British Long Range Rifle L115A3
Long Range Rifle L115A3
A record sniper kill in Afghanistan made by Corporal of the Horse Craig Harrison, a British Soldier, while he was protecting his commander from a Taliban machine gun position.
According to an article on the recent record shot from the UK’s SkyNews, Harrison fired his shots over 1.5 miles (8,120 ft.) and killed the two bad guys in two shots. He fired a third shot to disable the machine gun.
Speaking about the incident, Cpl of Horse Harrison said: “The first round hit a machine gunner in the stomach and killed him outright. He went straight down and didn’t move.
“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”
“Conditions were perfect, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility. I rested the bipod of my weapon on a compound wall and aimed for the gunner firing the machine gun.”
He killed the two insurgents as he protected his troop commander,whose vehicle became trapped in a field in Helmand Province and started coming under fire.
Harrison was using the British Army’s newest sniper rifle, the L115A3 chambered in .338 Lapua, which as Kit Up readers know has a heck of a following among sharpshooters both in and out of the military. We also know that the US Army is changing its precision sniper rifle to the 300 Win Mag round, setting up a Battle Royal among gun nuts for boasting rights on the best round for the war zone.
The previous sniper shot record holder was a Canadian soldier who killed an Al Qaeda fighter at a range of 7,972 feet reportedly with a .50 cal in the second shot. The previous record was held by The Man, Carlos Hathcock.
According to British MOD statistics, the L115A3’s maximum effective range is a little over 3,600 feet for “harrassing fire” — well short of Cpl. Harrison’s shot.
To compensate for the spin and drift of the bullets as they flew the length of 25 football pitches, Cpl of Horse Harrison reportedly had to aim 6ft high and 20ins to the left.
…need we say more…
By Cristian
May 4 2010
From KitUp
L115A3 Specs:
Caliber: 8.59mm
Weight: 6.8kg
Length:1300mm
Muzzle velocity: 936m/s
Feed: 5-round box
Effective range: 1100m plus
According to one senior officer, the new rifles should, ultimately, provide snipers with the capability to "engage a target at 1,500 meters." In the past, he said, range was capped at "about 1,000 meters."
He added: "Every soldier wants to be a sniper as they're held in extremely high regard. Battalions are desperate to send soldiers here (the Warminster-based Support Weapons School) for training and our courses are always full."
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