New Sniper fall out

[Cerek the Barbaric]

I just saw the latest police report. Turns out the "witness" from Monday night who saw the "white van with a broken taillight" was basically lying through his teeth.

Instead of being in the parking lot, police now feel the sniper was actually across the interstate - several hundred yards away.

And - YES - they are calling the assault rifle an AK-47. It may well be an AK-74, but the general public has never heard of the 74, so it is a very understandable error for the media (and even the police) to transpose the numbers.

[*\Conan/*]

Just a quick comment that the Terrapin game (nationally televised) and Americas Most Wanted are airing tonight in Maryland.
I Hope some good tips come in and its a great chance to get the word around.

Mybe someone could explain fully why these round size's are important. To my limited knowledge I can only guess that a smaller round like this fired at a high rate of speed would break-up upon impact. Would this suspect possibly load his own ammo or have a buying record to get such things?
Would he have a membership or possibly recorded alot of firing range visits in the past year? Do you have to have a DL to join a club or even fire at one?

*\Conan/*

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by MagiK: quote: Originally posted by MagiK: quote: Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Are you sure it was an AK47? I heard they suspect the shooter is using an AK74, which fires a .223 round that is longer than the one common to NATO. I don't remember what an AK74 looks like, maybe like the 47? And you're right - the AK47 fires a 7.63 round - again, different than NATOs. Plus they don't shoot very straight. Which has me wondering about the news that they suspect him to be using an AK74. Does anyone out there know how accurate the 74 is?

My dad and I were just talking about that and he asked the same question, and I am pretty sure they showed the 47 andnot the 74 because I thought the 74 only had synthetic grips, but I recently learned that some are produced with the same beat up old wooden grips..so I may have been wrong...so it is possible it was a 74 which is a 5.45mm round which I guess works out to something close to a .223

On the other hand [img]smile.gif[/img] I did have some vindication today. The FBI weapons expert said on the air that the .223 is NOT considered a "sniper" round and that the most popular of all true sniper calibre's is the .308, with the 7mm Magnum running a close second. [img]smile.gif[/img] (umm those stats are for western nations and not the old Soviet, middle east or Asia.)[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]The .223 in. or 5.74 mm. caliber round is one of the most accurate loads around. It's a small light round that travels extremely fast. It's relatively flat trajectory gives it a very long range and little drift or drop. This is a long range round meant for hunting skittish varmints on the ranch, and also used by our military. A moderate marksman can easily hit targets at 300 meters with open sites. A good tuned scope can make this 600-800 meters for an accomplished marksman. A very scary round in the hands of a madman!

[Timber Loftis]

Ummm.... we've been here before guys, and there are like four pages of thread discussing the merits of the .223 round. Let's not go [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] like that again - gun talk tends to hijack this thread around those of us born in the south.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Ummm.... we've been here before guys, and there are like four pages of thread discussing the merits of the .223 round. Let's not go [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] like that again - gun talk tends to hijack this thread around those of us born in the south.

Dadgomit, Shoot fire, Can't a good'ol boy rassel up any fun ?

[Ladyzekke]

ROTFL, yeah was never meanin no harm

[John D Harris]

Well I've heard on the news (the great bastion of accuracy that it is ) The police are leaning more towards an Al Queda link. That doen't fit their MO of the past. I could see an Iraqi (insert any country here)Intel opperative. Who ever it is they're cool enough the calmly drive away, no screeching tires, quick peel outs, simply drive off calm cool and collected. Very professional, or experianced (sp?) to say the least, drawing as little attention to themselves as possible. I wonder if anyone is keeping an eye on the Iraqi UN delegation ?

[Sir Taliesin]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Ummm.... we've been here before guys, and there are like four pages of thread discussing the merits of the .223 round. Let's not go [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] like that again - gun talk tends to hijack this thread around those of us born in the south.

Awww shucks! I was jest gittin' ready to git wormed up too! (in his best hill-billy accent)

Seriously, this TURD that lied to the police should be tried in court as an accessory to murder! Totally not cool what he did. There might have been a chance to catch the creep, too. I heard on the NBC Nightly News that the police think the shot came from about 200 to 250 yards, in the last killing. They were even searching car tires to see if they had possibly picked up the shell casing.

[Ladyzekke]

I know Sir T, either that *witness* was purposely lying for some FREAK reason, or he is a total idiot, who knows which! The police are contemplating charging him, with what I don't know, whether they will actually do it or not I also don't know, guess we'll see. I'd like to know more about what he said though, to be able to get an idea if he was just slighly mistaken, nearsighted maybe, looking for fame and attention and just making stuff up, misleading on purpose, or what. I haven't heard any actual details yet about what he said all together.

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by *\Conan/*: Just a quick comment that the Terrapin game (nationally televised) and Americas Most Wanted are airing tonight in Maryland. I Hope some good tips come in and its a great chance to get the word around. Mybe someone could explain fully why these round size's are important. To my limited knowledge I can only guess that a smaller round like this fired at a high rate of speed would break-up upon impact. Would this suspect possibly load his own ammo or have a buying record to get such things? Would he have a membership or possibly recorded alot of firing range visits in the past year? Do you have to have a DL to join a club or even fire at one? *\Conan/*

The rounds' size is important because it helps identify both the weapon, and possibly narrows down the possible locations the sniper is using to set up his watch.

Smaller caliber rounds tend to have a somewhat shorter range - the .223 is useful in rare cases out to 1000m, though 600-800 is more common even with a dialed-in scope. The .308 (7.62mm NATO) is much more accurate at long range due to the higher power and heavier round, which is less susceptible to windage. 30-06 is even more powerful with bullet drop being next to nil at any practical range in an urban environment.

If the shooter was using a 5.45mm round, he's most assuredly using a Russian weapon. A .223 on the other hand would likely be an AR-15 or a sporting rifle chambered for military surplus ammo. If the weapon used was an M-16 or AR-15, a good ballistics specialist could even tell you what model fired the bullet!