Symmyns' 30,000

lyonheart wrote:Hi DDHvi,

Waiting for the general's tent door to open?

At two miles?

This sounds rather fanciful at best; more detail is certainly required before spreading this whopper.

In all the hundreds of books on the American Civil War I've read, I've never come across anything even close to this.

Now the experienced Union general John Sedgwick [West Point class of '37] was shot in hie left cheek May 9,1864 {Battle of Spotsylvania] at a range of 800 yards after telling the soldier in front of him who had ducked down "they couldn't hit an elephant at this range", who then stood, saluted and responded that he had dodged a cannonball that would have taken his head off, so he believed in dodging; the general replied "all right my man, go to your place" [on the ground] being hit just seconds later.

He was mourned all who knew him, including his good friend Robert E. Lee.

I know veterans who used to salute stupid officers in field exercises (who insisted on being saluted everywhere) "Sniper Check, Sir!" until they began to see the light.

L

DDHvi"quote="Loren Pechtel wrote:*quote="NHBL"*How far away could a crack shot, with the best gun and scope that is Safehold made (or made by Merlin in such a way that it can't be proven by the church to be other than locally built, anyway) reliably kill a selected target? (Not a PICA, just a really, really good sniper)

Long range assination may become important. Of course, the church knows that people can be shot from rediculous ranges now, anyway,*quote]*

I think it's going to come down to the powder rather than the gun. Super long range sniping needs very reliable propellant.

Also, the bigger the bullet and the more powder the longer range you can shoot--ordinary sniper rifles are limited in this regard by recoil. Put too much oomph into the bullet and you break the shooter's shoulder.

snip

I once read that in the US civil war, a sniper with a heavy rifle (I think a Sharps), extra powder, and much preparation managed to kill a general at close to two miles range. In something like this, there is always an element of chance: he fired when the tent door was opened - by an aide - but the general was right behind the aide.

saber964 wrote:*quote="lyonheart"*Hi DDHvi,

Waiting for the general's tent door to open?

At two miles?

This sounds rather fanciful at best; more detail is certainly required before spreading this whopper.

In all the hundreds of books on the American Civil War I've read, I've never come across anything even close to this.

Now the experienced Union general John Sedgwick [West Point class of '37] was shot in hie left cheek May 9,1864 {Battle of Spotsylvania] at a range of 800 yards after telling the soldier in front of him who had ducked down "they couldn't hit an elephant at this range", who then stood, saluted and responded that he had dodged a cannonball that would have taken his head off, so he believed in dodging; the general replied "all right my man, go to your place" [on the ground] being hit just seconds later.

He was mourned all who knew him, including his good friend Robert E. Lee.

I know veterans who used to salute stupid officers in field exercises (who insisted on being saluted everywhere) "Sniper Check, Sir!" until they began to see the light.

L


*quote="DDHvi"quote="Loren Pechtel"**quote="NHBL"*How far away could a crack shot, with the best gun and scope that is Safehold made (or made by Merlin in such a way that it can't be proven by the church to be other than locally built, anyway) reliably kill a selected target? (Not a PICA, just a really, really good sniper)

Long range assination may become important. Of course, the church knows that people can be shot from rediculous ranges now, anyway,*quote]*

I think it's going to come down to the powder rather than the gun. Super long range sniping needs very reliable propellant.

Also, the bigger the bullet and the more powder the longer range you can shoot--ordinary sniper rifles are limited in this regard by recoil. Put too much oomph into the bullet and you break the shooter's shoulder.

snip

*quote*

I once read that in the US civil war, a sniper with a heavy rifle (I think a Sharps), extra powder, and much preparation managed to kill a general at close to two miles range. In something like this, there is always an element of chance: he fired when the tent door was opened - by an aide - but the general was right behind the aide.

lyonheart wrote:Hi DDHvi,

Waiting for the general's tent door to open?

At two miles?

This sounds rather fanciful at best; more detail is certainly required before spreading this whopper.

In all the hundreds of books on the American Civil War I've read, I've never come across anything even close to this.

Now the experienced Union general John Sedgwick [West Point class of '37] was shot in hie left cheek May 9,1864 {Battle of Spotsylvania] at a range of 800 yards after telling the soldier in front of him who had ducked down "they couldn't hit an elephant at this range", who then stood, saluted and responded that he had dodged a cannonball that would have taken his head off, so he believed in dodging; the general replied "all right my man, go to your place" [on the ground] being hit just seconds later.

He was mourned all who knew him, including his good friend Robert E. Lee.

I know veterans who used to salute stupid officers in field exercises (who insisted on being saluted everywhere) "Sniper Check, Sir!" until they began to see the light.

snip

=DDHv
I once read that in the US civil war, a sniper with a heavy rifle (I think a Sharps), extra powder, and much preparation managed to kill a general at close to two miles range. In something like this, there is always an element of chance: he fired when the tent door was opened - by an aide - but the general was right behind the aide.

Undercover Fat Kid wrote:I'm having trouble picturing a thousand yard shot with iron sights.

At 500 yards, a black-on-white echo target is the same width as the front sight post on the M16. One year I was having just a crappy day at the range and only achieved 9 hits out of a possible ten at that range. Given a rifle capable of reaching a thousand accurately, I believe I could make such a shot oh, possibly 5 times in ten at best. But that's a high visibility target and a known, measured range with my rifle specifically zeroed to that range. Picking my target out and delivering a shot at such a range would be a lot more problematical under those less than ideal circumstances, with a less than ideal target.

Frankly, two miles boggles the mind. I can't imagine someone being able to pull that off, not cold bore, anyway, and especially without optics.

Undercover Fat Kid wrote:I'm having trouble picturing a thousand yard shot with iron sights.

At 500 yards, a black-on-white echo target is the same width as the front sight post on the M16. One year I was having just a crappy day at the range and only achieved 9 hits out of a possible ten at that range. Given a rifle capable of reaching a thousand accurately, I believe I could make such a shot oh, possibly 5 times in ten at best. But that's a high visibility target and a known, measured range with my rifle specifically zeroed to that range. Picking my target out and delivering a shot at such a range would be a lot more problematical under those less than ideal circumstances, with a less than ideal target.

Frankly, two miles boggles the mind. I can't imagine someone being able to pull that off, not cold bore, anyway, and especially without optics.