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"Canadian sniper sets world record with 2.2-mile pickoff of ISIS fighter

A Canadian sniper set what appears to be a record, picking off an ISIS fighter from some 2.2 miles away, and disrupting a potentially deadly operation by the terror group in Iraq.

Shooting experts say the fatal shot at a world-record distance of 11,316 feet underscores how stunningly sophisticated military snipers are becoming. The feat, pulled off by a special forces sniper from Canada’s Joint Task Force 2, smashed the previous distance record for successful sniper shots by some 3,280 feet, a record set by a British sniper."

taken from this link http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/22/ca ... ghter.html where additional really good info is available

there is a great deal of info in the link given that I find to be amazing .... not the least of which is shown below in bold print :

"The spotter would have had to successfully calculate five factors: distance, wind, atmospheric conditions and the speed of the earth’s rotation at their latitude,”

I mean seriously, the speed of the earth's rotation .. .. I must be way out of touch because I've never heard of such a thing

What they didn't consider the moon's gravitational pull?

Sir Henry wrote:What they didn't consider the moon's gravitational pull?

You also need to be lucky too .

Thanks for posting this interesting article. The astonishing stat to me that was reported indicates the Canadian sniper "bested" the British sniper's previous distance record by 1,093 yards. That is not a short distance in and of itself!!

I remember the work/practice it took for me to shoot my longest distance of 232 yards (a trifling 696 feet) a couple of years ago. Cannot imagine sending a 50-cal. round 2.1 miles and landing it on-target. Kudos should go to the expert spotter as well.

I wonder how long it takes a round to travel that distance.

Interesting Q, Steelersfan.
I did some searches and found various comments & stats. None of this is my stuff; just my digging around:

The maximum range of a .50 BMG cartridge, with no accuracy, is about 6,000 meters (19,685 feet). The maximum EFFECTIVE range (skilled marksman) is about 1/3 of that, or 6,561 feet.

How long does it take for a sniper 50 cal. bullet to go a mile?

Applying the most basic arithmetic, you can have a decent estimates if you have the ballistic coefficients and the muzzle velocity for the projectiles.

A standard 660 grain bullet fired by a M107 .50 Caliber Long Range Sniper Rifle has a muzzle velocity at 2,800 fps (853 mps) with a maximum effective range at 2,000 yd (1,829 m).

Assuming all things being constant (as the bullet can be affected by a number of factors such as wind, temperature, pressure, etc.)----5280 (feet in a mile) divided by 2800 (feet per second) equals 1.8857 seconds (at least).

To be more accurate, an on-line ballistics calculator will show pretty much everything. Below are some of the good calculators you'll find online:
Hornady Ballistics Calculator: https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ba ... lculators/#!/

JBM Ballistics Calculator: http://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistics ... tors.shtml

Handloads.com Ballistics Calculator: http://www.handloads.com/calc/index.html

Reminder to take all the internet search stuff with a grain of salt. One never knows.

Final comment. Wish I could remember some of the distances of sniper shots in the movie, "American Sniper." Many of those long-distance sniper shots were just amazing!

At 2.2 miles that would equate to a little over 4 seconds and probably more in reality. As someone that prefers to shoot metal targets that give feedback almost instantaneously, it is hard to imagine what it takes to make that shot and what it must be like to wait for those 5+ seconds to pass.