I'm not really qualified to have an opinion on this rifle, since I'm not a long-range shooter. The longest shot I've ever personally made was about 600 meters from one mountain side to the next, with a Remington 700 chambered in .243 that had a bull-barrel and the biggest damned scope I've ever seen on a civilian rifle, I'm almost certain it was just a lucky slop-shot, which I've had a history of making. If I hit something at a distance, or something I couldn't see when the trigger was squeezed, it's just a lucky slop shot.
The longest shot I've ever witnessed was in Bosnia, made by a guy using a captured Russian SVD Dragunov firing 7.62x54R Russian. It was made at about 1200 meters, hitting an officer taking a piss off the top of a cliff on the other side of a gorge, which he thought kept him safe. He made a bad bet. The gorge and cliff did, however, retard pursuit long enough for the sniper team to make good their escape. The ignominy of having the boss shot dead while taking a leak probably also helped delay pursuit.
Generally speaking I confine myself to shots I know I can make, which avoids a lot of ribbing. If I make one by luck that I wasn't sure of, then that's just a slop shot. I never call a shot like that in serious circumstances, only in informal cases for beer-bets. That way, If I miss I'm only out a few beers rather than my one-and-only precious life.
So,I'm not really qualified to say whether lugging a 15 pound rifle over hill and dale, along with spare barrels, bolt faces, and magazines for quick-caliber-changes is a good idea or not. That's out of my wheelhouse, so I'll leave it to the professionals to make that determination.
I think it would be a good idea for the generals to leave that decision in professional hands, too, but that ain't how generals usually work.
I will say, though, that I do not believe that any Ukrainian ever made a 4 kilometer kill with a rifle, drone-assisted targeting or not. I believe that's just another attempt at propaganda coming out of that war, and a piss-poor one.
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The longest shot I've ever witnessed was in Bosnia, made by a guy using a captured Russian SVD Dragunov firing 7.62x54R Russian. It was made at about 1200 meters, hitting an officer taking a piss off the top of a cliff on the other side of a gorge, which he thought kept him safe. He made a bad bet. The gorge and cliff did, however, retard pursuit long enough for the sniper team to make good their escape. The ignominy of having the boss shot dead while taking a leak probably also helped delay pursuit.
Generally speaking I confine myself to shots I know I can make, which avoids a lot of ribbing. If I make one by luck that I wasn't sure of, then that's just a slop shot. I never call a shot like that in serious circumstances, only in informal cases for beer-bets. That way, If I miss I'm only out a few beers rather than my one-and-only precious life.
So,I'm not really qualified to say whether lugging a 15 pound rifle over hill and dale, along with spare barrels, bolt faces, and magazines for quick-caliber-changes is a good idea or not. That's out of my wheelhouse, so I'll leave it to the professionals to make that determination.
I think it would be a good idea for the generals to leave that decision in professional hands, too, but that ain't how generals usually work.
I will say, though, that I do not believe that any Ukrainian ever made a 4 kilometer kill with a rifle, drone-assisted targeting or not. I believe that's just another attempt at propaganda coming out of that war, and a piss-poor one.
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“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books. For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned with the flick of a finger.”
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake