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2700 Yards????????

5K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  1biggun 
#1 ·
I am kinda new to this subject, so bare with me! I was watching the Military channel last night, and one of the X-perts on there was talking about the Springfield 1903A3 rifle, and how superior it was for it’s day. And one of the things he said was, “the thing that made it so superior was the fact that a trained soldier was able to shoot it accurately out to 2700 yards!
I might be stupid, but that seems like kinda of a stretch for any hand held rifle.
Am I un-informed, and can that rifle shoot accurately out to 2700 yards? And if so, where can I see something like that being done?

And thank you for listening, please help me with any protocols for this sight. Fantastic sight, and great people in it!

BigBarn
 
#3 ·
cheytac .408 can hold a 16 inch group and still punch through steel at over 2300 yds,
the barrett .416 shoots flater faster and more accurate than a .50 at 2500 yds and a thing i read it took sombody 3 shot to get on with a .50 and only 1 with a .416 at that distance.
 
#4 ·
The Springfield, IIRC, had a max range setting on the rear sight of around 2800 yards. Very optimistic. When the bullet is in flight as long as a .30-06 would be at that range a whole lot of factors can throw it off course. Let alone trying to see a man sized target at that range through irons. 1,000 yards would be pushing it for the average infantryman, maybe an expert might go a little more. Accurate range estimation is also required, before modern lightweight rangefinders were invented the shooter had to estimate range by visual clues. Being off by a couple hundred yards at long range was a miss.

The Cheytac .408, and the Barretts all use scopes to hit at that distance, the Cheytac even has a ballistics computer and rangefinder that factors in the weather and rotation of the earth into it's calculations. Probably why the Barret shooter took 2 shots before he figured out how to compensate for #3, while the computer did all the math ahead of time and got the shooter on target in 1.
 
#5 ·
yea i know, they even show a ballistics computer next to the guns on their site, but still just the idea of being to reach out and touch sombody at that range is awesome. you could snatch the life outta sombody and even the people standing around them wouldnt hear the shot.:sniper::sniper2:
 
#6 ·
Being off by a couple hundred yards at long range was a miss.
Hell being off by 50 yards at that range is a miss. It another case of the media not knowing what they are talking about. open sites at that range no way. would likely reqire optics just to spot a man.
yes if you lobe enough round at some thing eventualy you might hit it. I once hit a praire dog at like a 1000 yards with a 223 but I wasnt even sure it was the one I was aiming at and I sure would not call it skill. 30-6 is a great round and I have killed deer at amazing distances with it but it was luck. it takes great skill to guess 900 from a 1000 yards. on a recent varmit hunt a guy had a high dollar range finder and he would ask us to guess distances. it was embarising most guys guessed 400 yards at 600. and 600 was a 1000 or more. these were guys that all new how to shoot well.
 
#7 ·
My friend's wife has a simple test, she asks people to open a door exactly 12 inches. Most men for some reason open it around 8 or so. Something about guys always overestimating their lengths.........

After deer season we always got the guys coming into the gunshop bragging about their 200 yard bowshots and such, so the boss would ask them how far it was from the front window of the shop to the garage directly across the road. The actual measured distance was a few inches over 60 yards. Never had anybody estimate less than 100, most were 200 or more.
 
#8 ·
The long distance sights were meant for "area fire". This was old style thinking left over from the 19th century. The idea was to hit masses of troops at long range. IIRC, the some 1914 Enfields had a sight attached to the buttstock for 2700 yards. In WWI, the army had machinegun companies and they were used at long range using unsighted fire like artry.
 
#9 · (Edited)
IronHead 7544 - above, got it on the money ( Answered the question Correctly ) One reason the French & British were in awe of U.S, Troops was the fact American Marines were made to qualify at 600yds
If I remember right the US Army had 300yds as there standard. By the time we got into WW1 a hell of a lot of the best European troops had all ready been killed. There green replacements did not get a lot of training and thought 200yds was a long shot. Our sharpshooters with out scopes routinely made 400 - 600yd shots under battle field conditions. As stated above "Area Fire"was harrasment fire not
accurate fire at 2700yds

xfrog
 
#10 ·
thanks too all, you certainly made me feel a bit better about my knowledge of shooting distances. I’m no sharpshooter, and can hardly see anything out to 1000 yards with a scope, let alone the necked eye at 2700!
I will still use my trusty range finder for my 500 yard shots, that is the maximum yardage I am comfortable shooting at, and the animal had better be a bull elk to boot!
Thanks again guys,

BigBarn
 
G
#11 ·
G'day folks

The 1903 did have sight for Group fire

2000 was a common range for group firing

300 men 5 rnds each on a trench is a nasty rain

not sniping by any length, but would you wanna be under it when it lands??

it keeps heads down while folks assault wire etc.

Recently a US SF team came under fire from a unusually high angle

it wasnt super accurate but held the unit in place until air support arrived. as they had to cross too much open ground to counter.

it was one old talib with a very old Enfeild .303 with 2500 meter sights

cheers
 
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