Re: Longets conf. kill with irons...
Not sure yet about distance, but here are some places to start digging:
"Even before firearms were available, soldiers such as archers were specially trained as elite marksmen. The following informational excerpts about selected snipers in history, are from various sources including Wikipedia."
Before the 20th century
Ninja or Shinobi (16th century Japan) – supposedly trained to cover retreating armies, targeting officers from concealed positions.One of Japan's most famous warlords, Takeda Shingen, was possibly fatally wounded by a sniper.
Lord Brooks, who represented the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, was the first recorded British sniper victim.
Timothy Murphy (American Revolutionary War) – killed British General Simon Fraser during the pivotal Battle of Saratoga, hampering the British advance and causing them to lose the battle.
Patrick Ferguson (American Revolutionary War) - developer of the world's first breech-loaded military rifle (which advanced sniping and sharpshooting tactics), fought with his Corps of Riflemen (recruited from the 6th and 14th Foot) at the Battle of Brandywine, where he may have passed up a chance to shoot George Washington.
Napoleonic Wars – Use of Marine sharpshooters in the mast tops was common usage in navies of the period, and Admiral Nelson's death at Trafalgar is attributed to the actions of French Sharpshooters. The British Army developed the concept of directed fire (as opposed to massive unaimed volleys) and formed Rifle regiments, famously the 95th and the 60th who wore green jackets instead of the usual redcoats. Fighting as Skirmishers, usually in pairs and trusted to choose their own targets, they wrought havoc amongst the French during the peninsular war against Napoleon's Forces.
British Rifleman Thomas Plunkett (Peninsular war) – shot French General Colbert at a range of between 200 metres (219 yd) and 600 metres (656 yd) using a Baker rifle.
Colonel Hiram Berdan (American Civil War) – commanded 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters, who were trained and equipped Union marksmen with the .52 caliber Sharps Rifle. It has been claimed that Berdan's units killed more enemies than any other in the Union Army.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Sgt. Grace (American Civil War) – sniped Major General John Sedgwick at the then incredible distance of 730 m (800 yd) during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, with a British Whitworth target rifle causing administrative delays in the Union's attack, leading to Confederate victory. <span style="font-style: italic">Sedgwick ignored advice to take cover, his last words according to urban legend being, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" upon which he was shot.</span> In reality, he was shot a few minutes later.</span>
Major Frederick Russell Burnham - assassinated Mlimo, the Ndebele religious leader, in his cave in Matobo Hills, Rhodesia, effectively ending the Second Matabele War (1896). Burnham started as a cowboy and Indian tracker in the American Old West, but he left the United States to scout in Africa and went on to command the British Army Scouts in the Second Boer War. For his ability to track, even at night, the Africans dubbed him, He-who-sees-in-the-dark, but in the press he became more widely known as England's American Scout.
20th century
Billy Sing (Gallipoli Campaign, World War I) - killed between 150 and 201 Turkish soldiers.
- Francis Pegahmagabow (World War I) - Native Canadian sniper credited with 378 kills
<span style="font-weight: bold">- Finnish Lance Corporal Simo Häyhä, aka "Valkoinen Kuolema" (the White Death) was a sniper during the Winter War and is regarded by many as the most effective sniper in the history of warfare, <span style="font-style: italic">being credited with killing up to 542 Soviet soldiers (an average of 5 a day) using a SAKO m/28-30 (Pystykorva) and iron sights</span>.</span>
Junior Lieutenant Vasily Zaytsev (World War II) – credited with killing 225 German soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad, he is famously portrayed in the film Enemy at the Gates and in the book War of the Rats; both however are fictionalized accounts.
Gefreiter (Private) Matthias Hetzenauer (World War II) - Austrian sniper who was credited with 345 kills on the Eastern Front, the most successful in the Wehrmacht.
Obergefreiter (Private First Class) Josef 'Sepp' Allerberger (World War II) - Austrian sniper credited with 257 kills on the Eastern Front.
Lieutenant Lyudmila Pavlichenko (World War II) – female Soviet sniper with 309 confirmed kills, making her the most successful female sniper in history.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Zhang Tao fang, (Chinese: 张桃芳; Traditional Chinese: 張桃芳; Wade-Giles: Zhang Tao-fang) (1931 – April 29, 2007) was a Chinese soldier during the Korean War, and is one of the most successful snipers in history. <span style="font-style: italic">He is credited with 214 confirmed kills in 32 days without using a sniper magnifying scope</span></span>
Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (Vietnam war) – achieved 93 confirmed kills. He held the record of longest confirmed kill at a distance of 2,250 m (2,460 yd) (made with a scoped M2 Browning machine gun) for 35 years until 2002.
Chuck Mawhinney (Vietnam war) – 103 confirmed and 216 probable kills.
Adelbert F . Waldron (Vietnam war) – achieved 109 confirmed kills.
Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart - Operation Gothic Serpent - Delta Force snipers awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu. Dramatized in the film Black Hawk Down.
Simo Häyhä (December 17, 1905 – April 1, 2002), nicknamed "White Death" (Russian: Белая Смерть, Belaya Smert; Finnish: Valkoinen kuolema; Swedish: den Vita Döden) by the Soviet army, was a Finnish soldier. Using a standard iron-sighted, bolt action rifle in the Winter War, he had the highest recorded number of kills as a sniper in any major war. In temperatures between −20 and −40 degrees Celsius (−4 and −40 degrees Fahrenheit), dressed completely in a white camouflage suit, Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed kills of Soviet soldiers, and 542 if including the unconfirmed deaths. The unofficial Finnish frontline figure from the battlefield of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä's sniper kills over 800. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Besides his sniper kills, Häyhä was also credited with over two hundred kills with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, thus bringing his credited kills to at least 705. All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in less than 100 days.
21st century
Canadian soldier Corporal Rob Furlong, formerly of the PPCLI (Operation Anaconda, Afghanistan) - holds the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill at 2,430 meters (1.509 miles) using a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 rifle.
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Timothy L. Kellner - regarded as one of the top snipers still active in the U.S. Army with 139 confirmed kills and over 100 unconfirmed during Operation Iraqi Freedom
Canadian soldier Master Corporal Arron Perry, formerly of the PPCLI (Operation Anaconda, Afghanistan) - briefly held the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill at 2,310 meters (1.435 miles) after eclipsing US Marine Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock's previous record of 2,286 meters (1.420 miles) until it was later eclipsed by fellow Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong. Hathcock's record had stood for thirty five years. Perry used a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 rifle.
