The Canadian snipers had carefully chosen their hide site.  From an elevated position, the Special Operations sniper looked through his scope at a stationary human target leaning against a cement wall over two miles away.  The four-man sniper team had been pushing their shots out further and further into Mosul over the course of several days, taking down ISIS terrorists in long-range engagements.  Now, they were about to make history.

Sniper Detachments

Three Canadian sniper detachments have been active in Mosul, Iraq.  Two of those sniper detachments hail from Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) and one from Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), both units falling under Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM).  CSOR handles tasks commonly associated with American units such as Special Forces and Rangers while JTF2 is Canada’s counter-terrorism unit, filling a role similar to Delta Force.  That CSOR is in Kurdistan conducting an advise and assist mission is public knowledge.  JTF2 was accidentally exposed in theater by a video released in 2015.  What the Trudeau administration doesn’t want people to know is that Canadian troops are actively involved in combat.  Like many other western governments, the advise and assist mission is used as a politically neutral term to disguise what is really happening on the ground.

The Shot

The record-breaking shot was taken by the JTF2 sniper team nearly a month ago, but is just being publicized now, largely because the Canadian military is proud of what their men have accomplished despite what hand wringing politicians might think.  Let’s get one thing straight, the record-breaking shot was not at a distance of 3,450 meters as the press has reported, but 90 meters further at a range of 3,540 meters.  This smashes the previous record-setting distance for a sniper kill which was 2,475 meters held by British sniper Craig Harrison.

Canadian snipers are known to be amongst the best in the world and the JTF2 sniper detachment had been training for ultra-long range engagements prior to their deployment in preparation for Mosul.  From their sniper hide, a number of factors lined up making the record-breaking shot possible.

Using Kestrel wind meters and ballistic software, the guess-work has been removed from ballistics. This truly makes sniping a science, as successful shots are based on math.  

On this particular day, there was little wind and no mirage.  Through their scope, the sniper and spotter saw the target remaining still long enough for them to hit from 3,540 meters away.

To find out more about selecting the perfect rifle for a long-range kill shot, be sure to check out this recent piece by Cameron Curtis.

Canadian sniper training. (courtesy of the Canadian Armed Forces.)

McMillan Tac-50

The McMillan Tac-50 was hardly a new rifle, but would do the job.  The round fired was a match grade armor-piercing incendiary (API) round.  JTF2 mostly utilizes Schmidt and Bender scopes, but also some made by Night Force.  Which optic used that day remains unknown at this time.  The rifle had been customized in order to gain the mil elevation needed to reach a target at such great distances by attaching special rails to the weapon.  The adjustments dialed into the scope by the JTF2 sniper were 113 mils of elevation and 6.5 mils of windage.  To learn more about the mil-dot system and how snipers use it to adjust for distance and wind, take a look at the following website.