Why would a sniper use a dot scope?

stinky · Jan 14, 2004

I was looking at the 12/26/03 USA Today. They had a picture of a US Army sniper w/his M14 and his prtner was behind him. The M-14 had what looked to be a dot-scope on it. Why?

The article also talked about them using a .50 cal for sniping.

I could not get a good look at his partners gun, the receiver was behind him. But it had a big bbl, like the size of, say on a M60, from the gas tube forward, thin, w/nothing on it but the flash suppresor. It had a 3 pronged flash suppressor, and I couldn't see any bipod on it, or the reciever...it surely didn' have Barrett looking flash-suppresor on it.

Anybody got an idea on what they are using?

warbird · Jan 14, 2004

mcmillen 50 cal rifles
I was at their plant in phx AZ probably 4 months ago and one of the employes shoowed me all they were doing for the military
Mc millen probably had 200 50 cal rifle barrels laying in a bin just waiting for their actions to be cut and assembled.

RELH · Jan 15, 2004

Stinky;
I will take a guess at this since I did not see the photo you are talking about. It sounds like the rifle, with the three prong flash suppresor may well be a 50 cal sniper rifle. This would be the primary sniper. The grunt with the M-14 and "Aimpoint" type dot scope will be his spotter and backup shooter. This type of scope, and semi-auto rifle, will help him to pick up inclose moving targets and engage them faster then a standard scope. This could be needed if the team is spotted by enemy troops and they move in to kill off the sniper team.
RELH

nochawk · Jan 25, 2004

RELH got it right. the other guy is the spotter. calls the distance and watches the area so the shooter can concentrate on the target. also to confirm the kill.

kilowatt · Jan 30, 2004

If you want to read a good book, a paperback one, look for this title: MARINE SNIPER by Charles Henderson It is a Berkley Press in non-fiction.
It is about a Vietnam Marine Gunnery Sgt. by the name of Carlos Hathcock with 93 confirmed kills.

Brian

RELH · Jan 31, 2004

Kilowatt;
You are right on about the book on Carlos. alot of people are unaware that there were several Army snipers that surpassed Carlos' 93 confirmed kills. If I remember right, one army sniper had over 120 confirmed kills. What makes Carlos stand out so far ahead of most other military snipers is the fact alot of his kills were so hard to do, that most any other sniper would not have completed the assignment, or would have been killed. Even though I am ex-army, I tip my hat off to Carlos for being the perfect role model on what a sniper should be. It will be along time before anyone else comes along that can match his record. May his soul rest in peace, he earned it by saving alot of lives for our side.
RELH

kilowatt · Jan 31, 2004

The one part of the book that stands out the most, was he crossed over into North VN and killed that Viet Cong General, what a MAN HE WAS.

Brian

kilowatt · Feb 2, 2004

RELH,

I sent you a P.M. here on MM.com

Brian

stinky · Feb 2, 2004

OK, that makes sense.

Also, I heard, last week, that the Army is working on a new round. 6.8??? It is built on a .30 Remington, necked down to .277. It seems that the .223 taint cutting it in the desert, at the extended ranges there.

From the scuttle-butt that I heard at the local shop. It will feed/work in an altered m-16/m4.

M-14's are out of the question as all the milling and etc has been sold.

It was developed by Remington, and is mentioned on their website. It is, I THINK, a 110 grainer at 2,700 and bucks the wind and etc better than the .223. Plus, It hits hard enough to knock a rag-head down at 400+ yards.

BTW, I've read the Sniper book. And a dif between Hathcock and Army Snipers, according to the book, was that Hathcock went our on patrol by himself and was more of a woodsman/scout. Again, according to the book, Army snipers were often dropped off by helio-co-bopter in optimum shooting areas. Don't know,but a good book!!!

kilowatt · Feb 8, 2004

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-04 AT 11:15PM (MST)[p]Was flipping through the channels of the "boob tube" tonight and came to The History Channel and they were talking about SNIPERS.
So I started watching it and after a commerical, they showed a segment about and talk at length about Carlos Hathcoth and even talked about how he was dropped off and took three days to crawl on his belly throught the elephant grass and other grasses to get to the area to wait and kill the NVA General. When the General stepped out of his tent that morning, BAM he was down with round between his eyes.
Another note, Carlos did have a "spotter" some times with him on his missions. His spotter was with him on HILL 55 south of Danang.

I spent 7-1/2 years in VN and I had never heard of him till about 8 years ago. A lot went on that most people never hear of over there.

Brian

RLH · Feb 11, 2004

and he did what he did with a 700 rem. '06 and a redfield scope bought off the shelf from a sporting goods store in saigon. and used massed produced military '06 ammo. there was another marine named Mawhinney that i think they credit with more kills than Carlos now. but no doubt, White Feather is the one that they are all graded against. i liked his story about when the vc sent their best sniper after him. Carlos hunted him down and saw the glint of his scope and shot at it. when they went to inspect the body, his bullet had hit the objective lense of the scope, travelled through the tube and hit the gook in the eye. pretty amazing shooting. no bipod, no range finder, no special scope or rifle or ammo. just an intimate relationship with his rifle and the terrain he hunted. the way it oughta be. and Carlos came home a lot earlier than he would have had to because he got burned in a personell carrier fire. he was thrown clear and got his injuries dragging the other GI's outta the fire. he died a few years ago, a victim of MS.