How Military Snipers Evolved

Snipers weren't always the top soldiers they had to earn their respect in the military. Find out how in this episode of Task & Purpose! Today we follow the evolution of military snipers throughout history. They went from simply being viewed as expert marksman to adding more and more skills to their teams.

The US Army didn't even open a sniper school until the 1980s. Today they're also famous for their reconnaissance work as well. In this video we're going to track the progression of snipers from crossbows to the future infantry computer assisted rifles.

#SNIPER #MARKSMAN #MILITARY

[Taskandpurpose]

What do you guys think of this "evolution series"? What other military topics do you want to see the evolution of?

[heliosdelsol]

Fun and ironic fact, one of the longest distance sniper shots ever, which held the record for a time, was actually done by a M2 Browning .50 machine gun with a scope on it. 😳

[misery]

For some reason there was one of those starlight scopes on my dads ship when my dad was in vietnam in the navy. When it "Disappeared" from the armory, it caused a full scale investigation involving CIA landing on ship to investigate. Things were apparently incredibly expensive and rare to the point where they thought a defector might be trying to smuggle it to the enemy to reverse engineer.

[hansdavis]

Soldier: I see an enemy we can't advan-.... Oh he's dead...wait, where did that come from?

Talking bush: Sup bro.

[Stoney_AKA_James]

Here is one sniper you should have mentioned:
Simo Hayha, was a WWII Finish sniper who had 500 confirmed kills - all within a 100 day period AND using an iron sighted Mosin-Nagant rifle!!
I was a platoon sniper with the Rangers back in the 1970s, and was issued a M21 (selected semi-auto M14/M1A rifle) with Leatherwood A.R.T. II scope, which was a very effective combination, we also used the Starlight scope, but affective ranges were very limited to this early version of "night vision" optics.

[michaelfrench]

I'm not sure why you put out so many videos in the last few days. All I know is that I super appreciate it! Entertaining and informative that's task and purpose 👍👍

[Banditomojado]

When learning about one of my ggg grandpa’s that served in the civil war, I found out that it wasn’t uncommon for regiments to have two companies (one dedicated to sharp shooting and the other providing protection for them thrown out front as skirmishers). They basically took the best shooters and put them in front of the regiment to harass the enemies and feel out their positions. He was in one of the two companies in the 36th IL infantry that took out two confederate generals in about an hour timeframe during the Battle of Pea Ridge. My ggg grandpa ended up getting shot in the heel during the battle. One of the sharpshooters in his regiment got a lot of recognition for killing one of the generals. They aren’t sure who killed the second one.

He went on to serve at Stones River, Chickamauga (wounded again), Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. Dude was tough. Died not long after the war in his early forties.

[robshirewood]

You forgot to mention that in ww1 the Lovat Scouts, who were all expert shots, hunters, stalkers, Ghillies on Scottish Highland estates, some of the top marksmen in the UK were recruited to form a sniper training Regiment, that taught their skills to British soldiers chosen to be snipers. They also had designed the concept of the Ghillie suit of camouflage used by snipers ever since. It continued in ww2. Also in ww2 the Auxiliary units of the British Home Guard, actually specially trained platoons and teams of men with local knowledge such as hunters, gamekeepers, parkers, foresters, etc a force of underground commandos intended as a last stand guerrilla force should the Germans have invaded the UK, also used ghillie suits taking those skills with them later in the war to 1st and 2nd SAS Regiments in France after D-Day. Men such as Peter Fleming (brother of Ian ), Michael Calvert, Anthony Quayle, and others all famous in SAS and SOE roles. The Ghillie suit is a very personal thing in the way it is designed. My great grandfather was a sniper with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in ww1,

[doge]

8:32 basically how every sniper dies to another in cod warzone

[redsauce]

“What do you feel when taking a life?”
“Recoil.”
- Jun, Halo Reach. Confirmed

[RobinP]

During my time in the Army I went though the 82nd Airborne Sniper School and SOTIC after I was in Special Forces, I went through an M21, M24 and an unofficial McMillan .50 BMG. But what’s out there now is light years beyond the stuff that we had just a few years back. It’s absolutely amazing what these guys can do now. Thanks for the video

[EllinasEthnikistisXA]

"French officer" hesketh prichard was actually British and he was the first to send out snipers with a watcher and also the implementation of fieldcraft. His book sniping in the south of france is considered the snipers bible. He even had a sniper school in france during WW1. This great officer deserves a video of his own.

[livingood]

You've got great content man. I've always enjoyed your uploads. Particularly your well informed yet humble attitude towards presenting information. That bit about the future of sniping is spot on! Rounding it out with the history and lineage makes for a complete story

You're one of the good ones.

[trixrabbit]

One of my medics got assigned to a mission with both US Army and British snipers. It was a night raid on a building. He said he was left back at the vehicles while the spec opps guys went for the building. The way he told the story was that he was able to fallow the progress of the Americans through his NVGs. He lost track of the British snipers as soon as they got out of the snatch. Over however many hundreds of yards of open ground he never saw them until they made the side of the building and climbed into a window.

[ihavetowaitdaystochangem]

I remember my days being a sniper on a battlefield in Afghanistan, the place is called “Rust” and I usually carry an Intervention with me

[mathewogram]

I think you forgot to mention the White Death. makes Vasili look like a cub scout. In fact it was the Finns who taught the Soviets the importance of sniping and counter-sniping

[sturmexe]

7:30 if you mean "Zeitgeist" then its a
combination of "time (Zeit)" and "spirit/mind (Geist)" so it basically means "the spirit of the time" or just the way things were at that period of time

[xeonthecow]

I really love how the channel’s quality has jumped recently, and it really shows in how many great videos y’all have put out in such a short time. I have no military background besides my recently passed grandfather and it’s always been something I both revere and fear, so the information the team presents is really appreciated.

[serious_shooter]

Ahh this is the content we have been waiting for. The OG Russian snipers name is Vasily Zaitsev. A contemporary colleague of his was the less known but also very important female Ljudmila Pavlichenko (309 kills). She volunteered and fought for the right to become a sniper. They both fought at Stalingrad. (obligatory mention of Finnish legend Simo Hayha here). Sorry but also have to point out that the Coriolis effect is technically not caused by the curvature of the earth but rather the rotation. The two main dynamic principles are absolute differences in rotational speed between differing latitudes and angular momentum of the projectile. Will stop now, thanks for a good video.

[mattm]

Chris, this is good information. It's nice to understand where sniping got its start and how the job evolved. I've also been enjoying a lot of your other videos, especially your recent focus on the war in Ukraine. Keep up the great work!