Ry reports on a new Army sniping record from Afghanistan by a Arfcom member. Awesome!
If you are wondering at all the amazing sniping shots coming out of Afghanistan you aren’t alone. I knew the high altitude would make a difference but I didn’t know exactly how much until I ran some numbers through Modern Ballistics. Below you see the numbers for the .50 BMG shooting a high end bullet/cartridge with a gun zeroed at sea level for 1000 yards at a target at 2300 yards (2100 meters) away for various altitudes. Notice the difference in expected group size as the altitudes goes from 0 to 10000 feet. Notice the windage difference. All those things help but still, the shooter and spotter had to be top notch and have a little luck as well. Assuming a target of 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall the altitude difference changed the odds of a hit from about 10% to 20% (not shown).
Good job SnakeaterM24!
Modern Ballistics Data Created: 02/04/08 09:24:30
Firearm: Default
Cartridge: .50 BMG HMI with 750 gr. A-MAX
Conditions: Standard Conditions.
Range: 2300
Altitude (ft): 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 10000
Drop (inches) 2263 2193 2129 2070 2016 1966 1920 1877 1837 1765
Height (inches) -1609 -1539 -1475 -1416 -1362 -1313 -1267 -1224 -1184 -1112
Height (moa) -66.84 -63.93 -61.26 -58.82 -56.58 -54.52 -52.61 -50.83 -49.16 -46.17
Height (mils) -19.44 -18.60 -17.82 -17.11 -16.46 -15.86 -15.30 -14.79 -14.30 -13.43
Windage (inches) 258.89 244.21 230.39 217.47 205.43 194.19 183.72 173.94 164.81 148.27
Windage (moa) 10.75 10.14 9.57 9.03 8.53 8.06 7.63 7.22 6.84 6.16
Windage (mils) 3.13 2.95 2.78 2.63 2.48 2.35 2.22 2.10 1.99 1.79
Mid rng Ht (in) 78.8 79.2 79.5 79.8 80.2 80.5 80.8 81.1 81.4 81.9
Midrange (yds) 532.1 535.4 538.6 541.8 544.9 547.9 550.8 553.7 556.4 561.8
Zero (yds) 1000.0 1008.1 1016.0 1023.6 1031.2 1038.7 1045.9 1053.0 1060.0 1073.4
Near zero (yds) 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3
P.B. Size (in) 157.66 158.35 159.03 159.69 160.33 160.95 161.56 162.15 162.72 163.82
P.B. Range (yds) 1182 1192 1202 1212 1222 1231 1240 1249 1258 1275
Velocity (ft/S) 1118 1157 1200 1245 1290 1335 1380 1425 1469 1553
Energy (ft-lbs) 2082 2229 2397 2581 2772 2970 3173 3382 3593 4018
PF 839 868 900 934 968 1002 1035 1069 1102 1165
Time (S) 3.941 3.857 3.779 3.705 3.637 3.573 3.514 3.458 3.406 3.312
Group (inches) 81.20 77.10 73.25 69.68 66.37 63.31 60.47 58.02 55.56 51.17
Group (moa) 3.37 3.20 3.04 2.89 2.76 2.63 2.51 2.41 2.31 2.12
Group (mils) 0.98 0.93 0.88 0.84 0.80 0.76 0.73 0.70 0.67 0.62
Groups <= desired 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.20% 0.40% 0.60% 1.20% 1.20%
1 grp of <= desired 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 500.0 250.0 166.7 83.3 83.3
—–
Constants:
M.V. (ft/S) 2794 M.V. SDev (fps) 10.0 B.C. 1.050
Mass (grains) 750 Sight Ht (in) 1.50 Indicated SA (moa) 27.19
SA Offset (moa) 0.00 Incline (deg) 0 Wind (mph) 10
Wind error (mph) 2 Wind (deg.) 90 Temp (F) 59
Barometer 29.53 Gravity 32.17 Shots per group 5
Bullet acc. (moa) 0.50 Desired Grp (moa) 1.00 Group Simulations 500
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Firearm name: Default
Firearm notes:
Cartridge name: .50 BMG HMI with 750 gr. A-MAX
Cartridge notes: BC is for Hornady A-Max. MV is for max load of H50BMG.
Conditions name: Standard Conditions.
Conditions notes:
Awesome.
How’s that saying– “Don’t bother to run, you’ll only die tired”?
My quote database has it as:
From a t-shirt which I don’t have because I wouldn’t wear it (it would make me a poser).