The DC sniper. A gun question.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I put this in IMHO because I doubt there is a real answer.

Something has been bugging me about the DC sniper.

The hole in the trunk of the car. About how big was it? I think I remember seeing a picture of it, looked to be round and about 2-3 inches.

I give you the AR-15 Bushmaster. Notice how the sights are mounted on a post on front and the handle in back. In John Muhammods car they also found a scope, which raises the sight line even more(if he used the scope).

The site line over the barrel looks to be a good 2 inches. Make it at least 2-1/2 if they used the scope.

This makes it very difficult to site the rifle through such a small hole and still leave enough room for the bullet to pass too. I know they had a tripod, but still.

A 3 inch hole might be big enough if you had the rifle stationary and just waited for a target to come into view (and stand still).

Was the hole bigger than I remember?

And would a bullet passing very close to a vertical obstruction far from the target and close to the end of the barel affect the bullet? Throw off the trajectory?

2

There were TWO holes in the trunk, according to this CNN Story:

3

Additionally, the particular weapon they used had no front sight post or “carrying handle” like in the typical AR-15/M-16/Bushmaster. This one just had a small scope mounted where the “carrying handle” is. This CBS News page has a photo of the weapon. Click on “Sniper Spree” Interactive on the right of the page, then click “Photo Essay”, then Photo Number 5.

4

Unclebill,

Got it. And it looks like the bi-pod had adjustable legs. Makes more sense.

Thanks.