how do snipers adjust their scopes..

[bluerussetboy]

Canada uses the McMillan TAC-50. The bullet fired in Afghanistan had a flight time of roughly 4.5 seconds and dropped 230 ft.

In Iraq, due to strong crosswinds several snipers have had to adjust the windage as much as 56ft at less than 1000 yds.

Military snipers have to be excellent mathematicians as well as infantry, recon or cavalry soldiers.

Civilian snipers aren't usually required to know as much as their military counterparts. Most of their shots are less than 350 ft.

[Zen///]

^^^^^What one of your first posts should look like.

[Hubb]

...Civilian snipers...

I would hope you are referring to hunters and not "civilian snipers."

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

...Civilian snipers...

I would hope you are referring to hunters and not "civilian snipers."

it's not just hunters, long range target shooting is quite a popular hobby.

[bluerussetboy]

Snipers that you would encounter in the civilian world.
Civilian world as in a non-military setting.
Civilian snipers = law enforcement agencies.
Law enforcement agencies such as SWAT units, municipal police departments, private security companies, sheriff departments.

Hunters and long range shooting enthusiasts are not snipers.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Hunters and long range shooting enthusiasts are not snipers.

The term "sniper" is very loosely defined, particularly with today's media branding anyone with that can hold a rifle with the term - but fair enough, I suppose you could say these people are "marksmen" as they're not shooting at human targets. The same way that large calibre rifles made for shooting vehicles, crew served weapons and such are "anti-material rifles", not "sniper rifles", in spite of the fact that they are fitted with telescopic sights and accurate to long ranges.

[Hawkeye]

They even call accurate shooters in Hockey "snipers".

[cdheller]

Hunters and long range shooting enthusiasts are not snipers.

The term "sniper" is very loosely defined, particularly with today's media branding anyone with that can hold a rifle with the term .

.

? yea, the medias (mis)handling of the "D.C. sniper case"?
I'm wiyh you on that one .
It seems they get pretty creative with their use of words

[mark.f]

Most scopes are rated for adjustment. Most common scopes are 1/4 MOA, (minute of arc, 1/60th of a degree). That means at 100 yards, one click will adjust POI by 1/4". The adjustment per click then increases directly proportional to distance after that, so at 200 yards it would be 1/2", at 300 yards it would be 3/4", at 400 yards it would be 1", and so on.

Ballistics tables are available for most common rounds. Most snipers have theirs memorized, but all you need to do is know the distance, know the drop, and adjust. So if your shot drops 30" at 400 yards, (from zero drop of n inches), you adjust 30 clicks up, since each click equals an inch.

Most snipers use a scope with Mil-Dots. Each Mil-Dot equals a milliradian in your FOV, so using basic trigonometry, you can do things like distance measuring and size approximation.

EDIT: whoa, second page. Oops.