A very old TV show about the very first extreme long range sniper kill in history

Big Bad

Big Bad

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Back in the early 1960s there was a TV series called, as I know know, "GE True" where General Electric sponsored episodes based on real-life stories taken from "True, The Man's Magazine" whose trademark was only posting non-fiction adventure stories. A couple of the stories stuck in my mind even though I was quite young when I saw them, one of them being this one for which I have finally found a trace on Youtube. The clip here is just that, showing the opening where a pre-Civil war US Army office is interested in developing the world's first true long range sniper rifles but noone in the officer corps sees the value. Most of the story is about how when the Civil War is on the sniper guy gets to set up one of his rifles to take a shot at a Confederate general who has formed the habit of shaving in front of a tree-mounted mirror with is back to the Union Army lines something like a mile away. The sniper officer sends to West Point for his old equipment, mounts his best gun to a table and takes a shot, then waits quite a while before the general collapses dead with his razor in his hand.

Also a Civil War buff, I've looked long and hard for a real life account of this incident as well as the TV version but only found this today, even after asking real-life snipers if they know about either. It seems to have been completely forgotten or is in some equally forgotten book about that war. As I say I was quite young and my memory may be jumbled a bit, but I'm quite convinced it happened and am going to keep looking. The trouble with this blasted clip is that it doesn't give any names, gets cut off right before that was gong to happen.

 
Big Bad said:
Back in the early 1960s there was a TV series called, as I know know, "GE True" where General Electric sponsored episodes based on real-life stories taken from "True, The Man's Magazine" whose trademark was only posting non-fiction adventure stories. A couple of the stories stuck in my mind even though I was quite young when I saw them, one of them being this one for which I have finally found a trace on Youtube. The clip here is just that, showing the opening where a pre-Civil war US Army office is interested in developing the world's first true long range sniper rifles but noone in the officer corps sees the value. Most of the story is about how when the Civil War is on the sniper guy gets to set up one of his rifles to take a shot at a Confederate general who has formed the habit of shaving in front of a tree-mounted mirror with is back to the Union Army lines something like a mile away. The sniper officer sends to West Point for his old equipment, mounts his best gun to a table and takes a shot, then waits quite a while before the general collapses dead with his razor in his hand.

Also a Civil War buff, I've looked long and hard for a real life account of this incident as well as the TV version but only found this today, even after asking real-life snipers if they know about either. It seems to have been completely forgotten or is in some equally forgotten book about that war. As I say I was quite young and my memory may be jumbled a bit, but I'm quite convinced it happened and am going to keep looking. The trouble with this blasted clip is that it doesn't give any names, gets cut off right before that was gong to happen.

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I believe that the "sniper" on this B&W video is none other then the Professor from Gilligan's Island - Russel Johnson
 
There are a ton of documentaries on Carlos Hathcock. I would suggest you find them. To me he is still the Michael Jordan of sniping. I realize guys now a days are breaking his records in long shots etc. But these guys are doing it with 50cal BMG, in state of the art barrels and chassis. Ammunition has improved incredibly. Ballistic calculators etc. Carlos Hathcock had a kill I don't want to make it up but I feel like it was around 2600m. With a 30-06, wood stock and Christ only knows what Vietnam war ammo was lol. That's impressive.
 
Chago said:
There are a ton of documentaries on Carlos Hathcock. I would suggest you find them. To me he is still the Michael Jordan of sniping. I realize guys now a days are breaking his records in long shots etc. But these guys are doing it with 50cal BMG, in state of the art barrels and chassis. Ammunition has improved incredibly. Ballistic calculators etc. Carlos Hathcock had a kill I don't want to make it up but I feel like it was around 2600m. With a 30-06, wood stock and Christ only knows what Vietnam war ammo was lol. That's impressive.
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What impressed me about Carlos Hathcock is not the actual shots he made (although they were impressive), but the conditions he made them under. Lying still with enemy troops in close proximity, for hours and in one case I think for more than 24 hours (if my less than optimal memory severs me correctly). And then crawling back to safety for hours and hours. Unbelievable. In any event, his mental 'zone', as I think he called it, made him someone you did not want hunting for you.
 
guy329 said:
What impressed me about Carlos Hathcock is not the actual shots he made (although they were impressive), but the conditions he made them under. Lying still with enemy troops in close proximity, for hours and in one case I think for more than 24 hours (if my less than optimal memory severs me correctly). And then crawling back to safety for hours and hours. Unbelievable. In any event, his mental 'zone', as I think he called it, made him someone you did not want hunting for you.
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Yup. I love reading up on him. The guy was literally the grim reaper. No sniper to date did what he did. When comparing apples to apples.
 
I've read Hathcocks autobiography "93 Confirmed Kills" a few times.
It was a called 2500 yard shot. He used an M2 in 50 BMG with either a 6x or 8x Unertl scope mounted to it.
Truly an amazing man.
 
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