Sniper who broke world-record kill reveals how long it took for bullet to hit target
A sniper who once broke the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot explained how he went about it, including the detail of how long the bullet took to find the target.
Craig Harrison was serving with the British Army out in Afghanistan at the time of the shot, which saw him kill a Taliban insurgent at a distance of more than one-and-a-half miles (2,475m) away from him.
Speaking to James English on his Anything Goes podcast, Craig once revealed the truth behind his then-world record shot in 2009.
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Interestingly enough, he’s not over-the-top about it, and has even described it as a fluke.
When you realise how he planned to do it, you might start to agree with him.
He explained: "Not many people know that I was stood up when I took the shot, I wasn't lying down.
“I was stood up against a wall."
Expanding on his story, the ex-soldier said: "I could see all the Taliban in this village.
“I could see them queuing up, waiting to attack this patrol coming in, and I informed them that 'you're going to get hit in a minute'."
He went on to talk about how he began to shoot the Taliban, adding: "What I did was bracket, where you fire the first shot and you know where it's landed and you just lift the rifle up and you fire again, and fire again.
“It took me nine shots and I hit the compound wall."
Then, after the team had managed to pass by safely, his record breaking shot happened.
Craig explained: "I checked, and there were two Taliban up there, and I knew that I had shot there in the morning.
"This lasted for about three hours, so I thought, 'I need to do this, because my men are going to get killed'.
"So I fired my first shot, and it missed, I saw it slash just in front.
“I saw one guy stand up, and as he stood up, I fired again, and the bullet took six seconds to fly there."
Six seconds is an awful long time, and really gives you an idea of how far away this was, given how fast a bullet travels.
Pointing at his chest, Craig said: "The guy went down, and I hit him here.
"And then the second guy was still firing.
“He stood up, I fired my third shot, and as I fired my third shot, I moved my rifle across and fired another shot.
“So this time I've got two bullets in the air at the same time.
"The third one missed and the fourth one hit him, and it hit him in the side."
Despite his shot making world headlines, he isn’t cocky about it.
"I say to this day now that it was a fluke,” Craig added.
"I tried to save 12 guys and get them out of the s***.
“I didn't even know the distance that I was firing."
Topics: UK News, Army, World News
Tom Wood