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Subject: Re: off-topic (status of sniping)

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 08:38:17 08/04/03

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On August 03, 2003 at 20:04:32, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On August 03, 2003 at 17:55:56, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On August 03, 2003 at 17:27:07, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>
>>>On August 03, 2003 at 16:33:41, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On August 03, 2003 at 15:05:23, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On August 03, 2003 at 00:33:22, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On August 01, 2003 at 22:53:17, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On August 01, 2003 at 22:51:00, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On August 01, 2003 at 19:07:21, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On July 29, 2003 at 00:31:17, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>Distances they shot at in world war 1 and 2 with sniper rifles must have been a
>>>>>>>>>>>few hundreds of meters.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>In WW1 my grandfather was a sniper.  He shot at ranges up to 1000 yards.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>In WW2 my father was a sniper.  He shot at ranges up to 1000 yards.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Today, a neighbor down the street is a sniper.  He shoots at ranges up to 1000
>>>>>>>>>>yards.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>_nobody_ shoots a sniper rifle at ranges of "kilometers" today.  "kilometer"
>>>>>>>>>>perhaps.  With an occasional attempt at up to 2km with a big 50 cal "rifle".
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I have to disagree here.  I read in the news back at the time that in the war in
>>>>>>>>>Afghanistan a Canadian military sniper got the world record for a sniper
>>>>>>>>>distance kill.  He picked off some al-Qaeda guy from over 2.5 kilometers (over
>>>>>>>>>2700 yards) away.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>What are you disagreeing with.  I said "with an occasional attempt at up to 2km
>>>>>>>>with a 50 cal."
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>You just said that.  :)  It _is_ rare.  And no sniper would say "I can produce
>>>>>>>>a 50% kill rate at 2KM+."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I guess I'm disagreeing with "up to 2km". :-)  But then, I don't know what a 50
>>>>>>>cal. is, and it's not a big deal to me.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>>
>>>>>>It's a gun that fires the 50-cal BMG (Browning Machine Gun) round, something
>>>>>>not much smaller than a coke bottle.  Next best long-distance round is the
>>>>>>.338 Lapua round, but it is a _long_ way from the BMG round.
>>>>>
>>>>>i'm not sure when you did your tour of duty.
>>>>
>>>>I didn't.  But I _do_ shoot with former military types at our local range.  And
>>>>as I said, my Grandfather was a sniper in WW1.  And my dad in WW2.  And I have
>>>>an active military neighbor that is a marine sniper, right down the street.  It
>>>>was his .50 barrett that I shot and talked about.  And they do _not_ practice
>>>>sniping at "many kilometers."  There are _no_ optics to support that, for
>>>>example.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>But here 10 kilometers from here where the tanks and air mobile regiment is
>>>>>training they used to train with sniper rifles up to a few kilometers.
>>>>
>>>>To 1000 yards, I'll agree with you.  That is about a Km.  Even to 2Km, I'll
>>>>agree although they _never_ shoot that far in real situations as it is simply
>>>>impossible to guarantee a hit.  MOA accuracy is very tough to produce, that
>>>>means 1" at 100 yards, 10" at 1000 yards.  10" is not a "sure kill" target
>>>>size.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>in cold war, assuming sovjet invasion, assumed killing ranges of 2 kilometers
>>>>>here from snipers.
>>>>
>>>>One shot out of 5-10, maybe.  Snipers want "sure kills".  And beyond 1000
>>>>yards, there is no "sure kill" unless you drop a bomb with a bit larger kill
>>>>radius than a single projectile from a rifle/machine-gun.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Note that in world war II, they fought bigtime around here. the bullets didn't
>>>>>even get that far back then from snipers. This with exception of course from the
>>>>>heavy machine guns which already in WW1 could spread bullets to a kilometer or 2
>>>>>when put on a hill. For WWII and actual fightings taking place here see for
>>>>>example 'operation market garden' which happened not too far from here and the
>>>>>movies belonging to it like: "a bridge too far". Majority of victims fell here
>>>>>however when the germans conquered netherlands. I'm 5 kilometers away from
>>>>>'Grebbeberg'. The only hill in Netherlands close to the Rhine river...
>>>>
>>>>That's all well and good.  .50's have been around forever.  And they have a
>>>>staggering range.  But not for single-shot look-through-a-scope sniper
>>>>operations.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>My uncle who just died a few months ago, fought heavy at the Grebbeberg and his
>>>>>troops killed germans back there from  distances up to a few inches. They used
>>>>>rifles made in 1895 for that with fixed bajonets, because accurate fire with
>>>>>rifles from those days wasn't very well possible. The german SS, but also the
>>>>>regular german army forces, who drove dutch civilians and prisoners in front of
>>>>>them when trying to conquer the Grebbeberg, only managed to conquer a few of the
>>>>>many kilometer deep positions because the defending forces had to shoot their
>>>>>own people first, before being able to shoot at the germans, which in that way
>>>>>they could get closer to the positions.
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't need to mention that every so many meters there was machine guns in the
>>>>>'grebbeberg'
>>>>>
>>>>>The distances at which was fought in those first days of the second world war
>>>>>are in big contrast with nowadays.
>>>>
>>>>No idea what you are talking about.  Wars aren't fought by snipers today,
>>>>either.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Not that the germans never conquered it.
>>>>>
>>>>>Only by threatening to bomb the cities they forced a surrender of Netherlands.
>>>>>
>>>>>When they would develop bullets for sniper rifles which can penetrate tank
>>>>>armour, then a few snipers would in 2003 be able to keep that Grebbeberg out of
>>>>>hands of the enemy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>There is _no_ sniper round that will penetrate a tank.  a 50 will barely
>>>>pockmark a modern tank using depleted uranium armor plating that is the
>>>>equivalent of over a _meter_ of steel.  _no_ shoulder-fired weapon will
>>>>touch that.  Very few projectiles will touch that.  Moving up to rockets
>>>>or bombs is the best hope.
>>>
>>>
>>>I know that a large caliber rifle was developed during wWI as an anti-tank
>>>weapon. I couldn't tell you when this approach was obsoleted.
>>
>>When armor plating passed 1-2 inches.  :)
>>
>>Today we talk of _meters_ of armor.
>>
>>ie 1.5 meters (equivalent) for steel (DU is significantly denser and
>>doesn't need to be as thick.)
>>
>>To launch something from a shoulder-fired rifle (not rocket propelled)
>>would be something no human could stand.  Newton's law and all that still
>>applies.  :)
>
>My knowledge from the new quasicrystal stuff isn't reaching further than the
>word in itself, but let's suppose my soldier has a new rifle.
>
>The latest military toy they publicly wrote about some time ago, in this case
>they wanted it to make to shoot with it equipments to the new space station.
>
>Just like CPU's progress in speed, of course the military isn't at a standstill
>either.
>
>So my sniper soldier friend has a big battery on his back and in his hands a 10
>kilogram rifle which is using magnetics to shoot away projectiles.

Vincent, get real.  The "rail guns" have been reality for 20 years.  They
(1) don't weigh 10 pounds;  (2) they do _not_ reach orbital ranges.  At least
not anything a man can carry.  Newtonian physics _still_ works.  As does
simple materials engineering.  To reach the space station requires a
_terminal_ velocity of 26000 feet per second.  The projectile melts within
500 feet of the muzzle.  The recoil will be _murder_.  And yes, there is
recoil on a rail-gun.



>
>As you might understand there is 4 advantages of this gun. First of all the
>barrell is wearproof. It can keep shooting without losing accuracy.
>
>Secondly unlike its bigger brother that fires to the space station at 30000
>kilometers an hour it fires at a way smaller speed for my friend but still way
>faster than any of todays sniper rifles in use.

You don't understand rifles.  Muzzle velocity is _unlimited_.  In theory.
In practice, recoil is not unlimited as a human is behind the gun.  And
in practice, the projectile has to arrive at the final impact point intact.
My .220 swift will, if pushed with hand-loads, vaporize the projectile before
it reaches the impact point.  I've seen the "purple mist" more than once as
I experimented with new bullets and higher velocities.  Forget a rifle at
those velocities.



>
>Third it can destroy that Hyatt tank with 'meters thick' armour. Though i doubt
>it is meters thick. It's just stronger material than they used in world war II,
>but the tank won't be much heavier than 70000 kilo's as it has to take into
>account there is bridges and small roads and such.

Why don't you do your research?  You can find the _exact_ thickness of tank
armor if you want.  Today's anti-tank DU projectiles are designed to penetrate
over 1 meter of steel.  Why? because new tanks have the equivalent of 1.5
meters of steel armor plating.



>
>Fourth advantage is that after you come up with some new Hyatt tank-design
>(already seen many in CCC) i can still reuse my gun and again destroy your tank
>as i just increase the speed of my gun a bit.

Totally ignoring physics, unfortunately, but you totally ignore everything
real anyway...



>
>Matter of a newer generation battery on the shoulders of my sniper :)

Right.  Ignoring recoil which will turn your soldier into "jelly".



>
>As you know power of impact is a matter of how the bullet looks like and what
>hits your tank first (a small strong bullet point or a thick bullet), the
>material of the bullet, but especially the speed at which it is fired :)
>
>With the current speed even a bullet from world war II can actually destroy any
>of your tank designs :)

If you only knew what you were talking about, of course.  I'm not going to
turn this into an ammo design thread.  But if you try to fire a WWII round
at 10000fps velocity, it will last about 100 feet.



>
>>>
>>>
>>>BTW #1: during the coldwar, the US developed a tactical nuclear weapon that was
>>>shoulder fired. A bazooka type of weapon that was operated by 2 men. Before it
>>>was fired, they might have to dig a ditch to take cover in so that they could
>>>survive the blast should an equivalent type of protection not be available. I
>>>doubt if it was ever deployed. It sounds like dumb idea to me. In any case, I
>>>would imagine such a shoulder fired weapon could dispatch a score of tanks with
>>>one shot.
>>>
>>
>>
>>That's a different animal.  RPG's are shoulder-fired.  But they are not a
>>sniper's weapon..  But as far as tactical nukes go, we even had an "atomic
>>cannon" that shot a nuclear projectile.  About as fatal to the gun crew as
>>to the target, however.
>
>Let's skip nuclear discussions. My government has forbidden any projectile
>carrying nuclear stuff. And i feel that was a good thing to do so.
>
>We'll soon hear in X year times complaints about latest gulf war where they
>again (of course) used nuclear projectiles. Let's skip all that discussions
>here.

No nuclear projectiles used in the Gulf War, nor in Iraq, so I don't know
what you are talking about, again.



>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>BTW #2: I wonder what would happen if a sniper fired a large caliber DU
>>>(DU=Depleted Uranium) round at the tank barrel. Would this effectively prevent
>>>the tank from being able to fire? Or perhaps firing a DU round *into* the muzzle
>>>of the tank would do it. I rare opportunity, but perhaps it would work? Hmmm.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>It would cause problems, for sure.  But that had better be a 300 yard shot
>>or less to hit that "hole".  :)
>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>In 1940 it took thousands of deaths, despite having machine guns and hundreds of
>>>>>fixed bunker positions which no airplane bomb could take out in 1940.
>>>>>
>>>>>Most tend to forget simply the advances in hardware not to mention computing
>>>>>power and software nowadays.
>>>>>
>>>>>Back in the old days it wasn't the same as it is today.
>>>>>
>>>>>The accurate range of the german hand held machine gun in world war II was for
>>>>>example 150 meters. After that it was firing too inaccurate. Note that the
>>>>>majority of the german soldiers just like the dutch soldiers, came by foot there
>>>>>and carried their own rifle which could fire 1 bullet at a time. Not 5 in a row
>>>>>or something.
>>>>>
>>>>>It is the end of world war II where things were changed really a lot.
>>>>>
>>>>>But that was of course after several tens of millions of deaths.
>>>>>
>>>>>Hardware guys learn quickly then.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Yes, but there are _physical_ limits to firing a projectile.  MOA is very
>>>>good accuracy.  at 2000 yards that is 20".  Not including wind, mirage, and
>>>>the shooter/target movement.  20" is not a sure kill zone.  In fact, that
>>>>will result in many complete misses at a human target.



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