An Odd Characteristic of the SMLE

[Simon]

The only known example of a SMLE Sniper having a point of impact that would coincide at 300 yardsand then open out beyond that is with the Great War Sniping Weapons with the scope offset to the right. The point of zero of the WWI sniper weapons was set at 300 yards, this naturally meant that the point of impact at less than 200 yards was to the left of point of aim, coinciding at 300 yards and beyond that it would move progressively to the right of point of aim. The British sniper would in time learn to use the method of aiming that had cost him so dearly in the America's, namely kentucky windage. The same Kentucky windage/elevation that once learned has served our specialists well from WWI through WWII and Korea to the present day in Afghanistan.

Cheers,

Simon,

P.S. Sorry if the above is a tad incomprehensible, we've actually had a decent days weather in the North West UK today so I may have had the odd one or three beers at the BBQ before posting the above

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[Thunderbox]

The only known example of a SMLE Sniper having a point of impact that would coincide at 300 yards and then open out beyond that is with the Great War Sniping Weapons with the scope offset to the right. The point of zero of the WWI sniper weapons was set at 300 yards, ...

Is that actually noted in a drill book somewhere, or is that from accumulated sniper lore?

I ask, because my PPCo (admittedly of completely unverifiable provenance) has the scope parallel to the bore in the horizontal axis (or is that the vertical axis?!); hence the POI remains offset to the left by a fixed amount at all ranges. Given that the offset is only about 1 1/2", it would seem pointless trying to have a "converged zero" at a specific range plus correction factors for every other range - far easier simply to aim 1 1/2" to the right, whatever the range.


Getting back to the OP's anecdote, the answers must surely be; (1) no, No1s do not typically exhibit lateral spread; (2) any lateral spread reported by the sniper is most likely down to a fault in scope/ mount/ shooter on that particular rifle....