Sniper tactics then and now

JesseLee

I was wondering if there is a difference in sniper teniques (sp) from WWII to todays combat zones. I have found online Marine Sniper manuels from the USMC and Seals. I just wonder if the basics have changed over the years. Any opinions welcome.

Mobuck

Lots of technical equipment now. Rangefinders,gps, nightvision, and much more. This takes a lot of the judgement of distance and windage out of the picture. As long as it works, it's great. If it fails you're back to the old basics.

KEVD18

while not in any way an expert on this topic, i do have an opinion:

no. the basics as you put it probably have not changed a wit. range/wind estimation is more than likely still taught the hard way, with additional training on laser rangefinders and what not but what if they fail, a properly trained marksman will still be able to make the shot using the old way but a new age soldier only trained using a gizmo would be useless

sure training has been added but the basics have been the basics forever and will be forever.

Ray B

I'm not familiar with the WWII sniper training, but I knew two people that went through the sniper course at Camp Pendleton in 1967. It was very different from the course now taught, which is expanded to what's called Scout/Sniper; it's different even from the course that Maj Land developed later in the Vietnam conflict. I recall the fellow that went on the same plane with me to Recruit Training, getting MOS 0300 and because he shot well into expert, he went to sniper school. At that time it consisted of a great deal of time on the range. The equipment was a Remington M700 308 with a varmint taper barrel and a Redfield 3-9X scope. They shot mostly at 600 yards, at a target that was a vertically oriented rectangle. They had none of the equipment that is available now such as bullet drop compensation, laser range finders, etc. Basically their approach was to figure out the best guess for where to hold, then while your spotter watches closely, shoot. The spotter sees the impact, then relates the difference to the target, so the shooter then adjusts the hold and fires again, generally hitting the target. This is what separates guys like Carlos Hathcock from the current batch of snipers; Carlos figured all that stuff out so he could make the hit on the first shot, and at distances where an error in estimation of 50 yards could mean an impact in front of, or going over, the target.

I don't know that the sniper manual from 60 years ago would be a great deal of help, other than having a lot of information regarding accurate long distance shooting.