Insane sniper footage shows how far shooter can actually see enemy in scope

Footage showing the view through a scope have revealed the insane distances from which snipers can see and hit their targets.

The longest recorded sniper kill in history was made over a distance of 3,450 metres, nearly three and a half kilometres or just over two miles.

To make a shot like that you first have to spot the target and over those sorts of distances it's pretty much impossible to do with the human eye alone.

YouTube / FUNKER530

That's why snipers use scopes and have help from spotters to identify targets and work out whether or not they can take the shot.

Footage taken from Afghanistan has shown just how dramatic a difference scopes can make when it comes to spotting people at great distances.

In the footage of a seemingly unoccupied landscape the camera gets to see what's through the scope and is able to pick up on a man sitting down and appearing to be utterly unaware that a gun might be pointed at him.

YouTube / FUNKER530

In the video the sniper and spotter say 'don't shoot' and just take a look at the guy as he's sat down idly swinging his legs.

Snipers can spend days at a time behind the scope waiting for the right moment to shoot, and at incredibly long distances they have to take all sorts of factors into account to make their shot.

Marksmen are of course still used in modern warfare, with a Ukrainian sniper last year notching the third longest sniper kill in history by hitting an enemy combatant who was 2,710 metres (1.68 miles) away.