Re: Sniper Magazine
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Phridum</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Helidriver</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would like to support the idea of a viable magazine for our community. Having said that I do have a few bitches.
1. Stories on operational snipers. What are they doing, what tactics are they using. Anything about them that wouldn't cause opsec concerns. Real life stories.
2. How to's are great. Just make sure it's from a credible source. Joe Blow on marksmanship means I skip the article. Lowlight on marksmanship means I read it. When I see an article in a mag my first thought is who wrote it.
3. Try to make the mag an insider in the community. I hate to use this term but get us the inside scoop on what's going on with that new gizmo or rifle being tested by the MILITARY.....not Jow Blow's Sniper School and Counter Sniper Scope Training classes. What is Quantico doing? What is the MTU doing? How about a little info on Seal Snipers? We don't hear from them much but they make big headlines.
4. Get some real snipers to write articles on fieldcraft and techniques. By real snipers I mean trained military snipers. I'm sure there are some here willing to do it.
7. Don't let the big companies dominate the magazine. Remmington makes guns but it takes companies like GAP, SAC and many others to make them really perform. I don't care what some guy at remmy has to say but when George Gardner speaks I listen. How about some articles about them. Pics of the shops and interviews with the guys that make the guns we shoot.
8. Don't put pics of people that look like cooky right wing nut jobs in the content. Like in the book Ultimate Sniper. Look in that book and you'll know what I'm talking about. Real snipers just don't look like that. The pic of the guy shooting a stainless rifle with a name tag that reads "SNIPER" just maks me want to puke. If you didn't go to a formal school and it wasn't you're profession you're not a real sniper in my mind. You're an enthusiast like me and that's ok. Just don't call yourself a sniper. Call yourself what you are...a shooter...like me...one that prays never to have to place that recticle on a human.
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You're asking for a lot of information that shouldn't be put out into the open. If you want to know what operational snipers are doing, join them. Announcing it immediately makes what they are doing ineffective. The "insiders" of the sniper community don't need a magazine. This magazine is their attempt to slip outsiders information. Information they clearly don't know how to process at times, which brings me to my next point...
Author bio's are irrelevant. You should be able to tell from the content of the article that they know what they're talking about or they don't, as you clearly illustrated in your post. What unit they are from or school they teach means diddly-squat when it comes to actual proficiency. It's also worth mentioning that the "real deal" sniper communities values their anonymity to the point that the more you don't know who the author is, the more you might respect what they have to say. This entire magazine is written by those who have been there and done that, or are at the top of their field in making it possible for other to go and do.
You can criticize Poole for his disclaimer if you want, personally, I would have left it out. He doesn't owe you anything, especially not justification. A certificate doesn't equate ability or wisdom. Reviewing a rifle doesn't need those experiences anyway. You are slightly correct though in your desire. No one that hasn't shot someone should be writing articles about terminal ballistics, but in this case, someone who has done a lot of shooting is writing about how a gun shoots. Fair enough.
It's a little hard to comply with point number seven. GAP, SAC and the super custom makers don't get contracts, they make guns for paper punchers. Would their guns be great for operational use? Absolutely, is it feasible to get their guns to all our snipers in the field? Absolutely not. As such, many discussions about equipment will have to be about big name companies as they are the ones actually producing the weapons being issued to shooters.
And number eight is...well...retarded. Do you have any idea who John Plaster is or what he has done to create solidarity in sniper programs in our military and police? We can credit Land and Hathcock all we want, they certainly were pioneers, but the way I see it, Plaster did the brute work the community and hammered out the kinks. Seeing as how he pulled of impossible shit in Vietnam that makes 80's action movies look even more silly, we generally allow him to appear however he wants and worship him for it. What you read as "silly enthusist antics" is actually "god-like in combat ability while staying down to earth and humble". We all could be more like him.
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Plaster's a nut with some knowledge but not a hero. Not by a long shot. All I can say is wow! You are impressionable. lol....damn.....what shit in Nam are you talking about? What brute work? Solidarity in the sniper programs......WTF are you talking about dude? Please tell us. Both books are full of info. Most of it shit, some of it good. It's a great book for BB flingers but not serious shooters.
Nothing that could be said in the mag short of names is going to cause OPSEC concerns. If you don't know what that means well that's not my problem. By the time it gets to us the enemy has adapted and it's old news.
If you don't think it's important who you get you're info from I've got a real nice Counter Sniper Scope for sale. The same one our guys use in the sandbox. Zantirilliam coated lenses, unobtainium body, top of the line. Makes an S&B look like a kids toy. Yours for only $4500!!!!You'll love it. You don't care if the guy trying to show you something knows what he's talking about????? Really???? Me, I want to know if the guy is just a blogger shoveling shit or a guy with some credentials.
GAP builds operational equipment. Do you really think every sniper is in the military or LE? Do some more research before you comment. One of GAP's guys now works at Quantico PWS building the rifles our Marines shoot. GAP and the PWS have a relationship that's for sure.
I think you need to read and not write for a while. Go fling some plastic BB's wih the kids and come back when you've got a clue.
