Out of no-where - history of sniping

I read some of it last night as an iBook on my phone. What struck me was just how far marksman where shooting with deadly certainty even at the time of American War of independence. The american frontiersmen were making regular first shot kills at over 300 yards with the muzzle loading Kentucky Rifles. Indeed there is an account of German and Swiss shooting matches and I quote:

"The shooters used smoothbore matchlock muskets, eachman being required to fire 24 shots at three hanging targets, and it wasspecifically stated that longarms with rifled barrels were not permitted,as they were considered to hold an unfair advantage. Ranges varied from200 to 300 paces (about 175-200 yards, 157-180 metres) and targetsizes were between 28 and 40 inches (70-100 cm). Some idea of thestandard of shooting that was achieved can be gauged from the fact thatin 1584 it was recorded that, out of 133 shooters, each firing 24 shots,some 40 scored between 20 and 24 hits. With smoothbore muskets thiswas indeed an impressive feat."

In WW1 and WW2 the only real imrovements where telescopic sights, although the Germans had had these since the mid to late 1900s - sniper were regularly shooting to well over 600yds with 2 or 3x scopes with narrow fields of view.

They must have all had much better eyesight than SD members as we all seem to need a minimum of a 4-12x56 Scope to shoot deer (about the same size as an infrantryman) at well under 200 yds.
:)
 
Heym SR20
It looks like an interesting book for sure but wouldnt this be copyright protected? I wouldnt post this on an open forum best to cover yourself. Just my first thought.
 
...I think you can download .pdf's to your own Kindle (Mr Google & Mr Amazon says so - info here https://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/email ) - so just email yourself the Vulcantoth.free .pdf for free?

Update...

Having downloaded the .pdf to my Kindle the font is small and the page layout ain't quite right. Might need to RTFM...
 
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Damn - and thanks Eyefor. I wish I was more internet intelligent. However three quid for kindle isn't bad - even to a Scots git.
 
Heym SR20,
I am sure you are right it has been uploaded by someone on the web. However you yourself have uploaded what I am sure is copyrighted material and you could in my opinion be held accountable. Films and stuff are illegally uploaded routinely by some offshore source, you however will most likely be easily traceable. Dont mean to cause a scene but I would advise you to make sure you avoid any liability. Perhaps someone else on here could add qualified opinion.

Well it's already loaded up on the web
 
Heym SR20
...as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.
 
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