Have You Heard About The Two Amazing Feats of Marksmanship of Yesteryear?

2015-11-07T00:23:04-05:00

This is a short, but interesting story about snipers in war, 140 and 150 years ago. If you are interested in snipers and long range shots, you'll be amazed when you read this.

Marksmanship is an essential military skill. And in truth, hitting a man-sized target out to around 300m isn’t that difficult with a well-zeroed weapon.

But hitting a target of that size at extreme ranges is a different story. Doing that takes extraordinary marksmanship skill.

Wikipedia maintains a reasonable list of the longest verified sniper kills in history. Two shots in particular on that list stand out.

They stand out because they were done over 140 and 150 years ago, repectively.

In late June 1874, buffalo hunter Billy Dixon performed such a shot – at Adobe Walls, Texas. Dixon and a party of settlers had been besieged by a party of Native Americans under Chief Quanah Parker. The siege lasted 3 days. During the siege, Dixon – using a borrowed Sharps .50-90 buffalo rifle – fired at a group of warriors near Chief Parker. His third shot dropped one of the warriors. The siege ended shortly afterwards, and the settlement was thereafter left alone.

The distance for Dixon’s shot is credited today as being 1,406 meters – nearly a mile. It’s still the 11th longest confirmed sniper kill in history.

Dixon later worked for the Army as a civilian scout. He was one of only 8 civilians ever awarded the Medal of Honor.

1400+ meters, with a borrowed rifle, on the 3rd shot. Amazing.

And IMO, there’s one shot that’s even more amazing.

During the US Civil War, Union forces blockaded the Confederate port of Charleston. During this blockade, Union forces occupied Battery Gregg; Confederate forces occupied Fort Sumner – 1,390 yards (1,271 meters) away. On 5 December 1864, an unnamed Confederate sharpshooter shooting from Fort Sumner – believed to have been using a muzzle-loading Whitworth rifle firing hexagonal .451 cal bullets – shot and killed a Union soldier at Battery Gregg. This shot today still ranks as the 14th longest confirmed sniper kill in history.

Think about that: over 1,250 meters – with a muzzle-loading rifle. Also amazing.

No confirmed sniper kills in World War I, World War II, or Korea (and only one from Vietnam) are longer than these two amazing shots from 140+ years ago. For close to 100 years – until Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock’s legendary shot in Vietnam in 1967 – these two shots from 1864 and 1874 ranked as the longest confirmed sniper kills in history.

Picture is an 1874 Sharps snipe rifle.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Nov 7 at 2015 12:53 AM

2015-11-07T00:53:07-05:00

Thanks for sharing. It just goes to show you that the most modern weapons and latest technology will only get you so far. Natural talent is still the best skill to have!

Though my hero SOC(SEAL) Chris Kyle still have a confirmed kill of over a mile! :)

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Nov 7 at 2015 12:55 AM

2015-11-07T00:55:39-05:00

Pretty amazing. The Sharps pictured is a more standard model. For long ranges, a tang sight was developed. That's what the "Quigley" rifle was based on. Considering the bullet was going about 2000fps at best, the drop was something incredible, i.e. the aim point would be over 20 feet high. Since "doping" wasn't a science yet, the shooters must have shot many times in their lives to get a feel for long distance. You reach a point where luck has less to do with it although there would have been some involved.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 7 at 2015 11:48 AM

2015-11-07T11:48:25-05:00

On one of my deer hunts, things were slow, and I was thinking about moving to another location, and then I saw a few buck. the best I could figure, they were over 300 yards away. I was zeroed in at 200 yards, so I put my crosshairs about an inch above the target. I fired and saw, what I thought, was all of the deer running off. Then I saw one on the ground moving a little I walked the distance and it was about 320 yards. I figured if I missed, no harm done, but if I didn't, I had a nice buck. That was a long shot for me, laying on the ground, without a range finder. It seemed so easy and from then on I only neck shot. Only missed once.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 7 at 2015 1:44 PM

2015-11-07T13:44:40-05:00

There is nothing inherently less accurate about a muzzle-loading rifle or a black powder propellant. The Sharps remains an extremely accurate even by 21st century standards, its just more difficult to master with its lower velocity projectile.

Response by CMSgt James Nolan made Nov 7 at 2015 2:35 PM

2015-11-07T14:35:15-05:00

Not only the fact that Dixon was using a borrowed rifle, but consider the wild increase in performance of optics.
As in, I am not sure that he used anything but iron sights?

Response by Cpl Brett Wagner made Nov 7 at 2015 8:16 PM

2015-11-07T20:16:03-05:00

Sgt Keith Bodine - I love reading this kind of stuff. Those shots are truly amazing. I'm guessing those shots were also made without any optics.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Nov 8 at 2015 2:52 PM

2015-11-08T14:52:55-05:00

I read the American Militia had a musket with a 200 m range as opposed to the Brits 100 m range. This allowed us to conduct asymmetric and unique warfare.