Why were WW1/WW2 rifles sighted out to 2000 meters? #shorts

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[jackstewart]

Love how the Belgians as always are the most sensible "there is no way we can shoot someone at 2000 meters that whould be ridiculous, 1900 no more"

[mammalian_tree_snek]

You forgot one crucial detail: Superior Nipponese craftsmanship allows for any user of Yamato blood to instantly hit any barbarian within 2, 000 Meters, without fail!

[StrictlyService]

World: confused
Soviet Russia: every man is mortar artillery.

[whensomethingcriesagain]

It's worth noting that volley fire did still prove extremely effective on the battlefield under certain conditions. During the Siege of Port Arthur for example, Japanese infantry was able to hit Russia's cossack cavalry from a full kilometer away through the use of volley fire.

[tehfuqizginon]

You've got it all wrong guy, it's the setting to increase the power level that the gun shoots, duh

[williamgalvan]

To say, no one thought they were going to hit something from 2km away, is nonsense. I would've thought that. All my boys from my unit would be placing bets

[philconti]

Also generals at the time were very optimistic about the new cartridges that could shoot much much further than black powder rifles, when they realize their bullets could still fly accurately at 1500 yards they decided that they could hit enemies at that range, even if it would be impossible to see a human being at that distance

[jmattones]

I have a Mark IV Enfield that can hit a 10" grouping at 400m off of these iron sights. Granted, it wasn't me making those shots, but that's how accurate the rifle is.

[andreim]

Actually you got it wrong, the measurements are in arshins not in meters but still pretty optimistic since an arshin is 71.12 cm or 2 1/3 ft

[mutt]

I was under the impression that military commanders of the time figured that with smokeless powder allowing rounds to shoot out to insane ranges, the future of combat was going to be taking place further and further away.

Note: this is before we found out about the 500 meters maximum average engagement thing.

[lorenzmaut]

It's not so much to aim at someone but at their defensive position, so that way you could shoot an attack the moment they moved if they crossed the trench slowing their advance or destroying their will to fight.

[everstimpson]

Reallu wish firearms were like this nowadays, so detailed and fine

[rmblwgn]

When I hear about volly fire it makes me think of a bunch of medieval archers shooting a thousand arrows way past their effective range all at once in an extreme arch hoping to demoralize an advancing Force

[GeneraIKurt]

"If we all fire at once, we'll maybe hit something."
Reminds me of the legendary Musket demonstration at Fort Niagara.

[sultanarif]

I once talked to a very old veteran who had used and was also owner of one such weapon. I asked him that no one can shoot that far then why brag about the 2000 Ms. He looked at me with very confident smile and said, " True, no one can but the holder of weapon is mentally pre absorbed with confidence that he can take any one anywhere, irrespective of the distance". Cheers....

[keeghanbrewer]

I think they also be marked in Arshin's the unit of measurement in Russia before they adopted meters and yards after the tsar. Many forget the Mosin started production before we even had any universal measurement units.

[liamgriffin]

Reminds of playing steadfast: nations at war. No one could get a round on target until someone got a kill, our Sergeant asked him where he was aiming (looking for a rough elevation) and the guy responded "At the enemy, Sergeant"

[HistoricalWeapons]

Back in the day with bows you arc shots to achieve max distance around 300-500meters

[fattail]

Commander 1: "Lets all fire at once, but god forbid you move one toe, soldiers."

Commander 2: "Looks like they aren't moving soldiers, everyone fire!"
Soldier: "Sir but we aren't moving ei..."

[johnjriggsarchery]

Hey, if you have 500 rifles lobbing rounds at something far, far off with some rough idea how high to shoot, they'll have some effect on a large group of something.