average target shooter. Even Chris Kyles “short” shot at 2100 yards is some damn fine shooting!

[Redthies]

Yeah, I recalled hearing about the new record as I am Canadian and one of my good friends is a Lt Col in our Special Forces (who also wears his US Ranger jump wings on his uniform), but wasn’t reminded of it until I read the story you posted and then followed the breadcrumbs to check out the TAC-50, which lead me to the new record link. I used to be a decent shot out to about 400 yards, but haven’t spent much time on that sort of thing in about 15 years. I no longer have any rifles capable of really long shots except maybe my 7-08 but it is in a shorter light barreled hunting platform.

[Henry88]

It doesn't get any better than this........

"A sharpshooter killed a top ISIS executioner and three other jihadists with a single bullet from nearly a mile away — just seconds before the fiend was set to burn 12 hostages alive with a flamethrower, according to a new report.

The British Special Air Service marksman turned one of the most hated terrorists in Syria into a fireball by using a Barrett .50-caliber rifle to strike a fuel tank affixed to the jihadi’s back, the UK’s Daily Star reported Sunday.

The pack exploded, killing the sadistic terrorist and three of his flunkies, who were supposed to film the execution, last month, the paper said.

The ISIS butcher — who reportedly delighted in burning hostages alive — had been on a US “kill list” for several months, sources told the paper, which did not identify the sniper or the executioner.

He and his band of wicked men had been traveling around ISIS-held compounds in Syria slaughtering civilians labeled as spies.

Their prisoners were tied to stakes or thrown in cages before being torched by the executioner, according to the report.

ISIS started using flamethrowers after the torture method was popularized in North Korea.

The ISIS killer was so feared that his victims would beg to be shot rather than be set on fire.

Just before the sniper rescue operation outside of Raqqa, Syria, “the SAS team moved into an overwatch position above a village where they were told the execution was going to take place,” a source told the Star.

“Up to 12 civilians were going to be murdered — eight men and four women.

“The executioner gave some sort of rambling speech . . . then when he finished, the SAS sniper opened fire,” the source said.

The captives were then rescued by British and US special forces"

https://nypost.com/2016/09/11/sniper-ta ... mile-away/

[Redthies]

Pure magic! I had the pleasure of working with a Sgt Major from the SAS for a few weeks a couple of years back. He used to be one of the main guys at their survival school and is on the selections committee. He told me a few tales over gin and tonics about his days in Afghanistan running around in the hills in local dress with binos and a radio (among other things). None as great as the story above though! It would be well worth the price of admission to see that kind of instant justice played out!

[Ozarkridgerunner]

Carlos Hathcock , # 5 on the list PT7 posted, is an ol' Arkansas country boy. His amazing story of serving in Vietnam as a Marine sniper can be read in the book " White Feather ". Caution , don't start reading this book if you have anything pressing to do as you probably won't be able to put it down.