Talked to a Marine sniper who was in Vietnam

I talked to this guy who claimed he was a Sniper in Vietnam. He mentioned that he went on missions with Carlos Hathcock north of the DMZ. When I asked what rifle he used he mentioned it being a 7 mm Remington mag that fired a 150 copper bullet at 7000fps. Why copper you ask, because the lead would melt at those speeds he said. When I mentioned that I don’t think that speed is possible from a 7mm mag and 3500fps would be pushing it. He said that Remington made special ammo for the Marine snipers the had a reinforced cases that allow that speed. Also he noted that his longest kill was at 1800m. i Just shook my head and said wow. Figured I would post a funny today.

That’s the best one I’ve heard in a while. Sounds like a real winner.

“When I was nineteen, I did a guy in Laos from a thousand yards out… rifle shot in high wind… maybe eight or even ten guys in the world coulda made that shot… only thing I was ever good at.”

:smiley:

Derek

You know how to point out real snipers from bullshit con artist wannabes?

Real deal legit operators/snipers don’t brag or tell tall tales. They are quiet professionals.

Sounds like a story from one of the Cold Steel employees or owners:rolleyes:

Ask him what his bounty was.

He will probably say that he uses either Scott, Brawny or Viva.:eek:

Riggs! :smiley:

Hathcock had a spotter with him when he worked down below the DMZ. The spotter was either a Hispanic male or an American Indian. Hathcock used a 3006 rifle when he wasn’t toying with a .50 caliber machinegun. If I remember right, Hathcock dropped a commie at a little over 1400 meters by mounting his rifle’s scope on a .50 BMG machinegun set up to fire single shots. He had been sighting in on a 55 gallon drum and just messing around to see if he could get the 50 working. Along came a commie, pulled out a rifle right NEXT to Hathcock’s 55 gallon drum. The commie popped off a few bullets towards the perimeter where Hatchcock was sitting. All White Feather did was slightly shift over to the location where the commie was and pop off one round. Hit the commie in the chest and ruined the fellow’s whole day!!!

Your “sniper” was definitely a phony of some sort. Probably a mental case let out from the asylum for a weekend pass.:smiley:

[edited]

You know vietnam Veterans were some of the first U.S. forces returning from war that the country collectively turned their back on. Talk about p.t.s.d., being spat on at the airport, not having any type of return and reunion programs or a gradual return to society - they were literally dumped at the airport in uniform and the hippie protesters. You wonder why they have the highest number of mentally debilitating afflictions, homelessness, unemployment? What, are they just faking it?

If that guy did serve then I don’t care if says he shot ho chi min himself. What’re you going to do, sue him? Out him on a internet forum? Make you feel superior?

stick a fork in me.

Very good, humor right?

Yes it was an attempt at humor.:frowning:

Apparently my humble attempt at humor was missed. It was in regards to the forum member that suggested the original poster ask this “sniper” what his “bounty” was. I was trying to imply that this “sniper” would think of paper towels. Sorry for the confusion.

F.2.
That is a good point but it has been my experience that the ones that talk up their service are the ones that never fired a shot or left the safety of the main bases. No one is discrediting his sacrifice and service, only outing how outrageous his claims are.

S/F
Libardo

+1 - That seems to be the way it is with most things…

What a bunch of BS. :rolleyes:

Don’t listen to that guy and just let it be. Try not to engage in any further discussions with him or else he will think he has found someone who believes him and that will encourage further stories like this one.

“You wonder why they have the highest number of mentally debilitating afflictions, homelessness, unemployment? What, are they just faking it?”

f.2- Do you have facts to back up this statement? Strtongly Suggest that you read “Stolen Valor” before spouting the socialist line re RVN veterans.

One shot- “commie”?? The enemy was called a lot of things, but i never heard them called “commie”. While the political party of the North was indeed communist, i would doubt that many of the soldiers were.

Myths abound about the VN conflict, and apparently are still alive and flourishing in some places…:frowning:

“On Killing”, Dave Grossman

+1

I have a distant realitive who was Special Forces during Vietnam (Army I think?). Even now he speaks when spoken to, and his replies come in very few words. He has been shot several times, and has the scars to prove it. What really shocked me about him though, was he said if they would let him, he would go to Iraq on a moments notice.

I know that had nothing to do with the original subject, I just wanted to share.

I just thought the story was funny with the 7000fps and such. I told my father a Former Marine and Vietnam Vet the story and he said BS.

I’m no ballistics expert (so I may be totally wrong here).

IIRC somewhere around 5300fps is maximum velocity for a gun powder handheld firearm. This IIRC is the maximum rate of the powder burning.

Pat,

Not to disparage veterans from any other war, but I have a shootin’ buddy that really WAS a Marine sniper/spotter in Viet Nam (An Hoa 1969-70) and he told me that U.S. forces in VN had a higher percentage of volunteers and higher percentage of combatants with college educations than any other conflict the U.S. had been involved in up until that point… Quite contrary to the myth that U.S. troops were uneducated, downtrodden draftees. And I would sort of be surprised if they did not actually have a LOWER number of psycological disorders when compared to previous conflicts.

Interesting story from my aforementioned buddy regarding what the enemy was called: The column halted and the Lt. passed the word for “snipers up”. Sniper team moves up to the head of the column and the Lt. points out some pedestrians up ahead in the distance and says, “Sniper, are those gooks?” Sniper team glasses them and the sniper says, “No Lieutenant, they aren’t gooks… those are Vietnamese.”

Lloyd