10 Deadliest Snipers Ever
Published in Entertainment at April 18th, 2017 at 8:34 AM
The sniper is one of the more romanticised positions in the armed forces, the soldier who gets to save the day with awe inspiring accuracy and range. The beauty of the sniper position is how super human the ability appears to be, firing a bullet across 100s of yards, taking into account wind and other atmospheric factors, before hitting the target, one miss could give away positions or ruin an entire operation. Over the years, snipers will tally up huge numbers of kills and they must be reported to their superiors, there may be the underhand out there who don't record kills so the totals could be even higher, this video looks at the most successful snipers in history.
Simo Hayha
The single most successful sniper in military history is Finnish marksman Simo Hayha, totalling 505 confirmed kills while on duty. The kills came during the Winter War between Finland and Soviet Union, what is more amazing is that during the war he also added 200 kills via machine gun. What makes Simo stand out from all the others on this list, and is what really makes him a superhuman, is that he never used a telescopic sight. He recorded all his kills via the iron sights. A truly remarkable feat.
Carlos Hathcock
The most prolific sniper in US history is Carlos Hathcock, despite not having the superior record as the Chris Kyle, not having the superior technological advances he had. Kyle once called himself a monkey with a gun compared to Hathcock. Hathcock holds the record for the 5th longest recorded kill in history at 2500 yards, and it was done on an M" machine gun. During the Vietnam War his confirmed kills reached 93.
Chris Kyle
Thanks to the recent Clint Eastwood movie, American Sniper, Chris Kyle is probably the most famous of his kind. Kyle is credited as the most deadly sniper in US history with 160 confirmed kills and he has unconfirmed kills to add to that tally too. For his efforts he got two Silver Stars as well as a whole bucket load of others as a sign of his service to his country. It was in 2013, when along with his friend Chad Littlefield, they took a young PTSD sufferer to a firing range to blow off some steam and he turned on them both and shot them before shooting himself.
Vasily Zaystev
The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most known sniper battles of all time and during it Vasily Zaystev racked up 225 of his 400+ confirmed kills. That tally includes 11 enemy snipers which is why he is so famous in his country. A lot of his kills were over 1000 metres in distance and often used a standard rifle during service. He is heralded as a hero of the Soviet Union before it was disbanded but continues to be honoured in modern era Russia too.
Rob Furlong
At over 2500 yards, Rob Furlong held the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in March 2002. It was during Operation Anaconda, 3 Al Qaeda fighters were moving into a mountainside position when Furlong took aim with rifle, a .50 caliber Tac-50 model. He fired 3 shots in total, missing, hitting the targets backpack and then the torso causing an instant kill. The bullets took 4 seconds to reach the target from point of fire.
Adelbert Waldron
Adelbert Waldron served in the Vietnam War and racked up 109 confirmed kills, the most of any marksman during the conflict. One afternoon he was riding along the Mekong River on a Tango boat when an enemy sniper on shore pecked away at the boat. While everyone else on board strained to find the antagonist, who was firing from the shoreline over 900 meters away, Sergeant Waldron took up his sniper rifle and picked off the Vietcong out of the top of a coconut tree with one shot (this from a moving platform). Such was the capability of our best sniper.
Ludmila Pavlichenko
Major Ludmila Pavlichenko is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history with 309 confirmed kills. When Germany invaded Russia, she was a 24 year old university student and one of the first citizen volunteers to enrol in the army, she was offered nurse duty but refused to become an infantry member. Due to her accuracy with a rifle she became one of the first 2,000 female snipers in the Soviet Union. She was one of only 500 to survive the war.
Billy Dixon
Billy Dixon is one of the only American civilians to receive the Medal of Honor. Dixon helped found the Adobe Walls settlement in Texas during his time as a buffalo hunter. The settlement was raided by a huge number of Native Americans, Dixon used a .50-90 rifle to shoot and kill the chief of the attackers over a mile away, taking him out on the 3rd shot. After that he became an army scout and during the Battle of Buffalo Wallow, his fire held the enemy off for 3 whole days until the weather forced them to retreat.
Fyodor Okhlopkov
Fyodor Okhlopkov is credited as being one of the most effective Soviet snipers during World War II. He is credited with 429 kills. His service earned him the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1965 as well as an Order of Lenin. Okhlopkov was initially passed over for these awards due to his ethnicity.
Roza Shanina
Probably the most well known female sniper in history, because of her angelic looks and only being 19 at the time of service, she amassed nearly 60 kills during her time as marksman for the Soviet Army. Her enrolment was brought about by the death of her brother in 1941. During the war she decided to shield her commanding officer from incoming artillery fire and was killed in the process and was order Russia's highest bravery award.
