The story began a few years ago when Russian shooter and maker of high-precision long-range rifles Vlad Lobaev saw a video on YouTube of peppy old men from Texas hitting a target at 3,600 yards (3,292 m) with a rifle. Vlad decided to accept the challenge and compete with the Americans. Fortunately, he had his own weapons factory Lobaev Arms at hand.

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The Americans fired from a custom-made (custom) ultra-long-range rifle in a rare caliber .375 CheyTac. By that time, Lobaev's company had already mass-produced the SVLK-14 "Dusk" ultra-long-range rifle in an even rarer and more powerful caliber .408 CheyTac, which allows sniping at distances over 2 km. For the record, they took a special custom "Dusk" with a titanium chassis and firing pin, with a barrel length of 720 mm and a weight of more than 9 kg. In April 2015, on a field in the Kaluga region (there are simply no multi-kilometer shooting ranges in Russia), Lobaev’s team, after sighting shots, hit a target at a distance of 3400 m with this rifle. The video with the record was posted on YouTube. The Americans reacted calmly: they say, okay, let's continue the absentee duel.

Record rifle SVLK-14 "Dusk"

Subsonic

Not only the Americans reacted: the French sniper from the Foreign Legion, after long training, hit the target at a distance of 3600 m, but, apart from an article in a small specialized magazine, there is no information about this record, no one uploaded videos. The Americans also overcame the mark, first 3600, and then 4000 yards (3657 m). Lobaev's company studied this video almost under a microscope: some parameters of the shot did not match, the flying time did not match with the initial speed and angle of the bar. Nothing has changed in ballistics, but a few hundred meters have increased. This does not happen, but since the competition was originally conceived as a competition of gentlemen, the Lobaevites decided to continue to shoot with the Americans honestly. And win by knockout - hit from four kilometers.

For shooters, shooting at a distance is considered ultra-long-range shooting, where at the end of the trajectory the bullet goes at deep subsonic, because everything is clear with supersonic - there ballistics is considered easily, using simple mathematical methods. And subsonic ballistics is considered more difficult, and, most unpleasantly, in this mode, some physical processes occur that make it difficult to shoot at ultra-long distances. First, there is a restabilization effect. Linear speed slows down at 1000 m, say, three times - from 900 m/s to 300 m/s. And the rotational speed of the bullet is only 5-10%. At subsonic, the speed is even lower, but the rotational speed is still the same. This leads to the fact that all the design and manufacturing defects of the bullet begin to come out, which greatly affects dispersion. In addition, at low speeds, errors in the assessment of wind and weather conditions become noticeable. The second factor is turbulence in the bottom part at deep subsonic. At speeds slightly less than 300 m / s, this is not critical, but at ranges of more than 2 km it greatly affects accuracy. There is only one way to deal with these phenomena - to develop a design of bullets with a different bottom design.

The classic problems for ultra-long range shooting require increased bullet mass and improved aerodynamics. Lobaev set his first record with a standard D27 bullet, an analogue of the well-known Lost River in the West. These are elongated solid-machined bullets for long-range shooting, also called Ultra VLD. They were no longer suitable for new records. If you follow the path of increasing the mass of the bullet, you will need to change the entire cartridge - either increase the chamber or use a new progressively burning gunpowder, or even switch to a different caliber. Another caliber (Browning .50 or domestic 12.7 x 108 mm) is a transition to another class and a completely different weapon with all the ensuing consequences: other barrels, bolts, receivers, dimensions, weight and a significant increase in recoil, at which the pleasure of shooting is out of the question.

Lobaev decided not to deviate from the old cartridge case and caliber .408 CheyTac, not to change either the dimensions or the mass of the weapon. He managed to develop a heavier 30-gram D30 bullet, while remaining within the standard cartridge. This was also done because the cartridge is quite affordable and anyone can try to repeat the achievement. The design of the bullet was also modified: it began to resemble a long elongated spindle with two pointed ends, which made it possible to achieve an almost ideal ballistic coefficient of one. This required a redesign of the rifle, a faster rifling pitch to stabilize the longer, heavier bullet. If the classic rifling pitch in the 408 caliber is thirteen, then Lobaev decided to use ten on the record rifle. Despite the fact that the muzzle velocity of the new bullet was lower (875 m/s for the D30 versus 935 m/s for the D27), it had a flatter trajectory at 2 km.

Lateral support

One of the main problems with record shooting is that you cannot raise the bar of the optical sight indefinitely. When firing at such distances, the rifle has large elevation angles, as when firing from a canopy, almost like a howitzer. At the top of the trajectory, the bullet travels at a height of several hundred meters. No sights allow you to make such corrections for aiming, therefore, for record shooting, special slats are used for the sight. However, you can’t endlessly raise the bar: the muzzle device begins to block the line of sight. This was precisely what confused Lobaev in the last record of the Americans: the angle of the bar did not correspond to the correction necessary for such a distance. The solution to this problem Lobaev peeped at the artillery, where the sight had long been moved to the left of the barrel. The solution is simple, but no one in the world before Lobaev used it. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the sight on Lobaev's record-breaking rifles passes to the left of the barrel. What turned out to be more convenient for shooting: you don’t need to throw your head back and you can take the optimal position.

Lobaev's know-how is the side mount of the sight for ultra-long range shooting. A year ago it was forbidden even to photograph it. This system can also be used in the military: when firing at long distances, it helps to get by with the available Russian sights.

On the second try

They were going to break the record last summer in the fields near Krasnodar. For this, a giant target measuring 10 x 10 m was made in order to at least shoot. How a bullet behaves at such distances, no one knew, and there were no exact mathematical models. It was only clear that the bullets would enter the ground in the target area almost vertically, so the target was at a high angle. The difficulty was that the soil during the shooting was wet, so it was necessary to hit the target exactly: traces of hitting the ground at such low speeds and almost vertical corners are not visible. Unfortunately for the whole team, the record failed the first time: they couldn't even hit such a big target. While preparing for the next round, the Americans posted a video with a 4 km record on the Web. It became clear that you need to shoot even further.

Throughout the past year, Lobaev and his team have been conjuring with a rifle and new bullets, giving practically no information about the project, being afraid to jinx the world record, constantly approaching the cherished milestone, first taking 4170 m, then 4200. And in October of this year they succeeded the incredible: the well-known shooter and promoter Andrey Ryabinsky hit a 1 x 1 m target from a distance of 4210 m. For such a shot, a huge number of factors had to be taken into account, including the rotation of the Earth - the bullet spent 13 seconds in the air! As the record holder himself said, he went to this shot for eight years. So now the ball is on American soil. Or, more correctly, a bullet.

What can one shot do? Eliminate the person. Change history. Stop the advance of the enemy. Rescue a platoon of comrades in arms. Professionals in their field always deserve a respectful attitude among the people of their specialty. Army snipers are no exception, and the fate of the entire operation often depends on the accuracy of their fire.

1. From a machine gun for two kilometers

When Carlos Hascock was still a child, he liked to hunt small birds and squirrels with a small-caliber rifle. Hascock's talent for shooting was revealed by his service in the US Marine Corps. The young man was sent to Vietnam. Enemies appreciated the sniper's skills faster than the American command, placing a price of 30 thousand dollars on the head of a sniper (a colossal amount at that time).

On missions, the American used a Winchester Model 70 rifle. However, he set his main record with the help of an M2 Browning heavy machine gun with an 8X Unertl optical sight mounted on a makeshift bracket. Hascock took down an enemy courier at a range of 2,300 meters. This record was considered a world record from 1967 to 2002.

2. One bullet for six

The identity of this shooter is kept secret by the American command. All that is known is that he serves as a yawning corporal in the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. At the time of the record shot, the soldier was only 20 years old.
In the unit, the corporal very quickly established himself as an excellent shooter, and therefore he was the first to get access to a high-end sniper rifle L115A3 AWM .338 caliber. In Afghanistan, a fighter killed a Taliban machine gunner in the chest at a distance of 1339 meters.

The corporal made his most striking shot in the province of Helmund, when he covered the positions of the British, which were attacked by the Taliban. Six militants were approaching the Allied trench, including a suicide bomber. The corporal fired at the latter and caused the vest to explode, killing all six of them. The shot was fired from a distance of 850 meters.

3. 10 seconds of flight

The record for the range of a shot was set by an "unnamed" sniper of the Coalition troops during an operation against terrorists of a group now banned in Russia. A soldier of the 2nd Joint Task Force, using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle, effectively thwarted the entire offensive of the militants with one shot, killing the commander at a distance of 3,450 meters at the position of Iraqi soldiers. The bullet flew to the target for 10 seconds.

4. Black shot

British Army corporal Christopher Reynolds killed a Taliban commander nicknamed "Mula" with two shots at a distance of 1,853 meters. Reynolds had to wait for the target in ambush for three days. The corporal's first shot missed, but the range was such that the Taliban did not even immediately realize that they had come under fire. Shot by a sniper from a rifle L115A3.

5. 25 football fields

The case of Craig Harrison is a prime example of how the media can destroy a person's life. While serving in Afghanistan, Craig rescued fellow soldiers who were pinned down by machine-gun fire from Taliban militants. The incident took place in Helmand province. The corporal fired six shots at a distance of 2,475 meters and was able to eliminate two machine gunners. Harrison's shot is notable for the fact that he fired from the L115A3 rifle, and the distance to the machine gunners was almost twice the effective firing range of this weapon.

Unfortunately, Craig's name got into the media. Very soon, unknown persons began to threaten him and his family. The corporal himself began to suffer from a mental disorder (due to constant tension), and his family completely fell apart.

Want to find out even more interesting things? Then read about that everyone will appreciate.

The world record was set by Russian snipers who hit a target at a distance of almost three and a half kilometers from the firing position. The incredible result is now called a new victory for domestic weapons and they are even going to apply for the Guinness Book of Records. The previous group record was broken by our masters of field shooting by 100 meters, the record of a professional sniper by more than one thousand. On the eve of the anniversary Great Victory It was decided to dedicate the achievement to everyone who fought for the Motherland. How it happened - in a special report by LifeNews.

The fire experiment took place on the border of the Kaluga and Tula regions near the regional center of Tarusa. It was here that sniper Vladislav Lobaev, together with his team, decided to carry out an ambitious task - to break the world record in rifle shooting.

- This is an exclusive shooting - it is a record-breaking one. This is not group shooting - this is shooting to hit, at least one shot, - says Vladislav Lobaev, designer of sniper rifles.

By the way, Vladislav Lobaev himself is an athlete, he is fond of long-range shooting. In addition, Lobaev developed the latest sniper rifle which now bears his name. A few years ago, a man created the first private company in Russia for the serial production of precision weapons. After many achievements in the development of weapons, the Americans forced Vlad to set a new record - already in the sniper business.

We are talking about a video that appeared on the Web, in which four foreign cowboys of advanced age hit a target at a distance of 30 football fields - about three thousand three hundred meters. For domestic masters, the foreign experiment aroused suspicions, turning into a challenge.

Already here, in Russia, the distance of three thousand four hundred meters is a hundred more than that of the Americans. In other words, the territory under the experiment is commensurate with 32 football fields according to FIFA standards. Or a little less than any runway at Domodedovo airport. And in Moscow itself, this is almost the same distance as from Manezhnaya Square to the Belorussky railway station - the entire Tverskaya street. A rangefinder helped me navigate the countryside. It was with his help that the points for the sniper and targets were chosen in the fields.

The main condition of the experiment is the absence of obstacles at the entire distance. This was only the field of the Kaluga region. The target was set up three agricultural fields from the firing position. The participants had to get here through plowed land and mud.

The target itself is a meter by a meter. The shield was dug right into the remains of last year's hay.

- Mission Impossible. 3400 - it's just that no one did. If this happens, it will be a world record, - says the master of sports in bullet shooting Sergey Parfyonov.

In the hands of Vladislav was a difficult rifle, which has no analogues in the world. The sniper created the weapon with my own hands. In total, the athlete has six different models in the weapons range. By the way, this sniper rifle is called "Twilight". Its caliber is 408 Chey Tac, muzzle velocity - 900 meters per second, length - 1430 millimeters, barrel length - 780 millimeters, weight - more than nine and a half kilograms.

True, to achieve the record, in order to increase the range, the weapon had to be modified: to increase the bar under the sight, to move the rear of the barrel higher. In addition, even the bullets had to be loaded special - with a pointed tip, which, like lightning, cuts through the air.

The first few shots were encouraging - although they did not hit the target, they definitely caught up with the Americans. And in order to overtake, it seems that all the conditions coincided at the shooting range - sunny weather and even the wind subsides from time to time. After some time, the bullet still pierced the target.

According to Vlad Lobaev, this result is still better than the American one and even worthy of the Guinness Book of Records. Note that the previous record was set in Afghanistan by a professional sniper-military Briton Craig Garrison. In 2010, he hit a target located at a distance of 2.47 kilometers from an L115A3 Long Range Rifle rifle of 8.59 mm caliber, which has a standard firing range of about 1100 meters.

His team now expects to enter their names there, having conquered the firing line for three and a half kilometers. And on the eve of the anniversary of the Great Victory, they decided to dedicate this record to everyone who fought for the Motherland.

Speaking about the best sniper shots, first of all, you should take into account the range of the shot and the accuracy of the hit. Based on these criteria , Guns&Ammo magazine ranked the eight longest and most accurate shots officially registered.

Today, more than ever, modern weapons allow you to hit distant targets. However, one of the record-breaking shots was made more than 50 years ago, which also speaks of the importance of the skills and professionalism of each sniper. All ranges are in yards (1 yard = 91 cm).

Ranked eighth- Shot by American Sergeant Major Jim Gilliland (1367 yards) in the Iraq War. Shot from a standard M24 rifle using standard 7.62x51mm NATO rounds in 2005.

In seventh place- shot by an unknown representative of the Norwegian military contingent in 2007 during the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Rifle - Barrett M82A1. Cartridges - Raufoss NM140 MP. Range - 1509 yards.

number six- Corporal of the British Army Christopher Reynolds and his accurate shot in August 2009 at 2026 yards. Rifle - Accuracy International L115A3. Cartridges - .338 Lapua Magnum LockBase B408. The hit target is a Taliban commander nicknamed "Mullah", responsible for a number of attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. For his shot, the corporal was awarded a medal from the hands of Queen Elizabeth II of England.

number five— Sergeant Carlos Hatchhawk, shot at 2500 yards. Date - February 1967, the time of the Vietnamese conflict. The historic shot that made the sergeant a hero of his time was fired from an M2 Browning machine gun. Cartridges - .50 BMG. Hatchcock and today the legend of the American army - he ranks fourth in the list of snipers who hit maximum amount goals. At one time, the Vietnamese put a $30,000 bounty on his head.

Fourth place- US Sergeant Brian Kremer and shot at 2515 yards. Date is March 2004. Weapon - Barrett M82A1. Cartridges - Raufoss NM140 MP. In two years in Iraq, Kremer fired two successful shots over 2,350 yards.

Third place (bronze) - from a Canadian, Corporal Arron Perry. Shot range - 2526 yards. Date is March 2002. Weapon - McMillan Tac-50. Cartridges - Hornady A-MAX .50 (.50 BMG).

Second place (silver) - a shot at 2657 yards, again by Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong, by date coinciding with Arron Perry's record. Weapons and ammo are the same.

First Place (Gold) - an unsurpassed record of the British Craig Harrison. During the Afghan conflict in November 2009, he fired his best double shot at 2,707 yards. The defeat of the target was documented - two Taliban machine gunners were killed in succession. This record makes Harrison the best of all time.

Accurate shooting at ultra-long distance is like a tricky trick - in the past, such shooting was the result of the phenomenal abilities of the shooter, and more often by chance. Today it is a combination of high technologies and perfect training methods. "Lenta.ru" has compiled a rating of the most distant sniper shots of all time.

In our rating, we took only long-range shots fired by military snipers during armed conflicts. A record shot should be unique for its era and glorify the shooter. The set record must be kept enough for a long time, or the shot fired must break a record unsurpassed for decades.

“From this distance, they won’t even hit an elephant.”

The names of the first shooters, who became famous for the longest shots, remained in history solely thanks to their victims - high-ranking military leaders. The first attested ultra-long shot dates back to the era of the Napoleonic Wars - the French general, Baron Auguste de Colbert, became his victim. In 1809 he was killed by a rifleman of the 95th British rifle division, by a certain Thomas Plunkett - he is in fifth position. It is believed that Plunket killed Colbert from an incredible 600 meters for that time. And to prove that the hit was not accidental, he also shot down the general's adjutant with another shot - however, this is more of a legend. There is no exact data on what kind of weapon the British shooter used. Some sources say that Plunkett fired the standard 1722 pattern smoothbore musket, the famous Brown Bess. But it is more likely that the long-range shot was fired from a rifled fitting, which by that time had appeared in the British army. By the way, the British snipers of the XIX century - the military, hunters, athletes - often used a rather unusual technique - they shot lying on their backs, resting the barrel on the shin of a bent leg. It is believed that it was from this position that Plunkett shot de Colbert.

Image: The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum

“From such a distance, they won’t even hit an elephant,” - such were last words American General John Sedgwick - a second later he fell from a sniper's bullet. This is the American Civil War of 1861-1865. At the Battle of Spotsylvane, Sedgwick, who fought on the side of the United States, controlled artillery fire. The Confederate riflemen, seeing the enemy commander, began to hunt for him, the staff officers lay down, and invited their commander to go into cover. The positions of the opponents were separated by a distance of about one kilometer. Sedgwick, considering this distance safe, began to shame his subordinates for their timidity, but did not have time to finish - a bullet from an unknown sergeant Grace hit him in the head. This is perhaps the farthest shot of the 19th century, although it cannot be said whether it was an accident or not. This is the fourth position in the ranking.

Descriptions of long-range shots - at a distance of half a kilometer - are also found in the chronicles of the War of Independence and civil war in USA. There were many good hunters among the North American militias, and they used long-barreled large-caliber hunting rifles and fittings as weapons.

Carlos "White Feather"

The first half of the 20th century did not bring new deadly records, at least those that would become the property of history and glorify the shooter. During the First and Second World Wars, the skill of snipers was determined not by the ability to make an ultra-long shot, but by the number of enemies killed. It is known that one of the most productive snipers of all time - the Finn Simo Häyhä (he accounted for up to 705 enemy soldiers killed) - preferred to shoot from a distance of no more than 400 meters.

For new range records, a weapon was needed that significantly exceeded the characteristics of regular sniper rifles. Such a weapon was the Browning M2 machine gun of 12.7x99 mm caliber (50 BMG), developed in the early 30s of the last century. During the Korean War, American soldiers began to use it as a sniper rifle - the machine gun was equipped with an optical sight and could fire a single shot. With its help, a participant in the Vietnam War, American Sergeant Carlos Hathcock II set a distance record that lasted for 35 years. In February 1967, the American destroyed the enemy from a distance of 2286 meters - the third position. From his sniper M2, Hathcock was guaranteed to hit a growth target with single shots from a distance of 2000 yards (a little more than 1800 meters), that is, approximately twice as much as compared to the standard army "high-precision" M24 ​​in calibers 308 Win (7.62x51 millimeters) and 300 Win Mag (7.62x67 millimeters).

The Vietnamese nicknamed Hathcock "White Feather" - allegedly, despite the requirements of disguise, he always attached a feather to his hat. Some sources claim that the North Vietnamese command put a $30,000 bounty on the sniper's head. It is noteworthy that Hathcock received his highest award - the Silver Star - not for sniping, but for rescuing his comrades from a burning armored personnel carrier.

Inspired by the success of Hathcock, the US military created a special commission that studied the possibility of creating a heavy sniper rifle based on the Browning.

Rifle from the garage

The Americans did not make rifles from a machine gun. But in 1982 former officer Police Ronnie G. Barrett built a 12.7mm sniper rifle in a garage workshop, later designated the Barrett M82. The inventor offered his development to the monsters of the arms market, such as Winchester and FN, and after the latter's refusal, he set up his own small-scale production by registering Barrett Firearms. Barrett's first clients were hunters and civilian lovers of high-precision shooting, and at the very end of the 80s, a batch of 100 M82A1 rifles was purchased by Swedish troops, following the Swedes, the American military became interested in Barrett's rifle. Today, the word "Barrett" has actually become synonymous with a large-caliber precision rifle.

Another "high-precision" in the caliber of 12.7x99 millimeters began to be produced in the mid-80s by a small American company McMillan Bros. The rifle was called the McMillan TAC-50 - today they are used by special units of the United States and Canada.

The advantages of large-caliber high-precision weapons were fully revealed in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, snipers of the Western coalition began to update range records almost every year. In 2002, in Afghanistan, Canadian Arron Perry from a McMillan TAC-50 rifle hit a Mujahideen from a distance of 2526 yards (a little more than 2.3 thousand meters), thereby breaking Hathcock's long-term record. In the same year, his compatriot Rob Furlong (Rob Furlong) made a productive shot at 2657 yards (slightly more than 2.4 thousand meters). These two shots are in second position.

The American sniper Brian Kremer (Brian Kremer) crept close to the shooters from Canada - in March 2004 in Iraq from a Barrett M82A1 rifle, he hit a target at a distance of 2300 meters. It is believed that during his two years of service in Iraq, Kremer fired two successful shots with a range of over 2100 meters.

In first place - unsurpassed to date, the record of Briton Craig Harrison (Craig Harrison). During an operation in Afghanistan in November 2009, at a range of 2470 meters, he destroyed two Taliban machine gunners and their machine gun. According to Craig himself, before three effective shots, he had to make nine more sighting shots.