[Stormsmith]

A Canadian sniper working alongside Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS successfully struck a member of the militant group from a distance of 3,540 metres, Canada's military confirmed Thursday.

The sniper is a member of the elite Joint Task Force 2 special forces unit, but citing operation security the military provided no details about how or when the incident took place.

The shot surpasses the previous record held by a British soldier, who in 2009 shot a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan from a distance of 2,475 metres.

Wow! That's an impressive difference.

[Thunderhawk]

link: http://globalnews.ca/news/3552281/snipe ... military/5
Two other Canadian snipers had kills at 2+km, officially 3rd and 4th longest range.

An unimpressive range compared to artillery and Naval guns let alone tomahawks, but for a man with a rifle its a skilled shot and probably a lot cheaper.

[Suntzu]

Computer technology and laser ranging have a lot to do with it along with vastly improved equipment, optics and rifles, probably using .338 Lauda about $30/round.

[Albert]

Three km, that is unbelievable really.

[MememyselfandIJK]

Three km, that is unbelievable really.

Well lets do the math. First we must calculate all the possible paths for a bullet. Using the formula for the surface area of a sphere, we find that randomly shooting a bullet allows it to be anywhere over a 64pi km^2 area after traveling 4 km. Now the surface area of a person is about 1.9 m^2. Lets assume that there is about a .5 m^2 area you can shoot a person to fatally wound them at any direction that they may face you.

Now .5 m^2/64pi*10^6 m^2 = .5 m^2/2*10^8 m^2 = a 1 in 400 million chance that you will fatally hit someone from 4km away if you shoot randomly. Better pack lots of ammo

[Suntzu]

Trajectory is pretty simple to calculate. It can be built into the scope (dial-a-kill). What you need to know is exact distance and wind. Shots that long the spin of Earth comes into play as well as elevation differences.

I would be curious to know what round was used. The .338 barely has enough energy left to kill a man a that range.

[MememyselfandIJK]

@Suntzu I was assuming a random shot, not one that you were trying to aim

[Stormsmith]

A little more data for you to chew over

The Star.Com reports

Canadian Special Operations sniper shoots Daesh fighter from 3.5 kilometres (2.2miles) away

The Globe and Mail said the shooter used a McMillan Tac-50 rifle. The U.S.-made rifle, chambered in .50 calibre, is known in the Canadian Armed Forces as the C15 Long Range Sniper Weapon and was responsible for multiple record-breaking shots during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan in 2002. The weapon has a maximum effective range of around 3,650 metres and weighs roughly 26 pounds.

The Tac-50 is billed as being able to shoot a 1.27 centimetre bullet group at 91 metres. Meaning at 3,539 metres, its grouping size would be somewhere around 20 inches. For the soldier to hit his target 3,540 metres he would need to account for every atmospheric factor available. Wind speed, temperature, barometric pressure, the bullet’s yaw and the rotation of the earth would all need to be considered before pulling the trigger. These variables, once harnessed from devices such as a hand-held weather meter and potentially range-finding equipment on the gun, would then be processed through a ballistic calculator that would let the shooter make the necessary adjustments on the rifle’s scope.

Evan McAllister, a former Marine sergeant who served multiple deployments as a sniper in Ramadi, Iraq and in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, said little is known about the capabilities of a unit like Joint Task Force 2. The unit was likely operating with an array of systems to help make the shot, he said.

“While the shot was possible with the outstanding ballistic properties of a match .50 (inch) projectile, a conventional rifle scope would make seeing the target at that range almost impossible, and it may be likely that the sniper team had some form of assistance either from an extremely advanced rifle scope or an overhead drone,” McAllister said. “There is also a chance that the sniper couldn’t exactly see the target or the impacts, but a spotter with an advanced optical device was able to verbally walk the sniper onto the target and correct his aim.”

[MememyselfandIJK]

A little more data for you to chew over

Ill just program a computer to shoot for me, thanks.

[Suntzu]

Ill just program a computer to shoot for me, thanks.

That is what they do with artillery and mortars.

[MememyselfandIJK]

@Suntzu No I'm serious, I better at programing than aiming

[ingliz]

.338 Lauda

.338 Lapua.

probably using

.50 BMG.

McMillan TAC-50

the fellow who made the shot said that he was actually aiming at the guy beside the one who was hit.