85: Chapter 84: Ultra-Long-Distance Sniper Kill 85: Chapter 84: Ultra-Long-Distance Sniper Kill The sudden rocket attack caused a momentary panic, but after the brief alarm, Coleman’s men quickly relayed the situation back, reporting no casualties.
A total of four rockets hit the building, but only one penetrated inside, exploding in an empty room.
Relieved by the news of no casualties, Green Mamba was just relaxing when someone shouted, “We’ve located the attackers!
Three pickup trucks, they’re changing position, no, they’re headed our way, trying to improve accuracy.
We can’t let them get too close, prepare to counter-attack!”
Upon hearing the shouts, Gao Yang and his team quickly ran to their shooting spot on the fourth floor, which had a window with a good vantage point that was not particularly conspicuous.
As soon as Gao Yang got into position, he saw three pickup trucks heading their way, then stopping about a kilometer away.
The trucks then started reversing, their beds aimed at the building where he was.
Gao Yang didn’t know what the pickups were planning to do, but when he lifted his binoculars for a look, he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “F**k, what the hell is going on?”
Gao Yang had thought that they were just three pickup trucks, but it turned out he was too naïve.
They were indeed pickups, but not ordinary ones.
In the bed of one pickup was a rocket launcher nest, and in the others were heavy machine guns.
While Gao Yang was still marveling at the opposition’s innovative combination of pickups and rocket nests, he saw a few flashes of light on the rocket truck.
“Take cover!”
After Gao Yang shouted, he immediately ducked below the window and, using hands and feet, scrambled to the side.
But before he could move further, deafening explosions filled his ears.
Five consecutive explosions echoed, but fortunately, Gao Yang was only startled.
The rockets did not hit the room they were in.
Although the explosions sounded terrifying, there was no real danger.
Following the rockets came the bullets.
The heavy machine guns on the two gun-mounted pickups fired, but Gao Yang didn’t know where the shooters were aiming; at least no bullets came into their room.
Glolov asked for Gao Yang’s binoculars, knelt on one knee, and peeked out just a little to observe.
After a single glance, Glolov immediately pulled his head back in.
“F**k, f**k, it’s a 57mm rocket nest from an Mi-24, mounted on the pickup, a 32-round one.
They also have a twin anti-aircraft machine gun, a 14.5mm ZPU-2 type, a killing machine.
I couldn’t make out the model of the 12.7mm machine gun, but damn, their firepower is fierce,” Glolov said angrily as the opposition’s firepower exceeded his expectations.
In less than a month, the rebels, once prone to suicidal charges, now had heavy weapons and were proficient at using them.
After reporting the weapons mounted on the three pickups, Glolov yelled, “Be careful, they’re definitely covering infantry charges.
We need to be vigilant.
But their rocket nests don’t have sights, they won’t hit accurately.
As long as we’re not too unlucky, we’ll be fine.”
Gao Yang took a daring peek outside from behind the wall, then quickly retreated, saying with frustration, “You’re right, at least fifty men are charging over, and two more pickups are coming.”
Hearing about the two more pickups, Glolov used the binoculars for another observation, taking longer this time.
But when he pulled back, he just gave a wry smile and said, “F**k, we’re in trouble now.
They’ve brought two rocket launchers, not the small 57mm ones this time, but 107mm ones.
Gao, it’s your Huaxia’s Type 63 107mm rocket launcher, the nightmare of mercenaries.”
Li Jinfang also took a look through the binoculars and said with a grave face, “Although rocket artillery can’t breach fortifications, our building isn’t a fortification, either.
I’ve used the 63 rocket launcher, and I doubt these walls can withstand a 107mm rocket.”
Gao Yang gripped his gun, took a couple of deep breaths, and said loudly, “I’ll try to see if I can take out the rocket launchers.”
Glolov shouted, “No, they’re out of range, my estimate is one kilometer.
Our weapons don’t have that reach.
I’ll find a way to move the M2 over here.
That’s the only thing that can threaten them.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “No, my rifle can hit a basketball at a thousand yards.
I believe I can hit them.”
During their conversation, the opposition’s 107mm rockets fired.
Although their accuracy was still off, it seemed their only target was to hit the building.
The power of the 107mm rockets was incomparable to the 57mm ones.
Two violent explosions caused intense tremors, and Gao Yang, experiencing targeted bombing for the first time, could not help but panic.
The opposition had chosen their distance cunningly; their weapons could exert full power at a kilometer away, while Coleman and the Sandstorm Mercenary Corps, armed only with light weapons, were completely incapable of retaliation.
Even the maximum range of the RPG rocket launcher was only 700 meters, and it would self-destruct once it reached that distance, posing no threat to an enemy a kilometer away.
As for the M1A in Gao Yang’s hands, even though its theoretical range reached one kilometer, it was rare for anyone to use a sniper rifle developed from the M14 rifle to engage targets beyond eight hundred meters.
In fact, even instances of sniping beyond six hundred meters were uncommon.
Most of the time, M14 derivatives were used as precision rifles rather than dedicated sniper rifles.
No longer could they let the opposition attack unabated.
Gao Yang felt it was necessary to try a counterattack.
Even though his rifle was also derived from the M14, and was even a civilian version, Gao Yang believed Bob’s words that his rifle’s accuracy represented the pinnacle of semi-automatic firearms.
Gao Yang adjusted his scope to the one-thousand meter mark, then removed the magazine filled with standard ammunition and replaced it with a twenty-round magazine marked with red.
In the red-marked magazine, there were hand-loaded heavy tip bullets.
As Gao Yang was preparing to shoot, a call from Green Mamba came through the intercom.
“Ram, we might not hold out much longer.
Come down and regroup with us; be ready to retreat if things go south!”
“Wait a moment; let me try to take out the rocket launcher operator.
Give me one minute!”
Gao Yang was grateful that Green Mamba still had them in mind at this time, informing them they couldn’t hold out much longer.
After shouting into the intercom, Gao Yang picked up his rifle, took a deep breath, and placed the gun on a shooting platform made out of a table.
Gao Yang’s shooting position was behind a window, with the barrel not extending outside.
The table, serving as a base with two sandbags on top, provided Gao with a comfortable shooting position.
After making all shooting preparations, Gao Yang held his breath and carefully aimed at a person standing on top of a 120mm rocket artillery vehicle.
There were too many potential targets for Gao Yang now, so he first aimed at a person who was closest to the rocket launcher.
Gao Yang held his breath as did Glolov, Cui Bo, and Li Jinfang; they were waiting for Gao Yang to create a miracle.
Hitting a target at a thousand meters with a 7.62-millimeter caliber semi-automatic rifle would indeed be a miracle of sorts.
The distance of a thousand yards is equivalent to 914.4 meters.
Gao Yang believed that if he could hit a basketball at a thousand yards, then he could certainly hit a person at a thousand meters.
Embracing his confidence in his rifle, Gao Yang pulled the trigger with the certainty of hitting the target.
While Gao Yang’s rifle was the civilian version of the M14 rifle known as the M1A, the military M14 and the civilian M1A differ.
The military M14 has a higher chamber pressure, and the ammunition casings it uses are slightly thicker, resulting in projectiles that are faster and more powerful.
Thus, the M1A’s performance was actually a bit inferior to the M14.
But Gao Yang’s gun was definitely not a typical M1A.
It was called an M1A merely because Bob, who bought the gun, and the Arilan Morson Gunsmith Studio, who made the gun, wanted to exploit some loopholes in US laws.
Gao Yang’s M1A might as well be called a Super M1A, even outperforming the elite sniper rifles based on the M14 that were adopted by the US military.
It was not just boasting at the price of seventy-four thousand US Dollars.
The bullet fired by Gao Yang was a heavy tip bullet, with a muzzle velocity of about 900 meters per second.
However, this speed decreases over distance, reducing to just over 300 meters per second at one thousand meters.
The bullet took almost two seconds to travel from the muzzle to a distance of one thousand meters.
During those two seconds of the bullet’s flight, any slight movement by the enemy would make it impossible for the bullet to hit.
After the shot was fired, in the roughly two short seconds before the bullet would strike the target, Gao Yang, having completed the firing, quickly reviewed the data of his shot in his head.
Although he knew that his shot was exceptionally challenging, Gao Yang had the conviction that he would hit the target, despite not knowing where his confidence came from.
“Hit!
It hit, it hit!
Right in the chest, confirmed kill, confirmed kill, f**k me, Brother Yang, you’re incredible!”
Cui Bo, who insisted on being the observer, shouted excitedly.
Glolov struck the wall hard with his fist, his face beaming with euphoria, while Li Jinfang stared at Gao Yang, agape, looking at him with the same awe he did when watching Gao take down eight brawny men with his bare hands.
Although he always claimed that he wasn’t from the special forces, Li Jinfang, who at least was from quasi-special forces, knew the difficulty of Gao Yang’s shot.
“Shut up!”
Li Jinfang and Glolov were still okay, but Cui Bo’s racket disturbed Gao Yang.
After yelling at Cui Bo, Gao Yang was able to fully concentrate and aim at a new target.
Gao Yang wanted to take down a few more before the enemy realized the source of the bullets.
This time, he chose the operator of a twin-barreled anti-aircraft machine gun as his target, not only because the machine gun posed a great threat but more importantly because the machine gun operator’s position was stationary, and Gao Yang was confident he could hit him.