Sniper Sets a New Long Distance Kill Record

A British sniper stationed in Afghanistan sets a new long distance kill record in style. The previous record was set by a Canadian Sniper in Afghanistan in 2002. The target was 7,972 feet away. I saw an interview on the military channel(?) with the shooter. He spotted three enemy walking and tried to zero in. It took him three shots getting progressively closer, with the third shot hitting the mark killing the enemy. The other two scattered. The British sniper killed two enemies manning a machine gun nest 8,120 feet away. The British sniper's kills were 150 feet further and were 'kills' (as in two), though the Canadian sniper can retort that his target was moving. I think they both deserve accommodations, and possibly separate entries in the records books; distance kill stationary and distance kill moving.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7113916.ece

"A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than a mile away.

Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.

“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.

“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”

The shooting — which took place while Harrison’s colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.

The distance to Harrison’s two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002."