The American Spectator

p> RANGE WARS br> Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s introduction to Drug Fix : /p>

I don’t care what Chuck Fowler said. I wouldn’t dispute that a .30 Weatherby can shoot, and kill effectively at 1200 yards. It’s just that a mediocre (or person of modest ability) shooter couldn’t hit the proverbial broad side of a barn at 1200 yards no matter what kind of scope or rifle he/she was using (except perhaps if the rifle were bench rested on a no wind day). If they could, they wouldn’t be mediocre!

Military snipers usually don’t feel comfortable past 800 yards and only the best can get a 2 inch group at a 1000 yards. Twelve hundred yards is a challenge for the top marksmen in the world (with a .30 caliber). We’re talking about hitting a target that is almost 3/4 of a mile away! A small amount of variable cross wind at that range is going to totally prevent a person of “modest ability” from hitting a human-sized target.

p>I recommend you retract your implied definition of “mediocre/modest ability.” I think those are the words that have so many shooters’ pantyhose in a bunch. br> — LCDR Paul H. Doolittle , USNR /p> p> LOCKED OUT McCLINTOCK