Primary Tool for countering any threat is understanding the threat itself. Anyone concerned with defeating a sniper ought first understand the sniper's techniques and rationale. Probably the finest single resource is John Plaster's comprehensive book The Ultimate Sniper. There are other books, namely the USMC and US Army sniper program Field Manuals, plus Mike Lau's book on police sniping, but Plaster has the most comprehensive and an almost textbook like approach to relating complex concepts and making them easy to understand. This book is very complete and worth the $45 or so it costs. Try Amazon or Ebay for best price, be sure to get the revised and updated edition.
Know how to shoot? Kinda essential for countering any sniper. Not all rifles are suitable. To counter a precision shooter you'll need similar capabilities. Varmint rifles are about ideal. To my mind, a .223rem or smaller round is not a preferred cartridge. A custom chambered rifle or rare factory rifle like Tikka T3 with 1:8 twist can stabilize the 80/85gr bullets that make the .223rem viable. Same is necessary with a .22-250, the 1:14 or 1:12 twist rates are too slow to stabilize bullets over 55 or 60 grains of weight. With a 1:6.5 twist barrel the super-long 90gr bullets are very viable and make awesome longrange target rifles. Still, the .243win is about the entry threshold with 90 or 100/107gr match bullets.
A word on ammunition. It is the key. If you handload it is easy to make your own of match quality. Sierra, Nosler, Hornady, Berger, Lapua all make superb match bullets with very high ballistic coefficients so the bullets are of highest aerodynamic efficiency and lowest rate of trajectory drop. Probably your rifle will shoot its best with match ammunition. If not, use what does perform. Test firing your rifle at the 100yd or 200yd range will show which ammunition or load groups best. You're looking for the ability to place 5 shots in a tight group of under 1" at 100yds or under 2" at 200yds.
To test your rifle, you need to shoot from a stable position with sandbag rests fore and aft. The rifle needs to be triggered w/o disturbing point of aim. Light recoiling rifles will perform best. Align reticle crosshair for best accuracy on bottom corners of a squared aiming point. Aim at same L corner every time and fire 5 shots with reticle perfectly at rest. Ammunition that yields smallest groups at both 100 and 200yds will be your keeper...
Obviously most people will need a scope. Even an experienced highpower ironsights shooter will benefit from a decent scope. Not so much to scan and identify targets with, but to eliminate sight alignment delay and enable fastest target acquisition and shot delivery. 6x scope with duplex or tactical reticle will work best. Scope needs to have finger-click adjustable turrets for windage & elevation. Quality hunting scope like older Leupold Vari-X III with screwdriver click turrets, (the kind you use a nickle or quater in the slot to turn), can be conveted to finger dial with a Stoney Point turret adapater. If choosing a scope specifically for counter-sniper work, look for finger dial/click turrets of 1/4moa and a total range of 60 inches of movement windage & elevation. More fine scopes available now than ever before, but expect to pay $250 or more for one that will perform adequately. The 4.5-14x Nikon Buckmasters hunting scope has about all the features you can need, including side-focus parallax adjustment and mil-dot reticle for rangefinding. Very clear and rugged scope.
Rifle choices can include about any quality hunting rifle up to .308 win or .30-06. The AR-10 or M1a semi-auto rifles in .243, .260rem or .308 is a superb choice; as also is a fast twist .223 AR-15 with 20-24" match quality barrel. The Armalite flat-top rifles are preferred over M1a or carryhandle ARs because of their integral picatinny rail receivers. Bolt rifles are more traditional. A varmint barreled gun or deer gun in any .308 or .30-06 based cartridge will be excellent. You also want a good sling and maybe a bipod and to know how to fire accurately from both.
Laser rangefinders are pretty affordable and easy/fast to use. My Nikon 800 is good to 800meters and very compact. Compact binoculars will fit in your pocket and enable fast exploration of your surroundings. For deep foliage or pre-dawn an dusk you'll need 50mm objective lenses on your binos; 56mm are better. Zeiss, Pentax, Olympus,Fujinon, Kowa are brands I've worked with. There are other good names. My Fuji m22 binos and 65mm spotting scope are great values and simply superb. I've got 2 Zeiss binoculars and their quality is notably better, but the Fujinon work and are a close 2nd. Leitz, Nikon, Swarovski are undoubtedly fine; many people love them...
You need optics for investigation from a distance and the better they are, the more you will detect. In and earlier article I discussed denying the ground to snipers and preparing range-cards and keeping knowledgeable on your surroundings.
If you are new to longrange shooting, Plaster's book is about the finest overview you can buy. Might want to look for some of David Tubb's books and DVD's. Tubb has one called The One Mile Shot and it shows him getting on range with his 6.5/284 rifle with 6.5-20x scope and making repeated hits on target in good crosswind at 1mile...
To defeat a sniper, learn his/her craft and prepare accordingly.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sarajevo and The Case For Counter-Sniping
Not like I am a great student of the Yugoslavian history and the conflicts of the peoples who traditionally have inhabited the regions. Yet, there were horrendous crimes of an ethnic cleansing nature carried out in Bosnia-Herzegovena, and much murder of urban dwelling civilians by unseen snipers largely of Serbian forces.
Perhaps the most graphic portrayal of the sniping atrocities is contained in an HBO movie, Shot Through The Heart. I recommend anyone reading this find this movie, it is available from NetFlix. Watching it will not be a light-hearted experience. What is very well portrayed is the elaborate "hides" that were in use and the ability of the riflemen/snipers to fire through windows and doorways in bombed-out and burned-out apartment buildings in Sarajevo striking civilian men, women, & children down in the street where they were presumably protected or shielded.
It is not a tremendous feat to deliver precision rifle fire upon targets the size of human torso at 1000yds. There are many rifles chambered for cartridges like .338 Lapua magnum and even smaller that are capable of delivering hits at up to one mile. Some like the .50 BMG (browning machine gun) round from the 40lb precision bolt rifles are able to score hits at ranges up to 2500yds or about a mile and one-third distance. The .50bmg and other smaller diameter longrange cartridges can penetrate brick walls and armor plate. There is little real shelter from a determined sniper armed with heavy magnum rifle and armor-piercing ammunition.
So, in wartime you'll have to be aware and deny the sniper his/her "hide". Obscuring their vision and ability to observe and make target acquisition is one approach. Not like you want to live in a stockade or make your home into a Mexican defensive walled hacienda, but it can be done. On my survivalist blog lesteronsurvival.blogspot.com I recommend Jeff Cooper's compendium To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Tell The Truth. Cooper has an entry/chapter in which he discusses "Architecture for the age of Aquarius". He discusses there several designs for door entry, courtyards, and interior sleeping quarters that if incorporated into your architectural layout, will reduce opportunity for the "surprise visit" and minimize potential for success by attackers. Not like the designs will get your home featured on The Azalea Trail or written up in Town & Country, but the ideas are excellent and worth being mindful of.
Snipers must be denied cover. Before hostilities begin, if they are suspected to eventually occur, you need to survey your property with analytical thoroughness and observe what lanes of fire you have natural and perhaps movable obstacles that can deny a rifleman a clear shot. Doubtful you have funds to erect a cinderblock or brick wall to ring your property. Yet if your autos and other movable obtstacles can be positioned to compliment your trees and other terrain, you can create shielding. Of course, trees, hills, buildings and other sources of height obviously enable a shooter to see a target. Much depends on your surroundings though.
Maybe you can plant cactus or rose bushes, cultivate poison ivy or brambles in areas you can't outright deny to a sniper? If your property, you can always dump glass and tin cans or if fenced with field wire or hurricane fencing allow your dogs or livestock the run of the area. Can also string wire at foot level and create obstructions that don't obscure your view or allow shielding for those who might infiltrate and setup to do you harm.
Birds are a natural warning system. You can sow seed bearing plants and provide other natural food to encourage birds to frequent an area. See that the birds have been disturbed, and you have a clue or indicator and reason to investigate. Guinea fowl and Peacocks are great for sounding the alarm when disturbed. If you have ditches or terrain with depressions you can evaluate whether a pond or stock tank, or just a mud puddle right there would be a good idea. The idea is to deny easy access to a setup and prevent as many natural lanes of fire as you can.
Observation and neighborhood watch, even out in the country are important. Presumably you know your neighbors and watch out for each other. Not too likely in a rural retirement suburb but in a long-settled farming community, people will know each other well enough and likely know their business and private goings-on. Just the way it is... Watching out for each other is a way of life.
At home, you should also keep your awareness on at a moderate level. Jeff Cooper also wrote a small pamphlet book, Principles Of Self-Defense and in it he outlined his color-coded condition-awareness/action levels:
-White for fully relaxed, no potential for danger
-Yellow for aware, aware that trouble might present itself
-Orange for heightened aware, expecting trouble
-Red for trouble manifested and your response indicated.
In condition Orange for example, you likely have pistol in hand and cocked & locked ready to fire, but on safe. In Condition Red you are off-safe and acquiring target while also seeking cover.
Probably your best defensive tools are optics. A spotting scope of decent quality will penetrate shadow and enable long observation without tiring. Scoping the landscape and investigating the approaches you've identified or analyzing an area you intend to pass or travel through. Good Binoculars also allow fast investigation from a distance which is always prudent. Never a reason to take undue risk and assume there is no threat just because a cursory glance or hasty glassing doesn't reveal one.
To counter a sniper requires a precision rifleman or squad of men determined to flush sniper and likely spotter from their position. Pretty doubtful that many can afford or are trained to use the heavy rifle and scope military or enforcement personnel will employ. Yet a good varmint rifle capable of placing fire at a 1-2 moa rate of accuracy will serve, especially with decent precision riflescope with at least 6x magnification and 10x or more can be an advantage.
Varmint shooting is a great way to build skill and confidence necessary to make hits at significant range; like over 350yds. If you can't make the local prairie-dog or crow population nervous there are always soda cans and pop bottles (plastic) that can be filled with water and make a nice geyser of water when hit by a highpower bullet at substantial velocity. A .243winchester, .22-250 possibly, and just about any decent precision 6.5 or 7mm rifle will do the job. Mild recoil and flat shooting bullets are the ticket to accuracy for the non-professional. Of course, use what you got, but a .25-06 varmint special or a .270win chambered rem 700 Sendero when fired with quality ammunition and boatail bullets will be most up to the task.
Plenty of rifles on the market to choose from. The Nikon Buckmasters side-focus parallax scopes in 4-14x or 6-18x with duplex or mil-dot reticle are about the best product for the money. No problem if you want to spend more, but a Tikka T3 varmint, Howa Varmint, Rem 700 VS or Savage tactical rifle will deliver almost the same quality as a Sako TRG-22 or Accuracy Intl tactical rifle. Probably my favored choice is the FN-Herstal Patrol Bolt Rifle or PBR with 20 or 24 inch barrel, that one is a Best Value in .308win. If you determine you can spend more there is the FN-H Special Police Rifle with McMillan stock for about $1500 to $2400 or the Tikka Sport in 6.5x55 or .260rem for about $1600. These are essentially match quality tactical rifles and can deliver precision if you can shoot with such.
The sniper is a psychological weapon as well as an effective killer. The demoralization of sniper fire is well documented among seasoned soldiers and absolutely terrifying when employed against civilians. Know and study their techniques, their clothing, and equipment. Expensive rifles and large complex looking optics are often trademarks of the sniper. Just as you can know that a stranger wearing a tactical vest and several magazine pouches and carrying an AK-47 is not a subsistence hunter, you can know that the hardened guy carrying an 18 pound rifle with large diameter barrel and scope with large tube and objective with complex turret dials is a sniper.
Expect snipers to move especially under cover of darkness and possibly to employ night vision gear and be well camouflaged. Make a game of studying your terrain and take a cue from the sniper's bag of tricks and make a "range-card" of your home by compass direction and draw a rough map of what your eye sees from the cardinal compass points. Nice to own a digital rangefinder like a Nikon 800 or Leica or Leupold unless you are very good and practiced with your mil-dot reticle on your riflescope. Mark the prominent landscape features on your map and note the distances from observation point to each. Perhaps some day you will note a terrain feature that was never there before or a rise on a hill you never noticed before? Such awareness and having the references like map and range card may just be all you need to save your life or someone else's.
Perhaps the most graphic portrayal of the sniping atrocities is contained in an HBO movie, Shot Through The Heart. I recommend anyone reading this find this movie, it is available from NetFlix. Watching it will not be a light-hearted experience. What is very well portrayed is the elaborate "hides" that were in use and the ability of the riflemen/snipers to fire through windows and doorways in bombed-out and burned-out apartment buildings in Sarajevo striking civilian men, women, & children down in the street where they were presumably protected or shielded.
It is not a tremendous feat to deliver precision rifle fire upon targets the size of human torso at 1000yds. There are many rifles chambered for cartridges like .338 Lapua magnum and even smaller that are capable of delivering hits at up to one mile. Some like the .50 BMG (browning machine gun) round from the 40lb precision bolt rifles are able to score hits at ranges up to 2500yds or about a mile and one-third distance. The .50bmg and other smaller diameter longrange cartridges can penetrate brick walls and armor plate. There is little real shelter from a determined sniper armed with heavy magnum rifle and armor-piercing ammunition.
So, in wartime you'll have to be aware and deny the sniper his/her "hide". Obscuring their vision and ability to observe and make target acquisition is one approach. Not like you want to live in a stockade or make your home into a Mexican defensive walled hacienda, but it can be done. On my survivalist blog lesteronsurvival.blogspot.com I recommend Jeff Cooper's compendium To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Tell The Truth. Cooper has an entry/chapter in which he discusses "Architecture for the age of Aquarius". He discusses there several designs for door entry, courtyards, and interior sleeping quarters that if incorporated into your architectural layout, will reduce opportunity for the "surprise visit" and minimize potential for success by attackers. Not like the designs will get your home featured on The Azalea Trail or written up in Town & Country, but the ideas are excellent and worth being mindful of.
Snipers must be denied cover. Before hostilities begin, if they are suspected to eventually occur, you need to survey your property with analytical thoroughness and observe what lanes of fire you have natural and perhaps movable obstacles that can deny a rifleman a clear shot. Doubtful you have funds to erect a cinderblock or brick wall to ring your property. Yet if your autos and other movable obtstacles can be positioned to compliment your trees and other terrain, you can create shielding. Of course, trees, hills, buildings and other sources of height obviously enable a shooter to see a target. Much depends on your surroundings though.
Maybe you can plant cactus or rose bushes, cultivate poison ivy or brambles in areas you can't outright deny to a sniper? If your property, you can always dump glass and tin cans or if fenced with field wire or hurricane fencing allow your dogs or livestock the run of the area. Can also string wire at foot level and create obstructions that don't obscure your view or allow shielding for those who might infiltrate and setup to do you harm.
Birds are a natural warning system. You can sow seed bearing plants and provide other natural food to encourage birds to frequent an area. See that the birds have been disturbed, and you have a clue or indicator and reason to investigate. Guinea fowl and Peacocks are great for sounding the alarm when disturbed. If you have ditches or terrain with depressions you can evaluate whether a pond or stock tank, or just a mud puddle right there would be a good idea. The idea is to deny easy access to a setup and prevent as many natural lanes of fire as you can.
Observation and neighborhood watch, even out in the country are important. Presumably you know your neighbors and watch out for each other. Not too likely in a rural retirement suburb but in a long-settled farming community, people will know each other well enough and likely know their business and private goings-on. Just the way it is... Watching out for each other is a way of life.
At home, you should also keep your awareness on at a moderate level. Jeff Cooper also wrote a small pamphlet book, Principles Of Self-Defense and in it he outlined his color-coded condition-awareness/action levels:
-White for fully relaxed, no potential for danger
-Yellow for aware, aware that trouble might present itself
-Orange for heightened aware, expecting trouble
-Red for trouble manifested and your response indicated.
In condition Orange for example, you likely have pistol in hand and cocked & locked ready to fire, but on safe. In Condition Red you are off-safe and acquiring target while also seeking cover.
Probably your best defensive tools are optics. A spotting scope of decent quality will penetrate shadow and enable long observation without tiring. Scoping the landscape and investigating the approaches you've identified or analyzing an area you intend to pass or travel through. Good Binoculars also allow fast investigation from a distance which is always prudent. Never a reason to take undue risk and assume there is no threat just because a cursory glance or hasty glassing doesn't reveal one.
To counter a sniper requires a precision rifleman or squad of men determined to flush sniper and likely spotter from their position. Pretty doubtful that many can afford or are trained to use the heavy rifle and scope military or enforcement personnel will employ. Yet a good varmint rifle capable of placing fire at a 1-2 moa rate of accuracy will serve, especially with decent precision riflescope with at least 6x magnification and 10x or more can be an advantage.
Varmint shooting is a great way to build skill and confidence necessary to make hits at significant range; like over 350yds. If you can't make the local prairie-dog or crow population nervous there are always soda cans and pop bottles (plastic) that can be filled with water and make a nice geyser of water when hit by a highpower bullet at substantial velocity. A .243winchester, .22-250 possibly, and just about any decent precision 6.5 or 7mm rifle will do the job. Mild recoil and flat shooting bullets are the ticket to accuracy for the non-professional. Of course, use what you got, but a .25-06 varmint special or a .270win chambered rem 700 Sendero when fired with quality ammunition and boatail bullets will be most up to the task.
Plenty of rifles on the market to choose from. The Nikon Buckmasters side-focus parallax scopes in 4-14x or 6-18x with duplex or mil-dot reticle are about the best product for the money. No problem if you want to spend more, but a Tikka T3 varmint, Howa Varmint, Rem 700 VS or Savage tactical rifle will deliver almost the same quality as a Sako TRG-22 or Accuracy Intl tactical rifle. Probably my favored choice is the FN-Herstal Patrol Bolt Rifle or PBR with 20 or 24 inch barrel, that one is a Best Value in .308win. If you determine you can spend more there is the FN-H Special Police Rifle with McMillan stock for about $1500 to $2400 or the Tikka Sport in 6.5x55 or .260rem for about $1600. These are essentially match quality tactical rifles and can deliver precision if you can shoot with such.
The sniper is a psychological weapon as well as an effective killer. The demoralization of sniper fire is well documented among seasoned soldiers and absolutely terrifying when employed against civilians. Know and study their techniques, their clothing, and equipment. Expensive rifles and large complex looking optics are often trademarks of the sniper. Just as you can know that a stranger wearing a tactical vest and several magazine pouches and carrying an AK-47 is not a subsistence hunter, you can know that the hardened guy carrying an 18 pound rifle with large diameter barrel and scope with large tube and objective with complex turret dials is a sniper.
Expect snipers to move especially under cover of darkness and possibly to employ night vision gear and be well camouflaged. Make a game of studying your terrain and take a cue from the sniper's bag of tricks and make a "range-card" of your home by compass direction and draw a rough map of what your eye sees from the cardinal compass points. Nice to own a digital rangefinder like a Nikon 800 or Leica or Leupold unless you are very good and practiced with your mil-dot reticle on your riflescope. Mark the prominent landscape features on your map and note the distances from observation point to each. Perhaps some day you will note a terrain feature that was never there before or a rise on a hill you never noticed before? Such awareness and having the references like map and range card may just be all you need to save your life or someone else's.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Ugly Side Of Sniping...
Lots of "political" stuff never gets asked or said on the hide.
Presumably, The FBI's Ron Horiuchi is just as revered as Carlos
Hathcock. Maybe ol' Carlos even instructed Ronnie-boy? Men, or empty
beings, who will shoot women on "order" are only capable of being
obedient to their "chain of command".
Are they even aware of the "chains" they choose to wear by choosing the path of the sniper for their military career or term of service? Recall having had interaction with a Treasury Dept sniper who was billeted in South Dakota. Why in the hell does The US Treasury Dept have snipers on their payroll, and why would they station one in South Dakota? More evidence of Your Government In Action, always anticipating...
Plenty of discussion out there, movie portrayals, books including one by Marine Patron Saint Chesty Puller's Son, about the Mind Control indoctrinations of the USMC. Killing Machines? Every marine first and foremost a rifleman... The abuse heaped upon the 8541 Scout-Snipers by those running the program is really there to shake-out the men who might come to question orders and fail to obey them blindly.
Interesting to interact with those who achieved their Hunter Of Gunmen or Professional Gunman status AKA HOGS & PIGS. Not much tolerance, not much gunsmithing or handloading inquiry or pursuits, and did I mention not much tolerance?
Lots of interesting social and political developments, in The USA and around the world. One of the biggest venues ever for sniping was the Bosnian Ethnic Cleansing around Sarajevo. That glimpse into hell was only a bit cleaner than the Hutu-Tutsi bloodbath, but only because rifles instead of machetes were used in the former Yugo provinces. Still, it is a portent of what will likely manifest in a chaotic America. The politicos have continued to beat the drum for black/white conflict in America, and allowed the latino myth of Aztlan SW Homeland to promulgate. There's always a reason, just like the Fast & Furious and other ATF programs that violated their own codes and all concept of American Law. Yet, more and more in your face is the fact that Our Federal Govt is no longer Ours, and no longer playing by the rules/laws they write and claim to be right...
So, how many tens of thousands of Ron Horiuchis are there out there? The real story would be what kind of Conditioning allows a man, presumably of honor enough to become FBI, to shoot an unarmed woman in the head while she holds a baby in her arms looking out a screen door on her own porch????
Kinky Friedman reminds us in The Ballad Of Charles Whitman, "...there's a lot of Eagle Scouts out there..." Whitman had been a Marine and Eagle Scout...
Thus, The Counter-Sniper. We question the right to "push the button" from afar. We question the mind control methodology and techniques that form boys or young men into obedient and technically proficient killing machines. We berate the intolerance for question and extrapolation, and we identify those who Blindly Serve the authority as victims who will be used as expendables and for throw-away purposes. 30 seals from Team 6 thrown-away on a junker helicopter... No more conflicting testimonies about how the Bin Laden hit in 2010 was a staged frame-up.... Expendables, not just a bunch of old hollywood actors riding around on motorcycles showing their dumbass tattoos.
Are they even aware of the "chains" they choose to wear by choosing the path of the sniper for their military career or term of service? Recall having had interaction with a Treasury Dept sniper who was billeted in South Dakota. Why in the hell does The US Treasury Dept have snipers on their payroll, and why would they station one in South Dakota? More evidence of Your Government In Action, always anticipating...
Plenty of discussion out there, movie portrayals, books including one by Marine Patron Saint Chesty Puller's Son, about the Mind Control indoctrinations of the USMC. Killing Machines? Every marine first and foremost a rifleman... The abuse heaped upon the 8541 Scout-Snipers by those running the program is really there to shake-out the men who might come to question orders and fail to obey them blindly.
Interesting to interact with those who achieved their Hunter Of Gunmen or Professional Gunman status AKA HOGS & PIGS. Not much tolerance, not much gunsmithing or handloading inquiry or pursuits, and did I mention not much tolerance?
Lots of interesting social and political developments, in The USA and around the world. One of the biggest venues ever for sniping was the Bosnian Ethnic Cleansing around Sarajevo. That glimpse into hell was only a bit cleaner than the Hutu-Tutsi bloodbath, but only because rifles instead of machetes were used in the former Yugo provinces. Still, it is a portent of what will likely manifest in a chaotic America. The politicos have continued to beat the drum for black/white conflict in America, and allowed the latino myth of Aztlan SW Homeland to promulgate. There's always a reason, just like the Fast & Furious and other ATF programs that violated their own codes and all concept of American Law. Yet, more and more in your face is the fact that Our Federal Govt is no longer Ours, and no longer playing by the rules/laws they write and claim to be right...
So, how many tens of thousands of Ron Horiuchis are there out there? The real story would be what kind of Conditioning allows a man, presumably of honor enough to become FBI, to shoot an unarmed woman in the head while she holds a baby in her arms looking out a screen door on her own porch????
Kinky Friedman reminds us in The Ballad Of Charles Whitman, "...there's a lot of Eagle Scouts out there..." Whitman had been a Marine and Eagle Scout...
Thus, The Counter-Sniper. We question the right to "push the button" from afar. We question the mind control methodology and techniques that form boys or young men into obedient and technically proficient killing machines. We berate the intolerance for question and extrapolation, and we identify those who Blindly Serve the authority as victims who will be used as expendables and for throw-away purposes. 30 seals from Team 6 thrown-away on a junker helicopter... No more conflicting testimonies about how the Bin Laden hit in 2010 was a staged frame-up.... Expendables, not just a bunch of old hollywood actors riding around on motorcycles showing their dumbass tattoos.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Shooting Related Websites Are BIG Business!
Lots of business done on forum websites.
Gunsmiths that are touted there become successful, optics dealers do large business volumes, and gun professionals post to tout themselves as experts.
The IOR example though is extremely egregious. When I was denied warranty work on a brand new scope, and found there was no facility closer than Romania that could service the scope, I realized my decision to own 5 IOR scopes had been a grave error. I sold them all over that Summer for best price I could get and still lost a substantial amount of money.
It is a severe failure of judgment for website or dealer to allow firms that essentially are a ponzi scheme to be promoted as viable entities when compared to truly functional scope manufacturers.
IOR at one time had a few legitimate wholesalers. Brownells and D&R Sports were two I know of. Their other "dealers" were individuals like uyptScott Berish who got to be dealers by buying/selling a $2500 order or 8 or more scopes. I don't know of any legitimate wholesalers handling IOR anymore. When the importer is a 2 person operation using a cassette tape answering machine and presenting a shoestring approach to business, how can you do business? Really, If IOR-Bucuresti the scope manufacturer cared about its USA reputation and its USA customers they would have a service center and extend a professional presence in America.
The websites know of the IOR BS. Frank Galli of Snipershide commented to me by PM that he heard lots of IOR horror stories... Still, they let IOR use their name and the dealers post continually as Berish does about all the new wonderful scopes from IOR he sells.
Gunsmiths that are touted there become successful, optics dealers do large business volumes, and gun professionals post to tout themselves as experts.
The IOR example though is extremely egregious. When I was denied warranty work on a brand new scope, and found there was no facility closer than Romania that could service the scope, I realized my decision to own 5 IOR scopes had been a grave error. I sold them all over that Summer for best price I could get and still lost a substantial amount of money.
It is a severe failure of judgment for website or dealer to allow firms that essentially are a ponzi scheme to be promoted as viable entities when compared to truly functional scope manufacturers.
IOR at one time had a few legitimate wholesalers. Brownells and D&R Sports were two I know of. Their other "dealers" were individuals like uyptScott Berish who got to be dealers by buying/selling a $2500 order or 8 or more scopes. I don't know of any legitimate wholesalers handling IOR anymore. When the importer is a 2 person operation using a cassette tape answering machine and presenting a shoestring approach to business, how can you do business? Really, If IOR-Bucuresti the scope manufacturer cared about its USA reputation and its USA customers they would have a service center and extend a professional presence in America.
The websites know of the IOR BS. Frank Galli of Snipershide commented to me by PM that he heard lots of IOR horror stories... Still, they let IOR use their name and the dealers post continually as Berish does about all the new wonderful scopes from IOR he sells.
The Counter-Sniper, More Than Just Tactics & Shooting
There is NOTHING More Political than a Sniper.
On the web, there is an extremely popular sniping website snipershide.com. Owner of the site and associated forum maintains a strict "non-political" policy, but being a former marine corps sniper of the 8541 variety, he hasn't a lot of perception. The "politics" of sniping are beyond doubt. As a tool of warfare, sniping is extremely effective. Lord Nelson having been shotdown by a French Sniper, Carlos Hathcock having shot the North Vietnamese General after his legendary 3 day low-crawl stalk into position. General Hiram Berdan's Sharpshooters and Capt. Herbert McBride's WW-I treatise, A Rifleman Went To War all testify the game-changing potential of The Sniper. Assassinations carried out by same is also undeniably a political weapon and tool.
Let's put up a website and found a shooting school to teach Middle-America how to shoot custom-built rifles with precision at ranges of up to 1 mile, but let's not talk politics.... Yeah, sure... Rather like Ignatius Loyola who thought he was doing "God's Work" in the Spanish Inquisition...
In this blog, I will detail much of my experience in longrange shooting, precision handloading, and with the gear that can be crafted together to make a precision shooting rifle. There will also be discussion regarding identifying snipers by gear and how to discern likely emplacements or hides.
There will also be Criticism of the Shooting Sports Industry and associated websites which do nothing to police the companies that constantly rip-off buyers and fail to warranty defective merchandise of great expense.
The militarization of local police and county sherrif operations which now frequently have duty-slotted sniper(s) employed will also be discussed. The United States Govt deployed snipers at Waco,TX and at Ruby Ridge, Idaho where the FBI's Ron Horiuchi distinguished himself for history by shooting Mrs. Vicki Weaver in the head as she held an infant child in her arms... 93 persons died in the Waco TX debacle with no government restraint or punishment for responsibility. The FBI's Ron Horiuchi was also reportedly at Waco.
Sniping IS Always About Politics... However, thanks to Websites like SniperCountry.com, Snipersparadise.com, Snipershide.com, and others; Sniping has become a Big Hobby and Much Bigger Business. Nothing wrong with Americans learning to shoot well. It is this skill and pursuit of it that largely enabled our victory over The British Army and assured our Declaration Of Independence.
What is Objectionable and what I Object to is touting products that cost many thousands of dollars as "necessary" and "desireable" to those seeking to learn longrange shooting and the defense of businesses that defraud and cheat customers by active practice and omission of independent reports. Businesses that contribute gear for evaluation or pay money and/or supply equipment to be "sponsors" can seemingly be certain that their ineptitude and in some cases fraud will be overlooked or of no concern to either the Industry or the Website.
Of all vendor categories related to "Sniping", there is none of greater potential for rip-off than that of OPTICS. Rifle scopesights are particularly complex instruments. Contemporary sniper optics are especially complex as most are of variable magnification and complex reticle design. That many of these feature electrical systems for Illumination of Reticle means they have many potentials for failure and need of repair.
There are no objective standards for measurement of quality; the perception and vision of each individual being a matter of wide variety and capacity. The general perception, or climate of cult-like "knowledge" deliberately fostered at SnipersHide, the largest sniping forum, is that to do serious riflework at distance will require a Nightforce NXS or better scope. This effectively means SH promulgates "conventional wisdom" that to shoot well, shooter needs to spend $1500+ for a rifle scope; with the "really good" scopes from Schmidt & Bender, Premier Reticles, Leupold Mark 8, and Hensoldt costing upwards of $4000.
Schmidt & Bender became the Hide's darling with their Professional Marksman series of scopes which was entered and won the US Marines competition for Best Optic for their 8541 Scout Sniper corps. Prior to this, the website's darling was (and to some extent still remains) US Optics which is the company that the purchasers of John Unertl's firm morphed Unertl Optics into.
AO Bum Phillips, legendary coach of the now departed Houston Oilers, said of NFL coaches that there were 2 Kinds, "...Them that's been fired, and them that's gonna be fired". Bum's insight (from experience) also applies to scopesights. The more complex, the more likely they are to break and need repair.
Over the years, I have been banned several times from snipershide forum. The bans were for disclosing the ineptitude of vendors in comments to persons considering purchase of product. None of my postings were ever different in tone or exaggerated from what you will read here; just that the forum with 70,000 members who had been "conditioned" by the Old Salt Experts to revere the vendors they touted could not be informed of mistakes or frauds that might sway opinion and impact their business.
One optic firm which hide owner Frank Galli told me in personal message was "questionable" is IOR-Valdada. At the time, I had posted on the hide's Optics forum that IOR had given me "the third degree" when I sent a scope in for repair. The scope, a $900 10x sniper model, meant for tough-duty, had a broken screw in the turret dial assembly making adjustment for zero impossible. I called IOR and was told to send the scope in, that they would "try" to repair it.
I mailed the scope which I had bought used, and which had very slight tube crimps when acquired and IOR attempted to deny warranty service to me because the tube was crimped 3" back from the turret w/broken screw. When I pointed this out, the IOR employee acquiesced and said they'd try and fix it this once, but the crimped tube was evidence that the scope had been tightened too strongly in scope rings and voided the warranty. I got the scope back with a new screw. Originally, IOR's Scott, gave me the address in TX for a replacement metric screw and the size needed. I felt pretty lucky to get the scope repaired.
Within a couple weeks of the return of the 10x, I bought an IOR-Valdada 2-12x 36mm scope worth about $1400. When the scope was mounted, the amount of distortion at low and high-end magnification levels was akin to looking down a coke bottle or cheap fish-eye camera lens. Again I called and returned the new scope in box complete, expecting a replacement or repair. Didn't happen that way. IOR's owner replied in a letter that he had "looked through the scope and all seemed normal to him" so the scope came back having been in their receipt all of 2 days....
I related my experience on snipershide again and a hide vendor who promotes himself as "Scott of Liberty Optics" PM'ed me and called me at my home late on a Friday evening. The guy was seemingly mildly drunk, but friendly. As an IOR dealer, he told me my mistake was in not having bought from him, that he could make Val of IOR see reason, but that Owner Val was stubborn and being a 2 man company, could only replace scopes that were too badly out of adjustment or send them back to Romania where the manufacturer IOR-Bucuresti was located. Scott Berish did offer to buy the scope from me for half what it was worth; "to help me out", he said...
What I learned about IOR-Valdada of Colorado USA was that it was owned by 1 guy and he had 1 employee. Also learned they had no testing equipment, no technicians, no facility at all to do more than replace a broken screw in turret dial... Yet this firm and the Rumanian Wunder Products were being touted on Snipershide.com as "comparable to Zeiss" in terms of optic quality...
more soon
On the web, there is an extremely popular sniping website snipershide.com. Owner of the site and associated forum maintains a strict "non-political" policy, but being a former marine corps sniper of the 8541 variety, he hasn't a lot of perception. The "politics" of sniping are beyond doubt. As a tool of warfare, sniping is extremely effective. Lord Nelson having been shotdown by a French Sniper, Carlos Hathcock having shot the North Vietnamese General after his legendary 3 day low-crawl stalk into position. General Hiram Berdan's Sharpshooters and Capt. Herbert McBride's WW-I treatise, A Rifleman Went To War all testify the game-changing potential of The Sniper. Assassinations carried out by same is also undeniably a political weapon and tool.
Let's put up a website and found a shooting school to teach Middle-America how to shoot custom-built rifles with precision at ranges of up to 1 mile, but let's not talk politics.... Yeah, sure... Rather like Ignatius Loyola who thought he was doing "God's Work" in the Spanish Inquisition...
In this blog, I will detail much of my experience in longrange shooting, precision handloading, and with the gear that can be crafted together to make a precision shooting rifle. There will also be discussion regarding identifying snipers by gear and how to discern likely emplacements or hides.
There will also be Criticism of the Shooting Sports Industry and associated websites which do nothing to police the companies that constantly rip-off buyers and fail to warranty defective merchandise of great expense.
The militarization of local police and county sherrif operations which now frequently have duty-slotted sniper(s) employed will also be discussed. The United States Govt deployed snipers at Waco,TX and at Ruby Ridge, Idaho where the FBI's Ron Horiuchi distinguished himself for history by shooting Mrs. Vicki Weaver in the head as she held an infant child in her arms... 93 persons died in the Waco TX debacle with no government restraint or punishment for responsibility. The FBI's Ron Horiuchi was also reportedly at Waco.
Sniping IS Always About Politics... However, thanks to Websites like SniperCountry.com, Snipersparadise.com, Snipershide.com, and others; Sniping has become a Big Hobby and Much Bigger Business. Nothing wrong with Americans learning to shoot well. It is this skill and pursuit of it that largely enabled our victory over The British Army and assured our Declaration Of Independence.
What is Objectionable and what I Object to is touting products that cost many thousands of dollars as "necessary" and "desireable" to those seeking to learn longrange shooting and the defense of businesses that defraud and cheat customers by active practice and omission of independent reports. Businesses that contribute gear for evaluation or pay money and/or supply equipment to be "sponsors" can seemingly be certain that their ineptitude and in some cases fraud will be overlooked or of no concern to either the Industry or the Website.
Of all vendor categories related to "Sniping", there is none of greater potential for rip-off than that of OPTICS. Rifle scopesights are particularly complex instruments. Contemporary sniper optics are especially complex as most are of variable magnification and complex reticle design. That many of these feature electrical systems for Illumination of Reticle means they have many potentials for failure and need of repair.
There are no objective standards for measurement of quality; the perception and vision of each individual being a matter of wide variety and capacity. The general perception, or climate of cult-like "knowledge" deliberately fostered at SnipersHide, the largest sniping forum, is that to do serious riflework at distance will require a Nightforce NXS or better scope. This effectively means SH promulgates "conventional wisdom" that to shoot well, shooter needs to spend $1500+ for a rifle scope; with the "really good" scopes from Schmidt & Bender, Premier Reticles, Leupold Mark 8, and Hensoldt costing upwards of $4000.
Schmidt & Bender became the Hide's darling with their Professional Marksman series of scopes which was entered and won the US Marines competition for Best Optic for their 8541 Scout Sniper corps. Prior to this, the website's darling was (and to some extent still remains) US Optics which is the company that the purchasers of John Unertl's firm morphed Unertl Optics into.
AO Bum Phillips, legendary coach of the now departed Houston Oilers, said of NFL coaches that there were 2 Kinds, "...Them that's been fired, and them that's gonna be fired". Bum's insight (from experience) also applies to scopesights. The more complex, the more likely they are to break and need repair.
Over the years, I have been banned several times from snipershide forum. The bans were for disclosing the ineptitude of vendors in comments to persons considering purchase of product. None of my postings were ever different in tone or exaggerated from what you will read here; just that the forum with 70,000 members who had been "conditioned" by the Old Salt Experts to revere the vendors they touted could not be informed of mistakes or frauds that might sway opinion and impact their business.
One optic firm which hide owner Frank Galli told me in personal message was "questionable" is IOR-Valdada. At the time, I had posted on the hide's Optics forum that IOR had given me "the third degree" when I sent a scope in for repair. The scope, a $900 10x sniper model, meant for tough-duty, had a broken screw in the turret dial assembly making adjustment for zero impossible. I called IOR and was told to send the scope in, that they would "try" to repair it.
I mailed the scope which I had bought used, and which had very slight tube crimps when acquired and IOR attempted to deny warranty service to me because the tube was crimped 3" back from the turret w/broken screw. When I pointed this out, the IOR employee acquiesced and said they'd try and fix it this once, but the crimped tube was evidence that the scope had been tightened too strongly in scope rings and voided the warranty. I got the scope back with a new screw. Originally, IOR's Scott, gave me the address in TX for a replacement metric screw and the size needed. I felt pretty lucky to get the scope repaired.
Within a couple weeks of the return of the 10x, I bought an IOR-Valdada 2-12x 36mm scope worth about $1400. When the scope was mounted, the amount of distortion at low and high-end magnification levels was akin to looking down a coke bottle or cheap fish-eye camera lens. Again I called and returned the new scope in box complete, expecting a replacement or repair. Didn't happen that way. IOR's owner replied in a letter that he had "looked through the scope and all seemed normal to him" so the scope came back having been in their receipt all of 2 days....
I related my experience on snipershide again and a hide vendor who promotes himself as "Scott of Liberty Optics" PM'ed me and called me at my home late on a Friday evening. The guy was seemingly mildly drunk, but friendly. As an IOR dealer, he told me my mistake was in not having bought from him, that he could make Val of IOR see reason, but that Owner Val was stubborn and being a 2 man company, could only replace scopes that were too badly out of adjustment or send them back to Romania where the manufacturer IOR-Bucuresti was located. Scott Berish did offer to buy the scope from me for half what it was worth; "to help me out", he said...
What I learned about IOR-Valdada of Colorado USA was that it was owned by 1 guy and he had 1 employee. Also learned they had no testing equipment, no technicians, no facility at all to do more than replace a broken screw in turret dial... Yet this firm and the Rumanian Wunder Products were being touted on Snipershide.com as "comparable to Zeiss" in terms of optic quality...
more soon
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