Automatic's

[petro]

>At 04:56 PM 6/10/01 -0700, petro wrote:
>>
>>	A .300 Win Mag or .338 Laupa will do 1000 to 1500 yard hits
>>just as well, in a smaller, cheaper, easier to handle package.
>
>In unknown wind?  Ok.

	At 1000 to 1500 yards you don't shoot in "unknown wind", you 
watch everything *very* carefully.

	Even that big ass .50 cal is going to be blown around a bit 
by an errant breeze, and at 3000 to 4500 feet, there are a lot of 
errant breezes on anything but the flattest, most open terrain.

>>	Anything past 800 to 1000 yards is luck and voodoo anyway.
>
>Not me, but others, could contradict this by example.

	There are so few who can hit the kinds of targets we are 
talking about at those ranges that it is functionally voodoo.

	When you get past 1k, you get massive bullet drop and even a 
minor wind difference can push your bullet off course, take a look at 
these bullet drop tables:

	http://www.snipercentral.com/50bmg.htm
	http://www.snipercentral.com/338.htm
	http://www.snipercentral.com/300.htm
	http://www.snipercentral.com/308.htm

	Look at how fast the bullets are dropping at 1k yards.

	There is an especially nice chart on the .338 page that 
graphically compares the four rounds.

	When you couple bullet drop with (in a sniper/marksman 
scenario) even the *slightest* unknown elevation changes, it becomes 
*very* *very* difficult to hit reliably hit a "bravo" sized and 
shaped target.

	When you factor in time-to-target (over a second at those 
ranges) it becomes even more voodoo. Then remember you've got *one* 
shot to hit. That first cold barrelled shot is either going to hit, 
or alert your target you are there.

	Sure, it can be done. With lots of training, luck and voodoo.

	Also, read what he has to say on the .50BMG page about using 
that round against human targets.
-- 
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http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html
It is one of the essential features of such incompetence that the person so
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