Straif Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 This is what I found in: http://web.qx.net/warcat/MilSF/Tactics.htm ***************************** For example, a Marine named Carlos Hathcock gained fire superiority over an entire north Vietnamese company with only a sniper rifle. The enemy could not effectively return fire and Hathcock kept them suppressed because they knew that if they were to show themselves they would die. The entire Vietnamese company was eventually wiped out by this sniper, his spotter and the use of a radio. ************************** Is it a true story? And if yes, why there is no 15 movies about this guy??? Straif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilhil45 Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 its true. He also killed a sniper. When they found the body of the sniper carlos had shot him right through the scope.(Just like saving Pvt.Ryan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Matter of fact a lot of today's Sniper mythos is based around what Gunny Hathcock and other Marine snipers did in Vietnam. Read the book "Marine Sniper" for most of the Hathcock story. He also has the record for the longest kill. Something like 2000 yards with a scope equipped M2HB .50 cal MG! BTW, there was a half assed attempt at ripping of Hathcock's story in a movie called "Sniper" with Billy Zane. Gyrene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kelly Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 "98 confirmed kills" Carlos was awesome. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>BTW, there was a half assed attempt at ripping of Hathcock's story in a movie called "Sniper" with Billy Zane. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Who the heck is Billy Zane? Was that the prissy guy with the Gucchiflage (sp)? The real star of that movie is Tom Berenger (of Platoon fame). While his performance in Sniper is not up to his Sgt. Barnes in Platoon, and Sniper isn't half the movie Platoon is, it's still pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Who the heck is Billy Zane Heh, couldn't remember the other guy in it. Gyrene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcm1947 Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 A 50 Cal. machine gun with a scope on it? Is this correct and does anybody have any more info on this? I would love to read or learn more about it. I can't imagine how one could mount a scope on one, well I guess you could mount one but how in the world would you look through it and fire it without it taking your head off? I would love to see a picture of it. Hell, I fired a 338 Win. bolt action one time and it almost put my eye out. You don't want to get to close but you have to to see through the scope. :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick614 Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Just a rifle firing a very precisely made .50 slug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpkr Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 First, it is NOT a scope mounted on top of a fifty caliber machine gun! The semi-auto fifty caliber sniper rifle is a highly specialized, delicately engineered rifle specifically designed to put a fifty cal. bullet in a target several hundred yards away or more and to kill with one shot. The round is deisgned to make a pretty good hole going in and through - it will almost never stop inside the target's body due to its mass and velocity. The rifle is specifically designed to handle the enormous recoil such a bullet would normally have. It is quite a bit more sophisticated than your Winchester. MrSpkr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Mr. Spkr, this was a regular M2HB on a tripod with a long relief scope on a custom mount, the Barrett's Light-Fifty rifle wasn't invented yet The M2 fires slowly enough to allow you to squeeze out single shots. There are pictures of it on the "Marine Sniper" book, I'll post them when I get home. (I'm at work right now ) The kill he got was a VC courier that happened to take a break near the spot where Hathcock sighted in his scope. He was on a hilltop firebase and had an officer watching him when he took the shot. Its an excellent book, I'd recommend it to anyone. There are some amazing stories in it, like the time he crawled 1000 or so yards of virtually open ground over 2 days to kill an NVA General. Funny enough this extreme accuracy of the M2 was once considered undesirable, due to the fact that machine guns are used to "spray" areas. Gyrene [ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: Gyrene ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Fredriksson Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gyrene: ... The M2 fires slowly enough to allow you to squeeze out single shots. ... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Is there not a single-shot setting on the M2? On the back-side you can turn a "latch" around a "knob" just near the trigger (or if you flipped it off the knob, can not remember, was almost 2 years ago since I saw it... ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Stefan, yes it does, it fires single shots from the closed bolt position. Most of the .50 cal experience I have was with the XM218, the helicopter version of the M2, it fires at a much higher rate and we used to be able to squeeze single shots out, but it does not have the single shot feature of the M2. Gyrene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowDan Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Heres a link that is about Gunny Hathcock. www.marinescoutsniper.com/Carlos.html [ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: SlowDan ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted April 21, 2001 Share Posted April 21, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gyrene: [QB} Funny enough this extreme accuracy of the M2 was once considered undesirable, due to the fact that machine guns are used to "spray" areas. Gyrene [ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: Gyrene ][/QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Just stumbled across this thread. I've also heard that one of the "faults" of the Bren gun was that it too was considered too accurate for a fire base weapon and possibly one of the reasons why it has become widely discontinued in use by the worlds armies. Does anyone else have a take on this? Regards Jim R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMHPaladin Posted April 21, 2001 Share Posted April 21, 2001 No knowledge on the Bren, sorry... In regards to Hathcock, Gyrene is absolutely correct. I've read the same book and some of his feats are amazing. Not only did he eventually nearly wipe out the NVA company, he did it over a period of hours. The M2 story is true as well, as I recall there's a picture of him either on the cover or inside with a little scope mounted on a big machine gun... amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbott Posted April 21, 2001 Share Posted April 21, 2001 I would offer the book "Five Fingers" by Gayle Rivers to those interested in the sniper trade. It offers a very real account of the sniping trade in more respects then just pulling a trigger. A very interesting read that may stun you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted April 21, 2001 Share Posted April 21, 2001 Thanks for the book tip Abbott, I'll check it out. Btw, a couple of years ago it was confirmed that Gunny Hathcock was not the highest (Officially) scoring Marine Sniper in Vietnam, but that Chuck Mawhinney can claim that (Admittedly grisly) title with 103 kills and 216 probable. "Except for an NVA paymaster I hit at 900 yards, everyone I killed had a weapon." Near the An Hoa base outside Da Nang, he caught a platoon of North Vietnamese army regulars crossing a stream. He hit 16 with head shots with an M-14, which he often carried in addition to his bolt-action. The 16 were listed only as probable kills because no officer was there to see their lifeless bodies float by and there was no chance to search the bodies." Gyrene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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