Marines expert shooter rating

[hood]

Hey guys, what constitutes the expert shooter rating in the Marines? I'm not able to find it on the web. I heard that a Marine friend of mine (that I haven't talked to in a long time) attained the expert rating and hit a target at 1000 meters. Is this type of thing possible and what size target would that be? Is there a specific web page that lists exactly what's necessary? Thanks.

[Chuck6d]

It's been awhile since I qualified on the USMC KD course but here it goes.
200 yds slow fire 5rounds sitting, 5 kneeling 5 offhand(standing) 15 min
200 yds rapid fire 10 rds sitting with mag change 5 and 5 in each mag 1 min
300 yds slow fire 5 rds sitting
300 yds rapid fire ****e position with mag change. 1 min
500 yds slow fire 10 rds 10 min

marksman I think been 12 yrs now 190-215
sharpshooter 215-225
expert 225-250

Bullseye is 5 pts
4 ring 4 pts
3 ring 3 pts
Forget if it goes down to 2 pts

If there on any other leathernecks on here square me away.

Hope that helps you. Don't know anyone shooting out at 1000 only snipers and competition shooters.

[Austin Pancamo]

Chuck6D pretty much hit the nail on the head. The string of fire remains the same, however the scoring system is different. It's based on a 65 total point system. I forget what the minimum is to qualify, but for Sharpshooter it's between 35 and 39. Expert is a score of 40 or higher. I do believe that the KD qualification course should be rendered obsolete because it does not emphysise combat shooting. The qualification should consist of multiple and moving targets, low light engagements, stoppages etc. etc. It's easy to shoot a paper target while keeping a good tight hasty sling, however, in combat most Marines will not use a hasty sling or really have the luxury of using the 7 fundamentals of marksmanship. Most of the time in combat you won't have time to change windage and elevation on your m16 while in the middle of a firefight.

[hood]

Thanks guys, you confirmed what I thought, that 1000 yards was most likely not accurate, particularly because (as far as I know) they don't use scopes for those rifle tests.

[Chops]

On the topic of unlikely long range shots, I assume everyone has heard the tale of the 2300 m + sniper kill in AFG? Canadian sniper, from memory, he fired a pair of ranging shots and then tagged the AQT on the third. McMillan Tac50 I seem to remember but can't for the life of me remember the optics. Anyone got any better poop on this?

Rgds

Chops

[hood]

This is an excerpt from an article I found online, and is probably what you're referring to.


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One member of the team, a corporal from Newfoundland, said on his first night in combat he and his partner got an al-Qaeda machine gun in their sights as it was hailing bullets down on U.S. troops below. Crawling up into a good position, they set up their .50-calibre rifle -- the MacMillan Tac-50, a weapon the corporal compares to having superhuman power in your hands. "Firing it feels like someone slashing you on the back of your hockey helmet with a hockey stick."

When he hit his first target, an enemy gunman at a distance of 1,700 metres, he said all that ran through his mind was locating his next target.

"All I thought of was Sept. 11th and all those people who didn't have a chance and the American reporter who was taken hostage, murdered and his wife getting the videotape of the execution; that is my justification." A master corporal from Ontario, the lead sniper of his three-man team, said when they first landed in the combat zone "our spider senses were tingling.... It was night and we didn't know what to expect."

By daylight, after coming under enemy machine-gun fire, he managed to ease his rifle barrel between two rocks and quickly located an enemy sniper hiding behind a small piece of corrugated steel between two trees. He guessed the distance at 1,700 metres and fired one shot through the metal, killing the man instantly.

He said afterward he remembered thinking: "That's one less bullet that's gonna be coming at us, one less person we have to think about." During the next four days of fighting, the Newfoundland corporal set what is believed to be a record for a long-distance shot under combat conditions, hitting an enemy gunman at a distance of 2,430 metres.
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