Aircraft carriers and cruise ships are stable, destroyers are not!

Take it from a Destroyerman.

The snipers had to allow for pitch and roll. Period.

In Eric Haney’s book, “Inside Delta Force”, the teams training for taking down airplane hijackers, in a plane that was on the ground, were worried about bullet deflection if a sniper had to shoot through a cockpit window.

So, Delta Airlines gave them a bunch of cockpit (and other) windows to test for themselves (the President of Delta Airlines was a strong backer of Delta Force’s [PURE coincidence of names] work on this problem, for obvious reasons, and gave enormous cooperation [at great expense; making revenue-producing airliners available ain't cheap]).

Their tests showed that deflection, at the ranges from the window to the target (inside a cockpit that was probably larger than the interior of that lifeboat) was negligible.

The book is a fascinating read; see what else it had to say about ways they tested for trying to disable an aircraft on the ground. He does NOT go into what works, but a lot on what DOESN’T (commercial aircraft are a lot tougher than yopu would imagine).

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I personally do not buy into the gas turbulence theory with regards to suppressors. I have also heard it mentioned that muzzle breaks also reduce the gas turbulence. I don’t think the effect would have any noticeable impact on shot placement. But saying that, I am no expert on external ballistics, just my experience.

External ballistics of bullets can be influenced by suppressors in another way as well.
The effect is associated with the gas turbulence close to the muzzle (it’s reduced). Suppressed weapons have therefore often less shot dispersion than without suppressor.

Simultaneous police sniping can be achieved with electronic means – the snipers hold the trigger as long as they’re on target and the system makes their rifles fire (with that piezo-electric metal that bends due to electric current). The same can even be combined with video imagery of the scope field of view for the police officer in charge at the crime scene.

Three SAS sniper teams with security protection killed three suicide bomber that left their safe house in Iraq. All three bomber was shot in the head simultaneously. It was reported a few years back in a magazine IIRC.

Barring the platform, however, the lifeboat is certainly going to be bouncing around like the cork it is, especially if she was in the ship’s wake.

No matter how it breaks down, that was an awesome shot, made by awesome individuals… who undoubtedly just consider it to be part of their jobs. Major bravo zulus to everyone involved.

That said, it’s one thing for armchair shooters to make some small groups at the range. It’s completely another to do it with the world watching and some real hero’s life on the line. Kudos to the SEALs. If any are reading this, I wish that I could pick up a round of cold beverages for you guys.

I used to have a picture of myself along with the rest of the Engineering department standing under those monsters on USS Milius (DDG-69) while she was in dry dock. They’re HUGE.

I believe the M110 will replace the M24 in the US Army. It is made by Knight’s Armament Company.

BTW it is now clear that the standard for DI 308 AR10 rifle is Knight’s Armament. So buy clone that has the same magwell as Knight Armament rifle.

I cant say I agree with the above statement. Hanging a 1.5 – 2.0 lb silencer off the end of the barrel does affect POI to some extent.

At least in my limited experience it does. Rem 700 AAC 7.62-SD