Your Longest Shot

[puma guy]

I once made a great shot at a running mule deer buck at 600 yards off hand that dropped him on the spot!



then I woke up!

[jimlongley]

A bunch of us were in a bar in Subic swapping sea stories and the conversation eventually turned to marksmanship. Well, one of the guys was a rather salty GM from the Navy and after everyone had finished with their bragging and he hadn't said anything, one of the guys decided to rib him a bit for keeping quiet. Things like "well, I guess they don't let you squids play with guns" and stuff like that. Turns out that his longest shot was over 20 miles. He was stationed on the New Jersey and worked on the 16" guns. Of course, one of those rounds will level an entire city block.

I am a "salty old GM" myself, and I can assure that despite being about 2200 pounds, those projectiles will not level an entire city block.

And since a minute of angle miss at 20 miles is more than 300 yards, most of the long range shooting with the 16"/50 rifles was left to the ballistic computers.

I volunteered for duty on the "Big J" when she was recommissioned in 1968, but although selected my ship would not release me, they said I was too important as an expert 5"/38 mechanic while at the same time delaying my promotion. Another GM and I spent a lot of time studying up on the Jersey in preparation for the try, and he did get posted aboard.

[txnative1951]

I am a "salty old GM" myself, and I can assure that despite being about 2200 pounds, those projectiles will not level an entire city block.

And since a minute of angle miss at 20 miles is more than 300 yards, most of the long range shooting with the 16"/50 rifles was left to the ballistic computers.

I volunteered for duty on the "Big J" when she was recommissioned in 1968, but although selected my ship would not release me, they said I was too important as an expert 5"/38 mechanic while at the same time delaying my promotion. Another GM and I spent a lot of time studying up on the Jersey in preparation for the try, and he did get posted aboard.

As it was relayed to me by one of the GMs, they just said that it "could take out a city block".
From Wiki plus their reference:
William H. Garzke and Robert O. Dulin, Jr. Battleships: United States Battleships 1935–1992
"For unarmored targets and shore bombardment, the 1,900 lb (862 kg) Mk. 13 HC (High-Capacity—referring to the large bursting charge) shell was available. The Mk. 13 shell would create a crater 50 feet (15 m) wide and 20 feet (6 m) deep upon impact and detonation, and could defoliate trees 400 yards (360 m) from the point of impact."

Now, one could get a bit picky about who gets credit for making that sort of long range shot. Is it the Gunnery Officer sitting in the Fire Control Tower, the crew in the plotting room, the spotter, or the actual guys loading the projectiles and powder charges into the breeches of the guns? Kind of difficult to give any one person credit when it is a crew served weapon like that. Not that this really matters with respect to bragging rights when swapping sea stories at a bar in Subic. :)

[jimlongley]

I am a "salty old GM" myself, and I can assure that despite being about 2200 pounds, those projectiles will not level an entire city block.

And since a minute of angle miss at 20 miles is more than 300 yards, most of the long range shooting with the 16"/50 rifles was left to the ballistic computers.

I volunteered for duty on the "Big J" when she was recommissioned in 1968, but although selected my ship would not release me, they said I was too important as an expert 5"/38 mechanic while at the same time delaying my promotion. Another GM and I spent a lot of time studying up on the Jersey in preparation for the try, and he did get posted aboard.

As it was relayed to me by one of the GMs, they just said that it "could take out a city block".
From Wiki plus their reference:

For unarmored targets and shore bombardment, the 1,900 lb (862 kg) Mk. 13 HC (High-Capacity—referring to the large bursting charge) shell was available. The Mk. 13 shell would create a crater 50 feet (15 m) wide and 20 feet (6 m) deep upon impact and detonation, and could defoliate trees 400 yards (360 m) from the point of impact.

Now, one could get a bit picky about who gets credit for making that sort of long range shot. Is it the Gunnery Officer sitting in the Fire Control Tower, the crew in the plotting room, the spotter, or the actual guys loading the projectiles and powder charges into the breeches of the guns? Kind of difficult to give any one person credit when it is a crew served weapon like that. Not that this really matters with respect to bragging rights when swapping sea stories at a bar in Subic. :)

The way I figure it, even a crew served weapon has to be aimed. In the 16 inchers, although local control was available, since line of sight was far shorter than effective range it wasn't used much. In my 5"38s I aimed the guns (in elevation, another guy "trained" them) and I actually pulled the trigger on those shots mentioned above.

50 feet wide would wipe out two average city houses, and that was only with the HC projectile.

[Iunnrais]

Think of what one of those 16" rifles could have done if they had ever fired off one of the W23/Mk-23 shells....15-20kt yield.

[WildBill]

So, you think you're a good shot? Double action too!

[video][/video]

[MoJo]

So, you think you're a good shot? Double action too!

[video][/video]

Jerry Miculek has superhuman skills. That, or he's from another dimension.

[RetNavy]

Longest shot (apart from that) was with my 1st generation M1 tank shooting sabot rounds at about 1.5 km. I hope this counts!

OP did say military counted so hopefully this counts..... 10,000 yards shooting at a Williamson sled with a MK 42 5' 54"" with a 10 mil offset... using a ANSPG-53F radar to track the sled and a MK47 Mod 8 computer for the fire control solution... this was off the coast of Gitmo when the Navy used the base for refresher training btw was shooting HE-PD-MT rounds...

[WildBill]

So, you think you're a good shot? Double action too!

[video][/video]

Jerry Miculek has superhuman skills. That, or he's from another dimension.

More likely, he's a cyborg.

[jimlongley]

Longest shot (apart from that) was with my 1st generation M1 tank shooting sabot rounds at about 1.5 km. I hope this counts!

OP did say military counted so hopefully this counts..... 10,000 yards shooting at a Williamson sled with a MK 42 5' 54"" with a 10 mil offset... using a ANSPG-53F radar to track the sled and a MK47 Mod 8 computer for the fire control solution... this was off the coast of Gitmo when the Navy used the base for refresher training btw was shooting HE-PD-MT rounds...

Yeah, but my shots, on page two of the thread, were all under local control with me (the pointer) pulling the trigger while the trainer trained the guns and the mount captain SWAGed the range.

[RetNavy]

Longest shot (apart from that) was with my 1st generation M1 tank shooting sabot rounds at about 1.5 km. I hope this counts!

OP did say military counted so hopefully this counts..... 10,000 yards shooting at a Williamson sled with a MK 42 5' 54"" with a 10 mil offset... using a ANSPG-53F radar to track the sled and a MK47 Mod 8 computer for the fire control solution... this was off the coast of Gitmo when the Navy used the base for refresher training btw was shooting HE-PD-MT rounds...

Yeah, but my shots, on page two of the thread, were all under local control with me (the pointer) pulling the trigger while the trainer trained the guns and the mount captain SWAGed the range.

I know our GM's were probably mad because 98% when we did gunnery exercises the FT's in Gun Plot were the ones with the firing key,... first ship i was on was a Adams Class DDG with 5 inchers fore and aft.... NGFS training was always good... especially the John Wayne exercises.....

[jimlongley]

Longest shot (apart from that) was with my 1st generation M1 tank shooting sabot rounds at about 1.5 km. I hope this counts!

OP did say military counted so hopefully this counts..... 10,000 yards shooting at a Williamson sled with a MK 42 5' 54"" with a 10 mil offset... using a ANSPG-53F radar to track the sled and a MK47 Mod 8 computer for the fire control solution... this was off the coast of Gitmo when the Navy used the base for refresher training btw was shooting HE-PD-MT rounds...

Yeah, but my shots, on page two of the thread, were all under local control with me (the pointer) pulling the trigger while the trainer trained the guns and the mount captain SWAGed the range.

I know our GM's were probably mad because 98% when we did gunnery exercises the FT's in Gun Plot were the ones with the firing key,... first ship i was on was a Adams Class DDG with 5 inchers fore and aft.... NGFS training was always good... especially the John Wayne exercises.....

Yeah, waking up long enough to make sure my firing key was locked was boring beyond belief, although being 5"38s, the rest of the people in the mount had plenty to do.

[RetNavy]

[quote="jimlongley"

Yeah, waking up long enough to make sure my firing key was locked was boring beyond belief, although being 5"38s, the rest of the people in the mount had plenty to do. [/quote]

I can understand that, must have been pretty busy keeping the corks from being mixed up for the barrels.....

[HadEmAll]

Mine are nothing to brag about. A stationary 8" gong at 300 yards, and a trotting coyote at 200 yards, both with a 165 grain 30-06.

I'd love the opportunity to try some feral hogs at longer distances.