Everyone likes to make fun of the Canadian Army, but oftimes our friends up north do good.
Three months ago a Canadian team of snipers (Master Corporal Graham Ragsdale, Master Corporal Arron Perry and Corporal Dennis Eason of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) broke the all-time record for "one shot, one kill."
Older sniper rifles (.30 caliber) are generally accurate out to about 800 meters. Call it 800 yards if you don't like metric. :) Most of the .30 caliber-record shots are around 1,000 meters, but the United States introduced .50 caliber (12.7mm) sniper rifles around 20 years ago. These rifles have much greater range, and now that extra range is starting to break records.
On the night of March 21, the above Canadian team managed a 2,400 meter kill, with several others in the 2 kilometer range. The rifle used was a .50 caliber MacMillan Tac-50.
Wow. With ranges like that, even an Ohioan like me feels the impulse to be a tad bit more polite to our friends up north. :)
Good on ya, guys! Aoorah.
Thanks to the folks at StrategyPage.com for the story.