Article

2005-01-19 Iraq-Jordan

Long Range Surveillance/Sniper Detachment

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Posted by Anonymoose 2005-01-19 11:22:08 AM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Wonderful! How disconcerting and demoralizing for the bad guys when, in the midst of quietly (vewy, vewy quietly) enjoying their nefarious doings, their heads suddenly go pop, one after another. I do like the American style of making war.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-19 11:39:01 AM|| 2005-01-19 11:39:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "M-14 rifles which have never been surpassed as a marksmanâs weapon"

I know this is Debka and I duly took my grains of salt, but cheeze, this seems a little over the top. What about Russian and Euro equivalents ? Any Rantexperts care to comment on this claim ?

Posted by Carl in N.H. 2005-01-19 11:55:26 AM|| 2005-01-19 11:55:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 pop goes the jihadi!

Posted by meeps 2005-01-19 11:56:36 AM|| 2005-01-19 11:56:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Statements about the M-14 are a little over the top.

Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-01-19 12:21:28 PM|| 2005-01-19 12:21:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Article: They are armed with newly-issued M-14 rifles which have never been surpassed as a marksmanâs weapon...

That's weird. My impression was that snipers generally prefer bolt-action to clip-fed rifles.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-01-19 12:23:48 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-01-19 12:23:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Modified Winchester Model 70 and Remington Model 700 as well as Barrett .50-cal have been used as sniper rifles. A good website for sniper rifles is:

http://www.snipercentral.com/rifles.htm

Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-01-19 12:34:58 PM|| 2005-01-19 12:34:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 the Corps uses the Remington modified bolt action scout rifle. I've shot it before, very nice.

Posted by Jarhead 2005-01-19 12:45:06 PM|| 2005-01-19 12:45:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 I used the M-14 and it is an excellant weapon. Zhang Fei, snipers do prefer bolt action rifles because of the noise of ejecting a spent round and chambering a new round. The spent round can be rather noisy when it is ejected. too much noise and you could give away your position, however, if you are far enough away the noise may not be a problem.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-01-19 1:04:42 PM|| 2005-01-19 1:04:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Marines adopted the Model 700 Remington in 1966 (M-40).The Army tried various weapons.But the M-14 (M21)offered advantages in their opinion.
1.In case of target movement,or error on sniper,another round could be fired immediately.
2.Engaging multiple targets
3.Both semi and full-automatic fire capability enabled the sniper to defend himself or engage the enemy as warranted.
These attributes seem to fit the articles description of 173RD's current mission.

Posted by crazyhorse 2005-01-19 1:34:31 PM|| 2005-01-19 1:34:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Every Army division has a LRSD. Some are trained as snipers. I somehow doubt that this was the first LRSD to deploy to Iraq. Debka is exagerating as usual.

Posted by 11A5S 2005-01-19 1:46:08 PM|| 2005-01-19 1:46:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm no sniper. But from what I learned when I considered buying a particular rifle recently (including advice from people who are / have been snipers in operational settings) it's a mistake to evaluate rifles for long range precision shooting based on the model alone. Apart from the military standardized rifles, there are a lot of choices to be made that affect precision: caliber, barrel length, twist and the ammo used. The Remington 700 offers a wide range of these and the higher calibers are popular with many serious competitors for both bench and free shooting. Of course, lots of those guys load their own ammo to get it just right, too. Scope, bipod or sling etc. also have an important effect .....

Posted by rkb 2005-01-19 2:04:07 PM|| 2005-01-19 2:04:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 I fired a matched condition M-1 with half-minute clicks trying out for the Marine Rifle team in '64 with peep sights.Excellant weapon.
At 600 yards,the 20" target bullseye looked smaller than the width of the front sight blade.Heh

Posted by crazyhorse 2005-01-19 2:22:00 PM|| 2005-01-19 2:22:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 RKB, true. I have an 1859 Whitworth rifle. It fires a 471 grain, .451 calibre lead slug. I consistantly hit targets at 1000 yards over open sights.. Yes, it is a Civil War muzzle loading sniper rifle. I use 60 grains of Fg powder. The barrel is not round on the inside with traditional rifling grooves but is hexagonal with a 1 in 28 twist. The barrel length is the same as an 1853 Enfield, a long rifle. The bullet is machined to match. It has a 4" drop at 500 yards with 1 degree of elevation. The British Army was hitting targets at 1500 yards. A lot does depend on caliber, bullet weight, and rifling.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-01-19 3:15:31 PM|| 2005-01-19 3:15:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 is that your yankee rifle or your southron rifle? jeez..... i'm so temped. LOL!

Posted by half 2005-01-19 4:11:15 PM|| 2005-01-19 4:11:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 What is southron half pint ?

Posted by Bill Clinton 2005-01-19 4:12:40 PM|| 2005-01-19 4:12:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 half ta wait, ive photos of cross dressing yankee calvary. :)

Posted by half 2005-01-19 4:23:41 PM|| 2005-01-19 4:23:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 The Confederate Army bought 1000 of them in 1863 and all 1000 made it through the blockade. They came complete with bullet mold, bullet sizer, wad cutter, and cleaning kit.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-01-19 4:24:31 PM|| 2005-01-19 4:24:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Cool Half .....

Posted by Bill Clinton 2005-01-19 4:39:04 PM|| 2005-01-19 4:39:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Guys, I hate to say it, but you're not quite reading what it says. These are issued as "Marksman's weapon". There's a vast difference between designated marksmen and the traditional snipers. Snipers can and do prefer bolt action rifles over semi-automatics of any type. But what a sniper does isn't the same. DM's are usually imbedded with troops and work in a supporting role directly with troops. Sniper teams can and do operate the same way, but DM's are intended to provide an accurate aimed fire capability beyond that of normal troops and intelligence gathering via their better optics and training. Example below

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/marines/a/marmarksmen.htm

Posted by Silentbrick 2005-01-19 5:12:49 PM|| 2005-01-19 5:12:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 Thanks, Silent, it's been a while for me. I don't recall this from the late '60's early 70's. In fact, the sniper training was almost discontinued. Waaaaay back in the Great Unpleasantness, good marksmen were called Riflemen and a bit later in the war, Sharpshooters.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-01-19 7:28:28 PM|| 2005-01-19 7:28:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Which of course brings to mind the old TV show "The Rifleman" ....

Boy does THAT date me!

Posted by rkb 2005-01-19 10:39:52 PM|| 2005-01-19 10:39:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Chuck "Chiseled Chin" Connors and little Johnny Crawford?

I liked the big loop on the lever... I had the toy version - and I'm pretty sure I was faster, heh.

Posted by .com 2005-01-19 11:04:12 PM|| 2005-01-19 11:04:12 PM|| Front Page Top

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