Craig Harrison is a Corporal of Horse

Corporal of Horse

Corporal of horse is a rank in the British Army's Household Cavalry corresponding to sergeant in other regiments. Formerly, no cavalry regiments had sergeants, but the Household Cavalry are the only ones to keep this tradition alive. It is said to stem from the origin of the word sergeant, which...

 (CoH) of the Household Cavalry

Household Cavalry

The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...

 of the British armed forces, and holds the record for the longest confirmed sniper

Sniper

A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....

 kill in combat, at a range of 2475 m (2,707 yd). Established in November 2009, this exceeds the previous 2430 m (2,657 yd) record set by Rob Furlong

Rob Furlong

Rob Furlong , is a former corporal of the Canadian Forces, who held the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at 2,430 metres...

 in 2002 by 45 m (49 yd).

Record details

In November 2009 CoH Craig Harrison struck two Taliban machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

ners south of Musa Qala

Musa Qala

Musa Qala is a town and the district center of Musa Qala District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at and at 1043 m altitude in the valley of Musa Qala River in the central western part of the district. Its population has been reported in the British press to be both 2,000 and 20,000...

 in Helmand Province

Helmand Province

Helmand is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the southwest of the country. Its capital is Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region, providing water for irrigation....

 in Afghanistan at a range of 2475 m (2,707 yd) using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle

Accuracy International AWM

The AWM is a sniper rifle manufactured by Accuracy International. It is also known as the AWSM , which typically denotes the .338 Lapua Magnum version.-The Arctic Warfare Magnum system:...

. In a BBC interview, Harrison reported it took about nine shots for him and his spotter to initially range the target successfully. Then, he reported, his first shot "on target" was a killing shot.
This feat is not typical for the effective range with a high first-hit probability of the employed rifle system on static targets (see maximum effective range). The shots were aided by the ambient air density near the valley in which Musa Qala is situated and where CoH Harrison operated, which is significantly lower than at sea level due to Musa Qala's 1043 m (3,422 ft) mean elevation.

In the reports CoH Craig Harrison mentions the environmental conditions were perfect for long range shooting: no wind, mild weather, clear visibility. Mr. Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International

Accuracy International

Accuracy International is a specialist British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England and best known for producing the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles...

, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: “It is still fairly accurate beyond 1500 m (1,640 yd), but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.”

Creative use of environment and equipment

According to JBM Ballistics, using drag coefficient

Drag coefficient

In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment such as air or water. It is used in the drag equation, where a lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have less aerodynamic or...

s (C_d) provided by Lapua, the L115A3 has an approximate supersonic range (speed of sound

Speed of sound

The speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at , the speed of sound is . This is , or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately one mile in five seconds....

 = 340.3 m/s) of 1375 m (1,504 yd) under International Standard Atmosphere

International Standard Atmosphere

The International Standard Atmosphere is an atmospheric model of how the pressure, temperature, density, and viscosity of the Earth's atmosphere change over a wide range of altitudes. It has been established to provide a common reference for temperature and pressure and consists of tables of...

 conditions at sea level (air density

Density of air

The density of air, ρ , is the mass per unit volume of Earth's atmosphere, and is a useful value in aeronautics and other sciences. Air density decreases with increasing altitude, as does air pressure. It also changes with variances in temperature or humidity...

 ρ = 1.225 kg/m³) and 1548 m (1,693 yd) at the 1043 m (3,422 ft) altitude

Altitude

Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...

 or elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 (air density ρ = 1.1069 kg/m³) of Musa Qala. This illustrates how environmental condition differences can significantly affect bullet flight.

The Schmidt & Bender

Schmidt & Bender

Schmidt & Bender is a German company specialized in producing high end telescopic sights for hunting, sports, law enforcement and military arms....

 MILITARY MKII 5-25x56 0.1 MIL RAD parallax, illumination, double turn telescopic sight

Telescopic sight

A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an optically appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point...

 used on the L115A3 Long Range Rifle has a P4 mil-dot reticle that can be adjusted in 0.1 milliradian or mil

Angular mil

An angular mil, also mil, is a unit of angle. All versions of the angular mil are approximately the same size as a trigonometric milliradian.-History:The milliradian was first identified in the mid nineteenth Century...

 increments and has an maximal vertical elevation range of 26 milliradian. At a distance of 2475 m (2,707 yd) 1 adjustment increment of 0.1 milliradian equates to a 24.75 cm (9.74 in) point of impact shift.

The external ballistics

External ballistics

External ballistics is the part of the science of ballistics that deals with the behaviour of a non-powered projectile in flight. External ballistics is frequently associated with firearms, and deals with the behaviour of the bullet after it exits the barrel and before it hits the target.-Forces...

 software program JBM Ballistics further predicts that the bullets of British high pressure .338 Lapua Magnum cartridges using 16.2 g (250 gr) Lapua LockBase B408 bullets fired at 936 m/s (3,071 ft/s) muzzle velocity under International Standard Atmosphere conditions at 1043 m (3,422 ft) elevation (air density ρ = 1.069 kg/m³) and assuming a flat fire scenario and a 100 m (109 yd) zero arrive at 2475 m (2,707 yd) after approximately 6.017 seconds flight time at 251.8 m/s (826 ft/s) velocity and have dropped 120.95 m (396.8 ft) or in angular units 48.9 milliradian (168 MOA) on their way. To accomplish such an extreme range shot the Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 telescopic sight with its P4 reticle offering 0.5 mil spaced holdover hash marks has to be mounted with a vertically canted base or canted rings to be able to dial in the required amount of vertical adjustment if the operator opts to use more magnification than the 5x minimum magnification the telescopic sight offers. Accuracy International produces mounts for telescopic sights with a 13.09 mil (45 MOA) built in cant designed for their .338 Lapua Magnum rifles fitted with the Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 telescopic sight. Even with a 13.09 mil canted mount the employed sighting system is not able to dial in over 39.09 milliradian of vertical aiming correction, so COH Harrison had to use the hashmarks of the P4 mil-dot reticle to compensate for this and thus achieve the required aiming solution.

See also

• Longest recorded sniper kills
  Longest recorded sniper kills
  Reports regarding the longest recorded sniper kill that contain information regarding the shooting distance and the identity of the sniper have been presented to the general public since 1967. Snipers in modern warfare have had a long history since the development of long distance weaponry...