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BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member




The Whitworth rifle was, arguably, the first long-range sniper rifle in military history. This innovative rifle was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a famed British engineer and inventor. In an effort to overcome the weaknesses of the British infantry rifle (the Pattern 1853 Enfield), Whitworth began working on his new design in 1854.

The most famous act of sniping during the Civil War also involved a Whitworth rifle. It took place on May 9, 1864, at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Accounts vary as to the distance from which the shot was taken, with the range being put anywhere from 500 to 1000 yards. It is likely that it was closer to 500 than 1000, but we will never know for sure.

Union General John Sedgwick was directing the placement of his artillery in preparation for the coming battle when his position came under fire from a Confederate sniper. The unique shape of the Whitworth bullets caused them to make a very distinctive whistling sound when they passed through the air; a sound that was, by then, feared in the Union ranks. Following is an account of what happened next, from Sedgwick's Chief-of-Staff:



"As the bullets whistled by, some of the men dodged. The general said laughingly, 'What! what! men, dodging this way for single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.' A few seconds after, a man who had been separated from his regiment passed directly in front of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter's bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close, and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him gently with his foot, and said, 'Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way,' and repeated the remark, 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.' The man rose and saluted and said good-naturedly, 'General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn't, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging.' The general laughed and replied, 'All right, my man; go to your place.'

For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk; when, as I was about to resume, the general's face turned slowly to me, the blood spurting from his left cheek under the eye in a steady stream. He fell in my direction; I was so close to him that my effort to support him failed, and I fell with him."

Thus, General Sedgwick became the highest ranking Union officer to die in battle (above). When General Ulysses S. Grant received the news, he was so shocked that, in total disbelief, he repeatedly asked those around him, "Is he really dead?"

Although five different Confederate snipers claimed to have been responsible, it has never been confirmed who took the most famous shot ever fired from a Whitworth rifle.

https://www.historynet.com/sure-shot-confederate-sharpshooters-whitworth.htm
http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/whitworth-rifle.html
https://www.historynet.com/joseph-whitworths-deadly-rifle.htm
https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/51957-23-397/
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member




The Whitworth rifle was, arguably, the first long-range sniper rifle in military history. This innovative rifle was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a famed British engineer and inventor. In an effort to overcome the weaknesses of the British infantry rifle (the Pattern 1853 Enfield), Whitworth began working on his new design in 1854.

The most famous act of sniping during the Civil War also involved a Whitworth rifle. It took place on May 9, 1864, at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Accounts vary as to the distance from which the shot was taken, with the range being put anywhere from 500 to 1000 yards. It is likely that it was closer to 500 than 1000, but we will never know for sure.

Union General John Sedgwick was directing the placement of his artillery in preparation for the coming battle when his position came under fire from a Confederate sniper. The unique shape of the Whitworth bullets caused them to make a very distinctive whistling sound when they passed through the air; a sound that was, by then, feared in the Union ranks. Following is an account of what happened next, from Sedgwick's Chief-of-Staff:



"As the bullets whistled by, some of the men dodged. The general said laughingly, 'What! what! men, dodging this way for single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.' A few seconds after, a man who had been separated from his regiment passed directly in front of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter's bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close, and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him gently with his foot, and said, 'Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way,' and repeated the remark, 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.' The man rose and saluted and said good-naturedly, 'General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn't, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging.' The general laughed and replied, 'All right, my man; go to your place.'

For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk; when, as I was about to resume, the general's face turned slowly to me, the blood spurting from his left cheek under the eye in a steady stream. He fell in my direction; I was so close to him that my effort to support him failed, and I fell with him."

Thus, General Sedgwick became the highest ranking Union officer to die in battle (above). When General Ulysses S. Grant received the news, he was so shocked that, in total disbelief, he repeatedly asked those around him, "Is he really dead?"

Although five different Confederate snipers claimed to have been responsible, it has never been confirmed who took the most famous shot ever fired from a Whitworth rifle.

https://www.historynet.com/sure-shot-confederate-sharpshooters-whitworth.htm
http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/whitworth-rifle.html
https://www.historynet.com/joseph-whitworths-deadly-rifle.htm
https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/51957-23-397/
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"Shooting handguns accurately at 100 to 500 yards was once thought to verge on the impossible. Elmer Keith tells the story of a day in the life of a prototype Model 29, with a 6.5” barrel. “One day Judge Don Martin and I were shooting the big gun over at the city dump.When we started back, I spotted a rock down the canyon below the dump at what looked like 500 yards from the road. The rock was about three feet long by about 18 inches high in the middle tapered a little bit at each end. Resting my arms out the car window, I tried it. The first shot was low. Holding up more front sight and perching the rock on top of it, I managed to put the next five on the rock. Don said, “Damn it, I seen it, but I still don’t believe it.”

A little later, Elmer took the first game ever shot with the new .44 Magnum. It was a goshawk perched in a tree at 100 yards. After that he was called upon to kill a rifle-wounded deer at 600 yards, which he did, and long-range handgun hunting was suddenly a reality. It has been said that Elmer Keith almost single-handedly pioneered modern sport handgunning. His influence on handgun design was substantial, his influence on handgun cartridge design truly revolutionary. One strong man supplied the guts and the vision, and the world followed, which is the way things usually work in real life".

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's Kieth's story on the shot (anyone that knew him, believed what he said):

"Paul Kriley and I hunted up Clear Creek on the right side where it is partly open bunch grass meadows and partly patches of timber. We hunted all day, and although we saw several does at 80-90 yards, one at 60, that I could have killed. We passed them up, as I wanted a buck. Toward evening we topped out on a ridge. There was a swale between us and another small ridge on the side of the mountain slope about 300-400 yards away. Beyond that, out on the open sidehill, no doubt on account of the cougar, were about 20 mule deer, feeding. Two big bucks were in the band, and some lesser ones, the rest were does and long fawns. As it was getting late and the last day of the season, I wanted one of those bucks for meat. Being a half-mile away, I told Paul, “Take the .300 Magnum and duck back through this swale to that next ridge and that should put you within about 500 yards of them. I’ll stay here (the deer had seen us), let them watch me for a decoy.” Paul said, “You take the rifle.”
“I said, how is it sighted?”
He said, “one inch high at a hundred yards.” I told him to go ahead because I wouldn’t know where to hold it. I always sighted a .300 Magnum 3 inches high at a hundred and I wouldn’t know where to hold it at 500.

I said, “You go ahead and kill the biggest buck in the bunch for me.” Paul took off, went across the swale and climbed the ridge, laid down and crawled up to the top. He shot. The lower of the two bucks, which he later said was the biggest one, dropped and rolled down the mountain. I then took off across the swale to join him. Just before I climbed up the ridge to where he was lying, he started shooting again.

When I came up on top, the band of deer was pretty well long gone. They’d gone out to the next ridge top, turned up it slightly and went over. But the old buck was up following their trail, one front leg a-swinging. Paul had hit it. I asked Paul, “Is there any harm in me getting into this show?” He said, “No, go ahead.”

I had to lay down prone, because if I crawled over the hill to assume my old backside positioning, then the blast of his gun would be right in my ear. Shooting prone with a .44 Magnum is something I don’t like at all. The concussion is terrific. It will just about bust your ear drums every time. At any rate Paul shot and missed. I held all of the front sight up, or practically all of it, and perched the running deer on top of the front sight and squeezed one off. Paul said, “I saw it through my scope. It hit in the mud and snow right below him.” There was possibly six inches of wet snow, with muddy ground underneath. I told him “I won’t be low the next shot.” Paul shot again and missed with his .300 Magnum. The next time I held all of the front sight up and a bit of the ramp, just perched the deer on top. After the shot the gun came down out of recoil and the bullet had evidently landed. The buck made a high buck-jump, swapped ends, and came back toward us, shaking his head. I told Paul I must have hit a horn. I asked him to let the buck come back until he was right on us if he would, let him come as close as he would and I’d jump up and kill him. When he came back to where Paul had first rolled him, out about 500 yards, Paul said, “I could hit him now, I think.”

“Well,” I said, “I don’t like to see a deer run on three legs. Go ahead.” He shot again and missed. The buck swapped ends and turned around and went back right over the same trail. Paul said, “I’m out of ammunition. Empty.” I told him to reload, duck back out of sight, go on around the hill and head the old buck off, and I’d chase him on around. Paul took off on a run to go around this bunch-grass hill and get up above the buck and on top. He was young, husky, and could run like a deer himself. I got on the old buck again with all of the front sight and a trifle of the ramp up. Just as I was going to squeeze it off when he got to the ridge, he turned up it just as the band of deer had done. So I moved the sight picture in front of him and shot. After an interval he went down and out of sight. I didn’t think anything of it, thought he had just tipped over the ridge. It took me about half an hour to get across. When I got over there to the ridge, I saw where he’d rolled down the hill about fifty yards, bleeding badly, and then he’d gotten up and walked from the tracks to the ridge in front of us. There were a few pine trees down below, so I cut across to intercept his tracks. I could see he was bleeding out both sides.

Just before I got to the top of the ridge, I heard a shot up above me and then another shot, and I yelled and asked if it was Paul. He answered. I asked, “Did you get him?” He said, “Yes, he’s down there by that big pine tree below you. Climb a little higher and you can see him.” Paul came down and we went down to the buck. Paul said the buck was walking along all humped up very slowly. He held back of the shoulders as he was quartering away. The first shot went between his forelegs and threw up snow. Then he said the buck turned a little more away from him and he held higher and dropped him. Finally we parted the hair in the right flank and found where the 180-grain needle-pointed Remington spitzer had gone in. Later I determined it blew up and lodged in the left shoulder. At any rate I looked his horns over, trying to see where I’d hit a horn. No sign of it. Finally I found a bullet hole back of the right jaw and it came out of the top of his nose. That was the shot I’d hit him with out at 600 yards. Then Paul said, “Who shot him through the lungs broadside? I didn’t, never had that kind of shot at all.” There was an entrance hole fairly high on the right side of the rib cage just under the spine and an exit just about three or four inches lower on the other side. The deer had been approximately the same elevation as I was when I fired that last shot at him. We dressed him, drug him down the trail on Clear Creek, hung him up, and went on down to the ranch. The next day a man named Posy and I came back with a pack horse, loaded him and took him in. I took a few pictures of him hanging in the woodshed along with the Smith & Wesson .44 Mag.

I took him home and hung him up in the garage. About ten days later my son Ted came home from college and I told him, “Ted, go out and skin that big buck and get us some chops. They should be well-ripened and about right for dinner tonight.” After awhile Ted came in and he laid the part jacket of a Remington bullet on the table beside me and he said, “Dad, I found this right beside the exit hole on the left side of that buck’s ribs.” Then I knew that I had hit him at that long range two out of four times. I believe I missed the first shot, we didn’t see it at all, and it was on the second that Paul said he saw snow and mud fly up at his heels. I wrote it up and I’ve been called a liar ever since, but Paul Kriley is still alive and able to vouch for the facts".

Elmer Keith

 

Granny weed

Well-Known Member
2B273AE4-559E-49AA-9E8A-423441E53862.jpeg 2B273AE4-559E-49AA-9E8A-423441E53862.jpeg
I have just purchased a gun, not like any of yours of course this says it’s a smith and western from Springfield MA USA lol
It has quite a kick for a BB gun lol I have a cat that is bullying mine I’ve shot it twice and it had’nt been back for a while until today so I shot it again don’t get me wrong I’m not a cat hater I love them but this is a big old thing and it’s viscous.
Being in England a BB gun is the best I can do although I have considered a cross bow lol
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
View attachment 4374721 View attachment 4374721
I have just purchased a gun, not like any of yours of course this says it’s a smith and western from Springfield MA USA lol
It has quite a kick for a BB gun lol I have a cat that is bullying mine I’ve shot it twice and it had’nt been back for a while until today so I shot it again don’t get me wrong I’m not a cat hater I love them but this is a big old thing and it’s viscous.
Being in England a BB gun is the best I can do although I have considered a cross bow lol
Nice, how about a long bow and a costume (de rigeur in the UK right)?
 
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