Any riflemen out there? I was watching the eminent movie Sniper with Tom Berenger and one thing got me wondering.
Snipers in movies always look at something moving in the wind near the target to determine their settings for their scope. well my question is this if the range is long enough (people have been known to snipe targets over 1000 meters away) couldn't the wind conditions be significantly different over such a long distance?
Why is the wind at the target most important?
Hey! I heard crickets chirping and thought I'd check it out! :icon_chee
I think the notion that wind is the Numero Uno, hands-down external variable that can queer an otherwise good rifle shot is subjective; actually, I'd say it's situational, and varies quite a bit.
Let's just say you're a sniper trying to drill a hole in someone far, far away. If it's windy, wind may be your biggest problem. Let's say it's a perfectly still day, with nothing that could be seriously regarded as "wind" blowing around but it's overcast and raining like hell; the effect of cloud cover on ambient light could be a problem, and the cumulative effect of rains drops colliding with your bullet as it's en route to the target almost certainly will be your biggest concern. Other troops you don't want to be dead as badly and not worth the risk of compromising your location may keep moving between you and the objective you had in your crosshairs.
Terrain or foliage might also obscure the shot and bring about the necessity of moving to an alternate vantage point from which to reacquire your mark; this doesn't seem like a big deal until you bear in mind that upon reaching a point where you have a clear view of the target, the target may suddenly get a clear view of you as well if you slip up and somehow announce your presence. This may cause the target to beat feet behind the first thing that provides decent cover from small-arms fire. You may now be kissing the target, and the days or weeks you spent enduring every miserable condition nature has put in your path methodically locating him, stalking him, and finding a got spot to lay low until you kill him bye-bye, along with the hope of completing your assigned mission. If he or his minions have a radio handy with which to call in tank fire, mortars, artillery, or close air support, the next thing you may find yourself kissing good-bye might be your own ass when your general location and everything around it gets the shit pummelled out of it.
For this reason, snipers tend to move about at a rate of speed that requires time-lapse photography to make it noticeable. Legendary Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock once low-crawled into the center of a field that was flat and lacked any decent coverage to take out a target in that manner.
A profusion of other naturally-occurring factors may work against you, such as heat and barometric pressure. Your ability to "read" the terrain and the manner in which it may have on the report created by a hi-powered rifle may cloak your position or give it away. The way the barrel flexes as the bullet leaves it might affect the shot if the stock has not been given the necessary refinements a sniper may need, such as glass bedding under the part cradling the barrel.
ANd that's hardly the whole list. During the two or so weeks I spent as a boot on Parris Island during the marksmanship phase learning the bulk of all the stuff that's actually useful and worth knowing, discovered that minute errors such as assuming firing positions improperly, sloppy trigger-pulling, incorrectly acquiring your "sight picture" lining up the front and rear sights, and failure to practice good breath control (which mainly involves taking care to to shoot in between inhaling and exhaling instead of during, while taking care not to hold your breath until it begins to effect your eyesight) which may be forgiven at 200 yards will cause the shot to go wide of the mark at 500. At 1,000+...fuggeddaboutit.
During my stint, I made the acquaintence of a couple fellow Marines assigned to Scout/Sniper duty; the discipline required to tag targets 1,000 yards or more away is well in excess of the threshold for what most people consider anal-retentiveness; those guys learn to tune into the sound of their own heart so as to send the shot downrange in between beats.
