The Loop Hole Shot, by American Yeoman

Snipers are one of the ways in which a numerically and equipment overmatched group can punch above their weight on the battlefield. By targeting key personnel or damaging special equipment the sniper can induce disorder in an enemy and their presence can instill great fear in opposition troops and limit their effectiveness. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland for example, British troops were disciplined for faking their activity logs, unwilling to venture out of quarters for fear of sniper attacks. (See Harnby, Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh, Pg. 401). This despite the fact that the IRA sniper attacks were not all that successful in reality. The IRA sniping campaign though was accompanied by a very effective propaganda effort which magnified it’s effect.

For some reason there is a great deal of near mysticism associated with accurate long-range shooting in field conditions. Whether this phenomena is due to popular Hollywood portrayals or national propaganda efforts during wartime (Soviets) or some other factor altogether is hard to say. However, most of the secrets of being a competent long-range shooter are well known and can be learned by serious students of the discipline. Most of the skills that make someone a really good sniper are simply the result of study and practice with a dash of individual aptitude and in some cases previous life experience.

Remaining unseen while conducting sniper operations- whether firing on the enemy directly or acting as a forward observation element is critical. If a sniper can be seen he will be targeted, often with heavy weapons. Due to the mythos of the sniper and the fear they invoke on the battlefield among their targets, great resources will be brought to bear against them. Artillery, close air support and anti tank munitions have historically all been used against snipers. Of course, where snipers are at work, the enemy will likely deploy their own counter snipers- Zaitsev and Konig (maybe), Hathcock and the Cobra Sniper being some examples.

We can see from recent major military actions in several conflicts that combat is increasingly urban- that’s where the people and infrastructure- financial and otherwise is, duh. Even the U.S. Navy  figured this out and responded with their Little Crappy Ship program. While the principles of marksmanship and camouflage don’t really change, the urban sniping environment comes with special field craft considerations.

One of the ways in which a sniper team remains unseen in urban terrain is of course the use of large structures as hide sites. Whether that position is the Barrikady Gun Factory in Stalingrad or the Burj al Murr hotel in Lebanon, large, concrete, reinforced structures are the preferred hide in urban areas.  Such structures offer many benefits- stout construction shields the sniper from counter fire, the multitude of openings present endless firing points impossible for the enemy to entirely observe, they offer many avenues of ingress and egress, the snipers movements within the structure are concealed from observation, they shield the shooters from the worst of the elements, shadows and irregular shapes, shine and colors allow for ease of concealment.

In the movie, Shooter, the corrupt police officer credits his interrupting the assassination plot to seeing “a rifle muzzle sticking out of the window”. Even the green FBI agent sees through this obvious lie–“No sniper sticks his rifle out of a window. They shoot from cover, back in the room.” To make maximum use of this type of urban cover a special shooting technique has been developed that allows the sniper to fire through tiny openings allowing complete concealment while remaining able to make accurate shots to long distances. For “reasons” this technique is not often discussed and information about it remains somewhat hard to find, in reality however, it’s simple ballistics.  Most shooters with more than a very basic understanding of ballistics know that a bullets path takes it through the shooters line of sight twice during it’s flight. NO, bullets do NOT RISE WHEN THEY LEAVE THE MUZZLE! However, in order for bullets to hit point of aim at longer distances, due to the effects of gravity, they must rise above the shooters line of sight. This is accomplished by angling the muzzle upward in relation to the line of sight the shooter actually sees. The bullet will again cross the shooters line of sight as it descends to it’s target.

We can see that at “some distance” from the muzzle the bullet aligns with the actual line of sight the shooter has for a small part of its’ flight. This is the point- where line of sight and the bullet path first intersect where the loop hole shot is possible. (A corollary to this- countering a deep shooter at distance- is knowing where the bullet path flattens and using that portion of the trajectory to strike a deeply concealed target from far away). This distance will vary with each firearm and cartridge, type of sighting equipment and many other factors. However, we can see that by knowing the distance at which our bullet first crosses the line of sight we can back space our shooter from a loop hole and shoot through what would seem like an impossibly small space- 2” or less…. Of course, the size of the loop will also effect- extend or contract, the distance the shooter needs to be from the loop in order for the bullet to pass safely through.

Finding this distance is not hard but does take some work and trial and error. I suspect professional snipers have a formula for finding this distance. Having never been in the military much less sniper school, I have resorted to other methods. You can use a laser bore sighter and simply have the shooter get into a firing position and then move back and forth until the laser shoots through the loop measuring the distance to target. This is great as you don’t even have to fire a shot. It however runs into issues on the range as most bore sighting lasers- and even visible aiming lasers, are pretty weak in direct sunlight making it hard to accomplish. It could be done indoors of course where you can control the lighting if you have the space.

The way that I have usually done it is simply to get a large piece of cardboard, cut the desired loop size in it, place a target down range and then attempting to fire through the loop. I note the bullet strike location on the cardboard and then move the target stand- or the shooter, backward or forward (if the strike is low I move the target to me, if high, away) until the rounds pass cleanly through the loop, measuring the distance and adding the information to my DOPE book.

Ruger Precision Rimfire Rifle being shot in and data recorded for Loophole Shooting. This particular rifle will “loop” from 20-24’ from the muzzle using a 2” opening. Note the difficulty in seeing the firing loop at a mere 20 something feet on a white background…. As with any tactic or technique we need to carefully consider whether it has real world application or is simply a cool guy range trick.

Advantages: Near ideal concealment of the shooter/observer, muzzle flash, sound and dust signature. It allows the shooter to use a very difficult to see position—-Could a potential target even SEE a 2” loop hole, vs. a 4’x4’ window at 300 yards? What can’t be seen, can’t be hit.  The ability to build a rock solid and comfortable shooting position- large modern buildings are full of desks, filing cabinets, furniture, etc…that can be used to create a good FFP.

Disadvantages: Requires the shooter to accurately measure the distance to his loop- takes time and equipment. Very situational- how many places will offfer the necessary distance to loop for the shooter to utilize the technique?  Loss of situational awareness (Can be mitigated through use of remote cameras or other sensors). Enclosed positions are louder for the shooter– suppressors and hearing protection become critical.

Happy Hunting,  Partisans