Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealhead
Hatchcock would have had optics of poorer quality than on an Abrams though he maybe used a x10 or x12 scope if they even had any in Vietnam which I doubt they did I bet that he used maybe an x6 or x8 scope.
According to Wikipedia "A second 7.62 mm M240 machine gun in a coaxial mount to the right of the main gun. The coaxial MG is aimed and fired with the same computer fire control system used for the main gun" so with the coaxial it is very possible. And I argue that an Abrams crew has their bag of tricks they might be able to do things that we do not know about so it could be possible with the .50 mount around in 2003.the current mounts either TUSK or CROWS would allow such long range shots with the .50 cal feasible without doubt.Perhaps not single shots I already said that I not certain about the single shot part but with bursts yes and even a tripod or bipod can be used in the indirect fire role at these ranges.
You also fail to take into consideration that the crew can use the gunners sight to observe the acurracy of the .50 cal fire and adjust even without ballistic computer aid.Snipers do this very often the spotter has a high magnification scope and they observe the lay of shots.
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I referred to the story the way you told it.
Yes, the coax is linked to the gunner's primary sight, which has the strongest zoom of all sights on the tank, but still, the target is small in this case, a man at 2000 meters is not that big at all, even in a zoom x10. The cal.50 onboard a tank probably is not the same cal.50 that was used and altered by that USMC master sniper. And then the ammo, the dispersion. You cannot really correct by impacts observed by an observer if the dispersion is too spread anyway. That makes only sense when the weapon for single shots is extremely precise, which I doubt for a tank-mounted .50 with non-specialised ammunition, or when planning to send an area bombardement anyway.
Whether the link between ballistic computer and the TC's cal.50 means only a transfer of numbers (range) for computing environmental factors and final elevation, or whether the gunner really sees on his display on behalf of the TC and aims the weapon on the commanders behalf, I just do not know. Even if he does aim the .50 as if it were the coax, there still remains the problem of dispersion - a cal.50 is no SABOT. Initially you mentioned "one shot". And that is simply extremely unlikely. The probabiulity for a first round hit is very low at 2000m, I assume.
Note that that master sniper made most of his shots with the .50 still at around 1000 yards only. And he was a sniper, no tank commander.
Anyway, there have several people reported back in the eSim forum to my question on this story - and nobody believes the story as being told - sorry.
Considering that there are many real tankers in that forum, many Abrams riders as well, I take that feedback the way it was given. So, the story as being told rates as "most extremely unlikely".