Longest range recorded kill

What was the longest range kill in WW2? Name, Country, Weapon, range.

Although whatever the 'official' record was, chances are there could be a longer range one just not confirmed due to the nature of WW2

 

Don´t actually know his name, but as far as i know it was a German sniper who killed an russian genaral at an distance of around 1000meters and after that the following officers what caused the end of the russian assault at this part of the frontline.

 

I wonder how much he had to shoot high and if he had to make allowances for wind, etc?

KTK

 

http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-technology-wwii/31195-largest-range-confirmed-tank-kill.html

 

Ken, i´ve read it in one of my books but it will take time til i´ve found it because i have 74 books to view! As far as i can remember it was during an russian winter.

 

In the city of Bolzano is the cap of an italian General(?) who was killed in WWI at an distance of 1200m by an shot in his head. Amazing what they could do!

 

For WW2 perhaps this(?):

Matthäus Hetzenauer (December 23, 1924 in Tyrol, Austria - October 3, 2004) was a German sniper in the 3rd Mountain Division on the Eastern Front of the World War II, who was credited with 345 kills. His longest confirmed kill was reported at 1100 metres.

Hetzenauer trained as a sniper from March 27 through July 16, 1944, before being assigned to the 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division, issued both a K98 rifle with 6x scope and a Gewehr 43 rifle with 4x scope.

Matthäus Hetzenauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simo Häyhä, who was a sniper and did not use a scope, his longest shot that killed was 450 meters.

 

Are they certain the shot didn't come from a Beretta pistol?
"Hey, look! The General's dead! Who fired that shot? Was it you?"
"Nope, not me. It must've been a sniper over a kilometer away."
"Yes, I never saw you fire the round. Record it as sniper fire."

 

found this article,this Russian sniper say's her farthest kill was a kilometer,and that a target could be hit up to 2 kilometers - had to be some crazy aiming going on to make a shot at 2 kilometers!

Klavdia Kalugina - Page 4 - I REMEMBER

 

Any experiences with the italian army? LOL

 

Two kilometers with a 3.5x WW2 sniper scope without AR coating or Nitrogen purging? Not gonna happen... her memory is either failing or she is telling fairy tale stories.

Longest confirmed kill made during WW2 by a sniper was 1100 meters by Mätthaus Hertzenauer in 1944. Pot shots were often taken at enemies out past this range, but only to scare the enemy, expecting a hit at such ranges was naive.

 

At 2000 yards a .30 caliber round doesn't have enough residual energy to ensure a kill..... You need something alot bigger in the .40 to .50 range for that.

 

I forget where I read this, but during the 1916-17 US Punitive Expedition to Mexico a US cavalryman supposedly reached out and touched one of Pancho Villa's men with an 1903 A3 Springfield rifle from a distance of 800 yds with a leaf sight, dismounted (standing) in the presence of several officers. I know that pales in comparison to modern day warriors trained and equipped with the latest technology in long range ground warfare, but you must admit, that's some feat if it did happen as described.

 

It wouldn't have to kill them all it would have to do is injure them or let them know someone is 'out there'. It takes three guys to care for one wounded man. The threat of a sniper is often more effective than actual sniper fire.

 

For the 2000m range our .300winmag is a bit to weak, for that we use the .338 Lapua Mag. or like T.A. said the .50 round. From my long range experiences i can say that the .30 rounds like the .308 Win or the older .303British has their limits at around 1200 meters. Depending on the barrel, the shape and weight of the bullet and the powder charge. With my N04 MKI* T an good shot is possible at 900yards. Last year i worked out an ballistic program with the help of an Swiss engineer and all the .30 loads are falling into an subsonic speed at an distance of 1080m up to 1230m, except some magnum rounds.

 

In my honest opinion I dont believe a scope needs a coating to make it "accurate/more clear" (Original PU scopes did have nitrogen purging - Soviets used it ever since 1936 with the PE model) I have both original PU scopes and a modern copy that has coated lenses and I dont see much of a difference,Both shoot the same and clarity on both is equal.
(Not my photo) but original Russian sniper scope at 700 yards - very sharp/clear scopes

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/5955/pemmi3mu6.jpg

Actually the longest confirmed sniper kill during WWII was not by Mätthaus Hertzenauer,it was by David Cass a Marine sniper in Okinawa at 1200 meters,
The 2 men right here also killed 2 japanese soldiers at 1200 meters
http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/308117-2/PICT5120a

 

You seriously underestimate the importance of AR coating Vintovka, it's what sets a good scope apart from a great one.

Furthermore I have never seen a single WW2 soviet scope purged with nitrogen vintovka, all my sources say they didn't even know about its advantages until after the war. Can you document that they used nitrogen purging? Also having seen the difference between a lot of Allied & Axis scopes I can tell you that seeing someone at 2km with an uncoated Soviet 3.5x scope is beyond believable.

The clarity of Soviet PU & PEM scopes is generally very poor, not even approaching that of the purged and coated German scopes.

As for your first photo, that looks like a German scope, the Russians did afterall use a lot of German scopes on their rifles. If a Soviet scope I doubt it is a WW2 one.

Btw, 1200 yards is below 1100 meters... so Hetzenauer did score the furthest confirmed kill during the war.

 

Hello,the USSR did use nitrogen purging indeed,with the focus adjustable PE scope there were problems with it - nitrogen leaking and ruining the scope,thus that scope was abandoned when they fixed the nitrogen problem with the PEM and PU. That is an original WWII Russian PEM sniper rifle/scope

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5115/pemmi1dn4.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6479/pemmi2vd3.jpg

I strongly believe that the PU/PEM scopes have excellent clarity - I own 13 examples and all are up to par with any modern scope IMO,optical quality on these original PU/PEM scopes is excellent, These were designed and manufactured to have zero distortion from edged-to-edge of field of view. This quality is necessary for this type of reticle which upon elevation or windage adjustment moves in the scope field of view.

Germans even liked to use these Russian scopes on their mausers

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/3568/sniperi.jpg

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7039/sniper1k.jpg

I dont disagree about the 2k shots,no way someone could hit a target at that distance with a 3.5X scope so I dont know what she means about that - unless there was say 200 enemy soldiers bunched up and they were doing some odd kentucky windage - unlikely situation though id say,those PU scopes max range at the most for a 1 shot kill is 1,000 yards... Those PU rifles are sharpshooters rifles rather than a 1,000 yards sniping rifle,Red Army used them to take out important targets in the battle faster than the standard infantryman could. A good photo here show's it being used in the attack as its purpose right alongside infantry
http://forums.gunboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=357438&d=1285649179

Here is a photo I took of an original PU scope pointed on my friend 600 yards out (he's circled on the left) - at that distance its about the most effective longest range IMO though longer shots were taken during the war
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7091/600yards.jpg

I read an interview with Hetzenauer and he said the furthest target he shot at was "About 1,000 meters. Standing soldier. Positive hitting not possible" I cant find anything about 1100 meters,maybe there's another source?
Take care

 

If I'm not mistaken the post mentions that the kill was made at 1200 meters in any case. Now that also may be a typo but that's not what was challenged.