Here are the 5 longest range sniper kills in military history

As if all that wasn’t impressive enough, the first five confirmed sniper kills at longest range all came from shots fired more than a mile away, with the first two coming from more than two miles away. Since the average person with an unobstructed view can only see 2.9 miles before the curvature of the Earth cuts off their view, there’s a good chance the enemy didn’t see or hear the bullet coming.

The top five spots on the list of longest range sniper kills have remained largely unchanged since 2017, until Russia gave Ukrainian snipers the opportunity to join the list – which they did. Twice. Here are the latest.

1. Viacheslav Kovalskyi, Ukraine: 2.36 miles

While other shooters on this list remain unnamed, 58-year-old Viacheslav Kovalskyi is proud to be known for taking down a Russian officer. An award-winning competitive long-range shooter before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he signed up as a sniper that very day.

He joined the counterintelligence agency of the Security Service of Ukraine and topped this list with a hit in the Kherson region in November 2023.

Video evidence confirmed that a custom-made round from Kovalskyi’s Horizon’s Lord anti-materiel rifle connected with a Russian officer 3,800 meters – or 2.36 miles – away. The bullet took nine seconds to close the distance with the Russian. After the target doubled and fell, the other troops scattered.

“I thought the Russians would now know what the Ukrainians are capable of,” Kovalskyi said The Wall Street Journal. “Let them stay at home and be afraid.”

2. Unnamed Canadian sniper, Iraq: 2.19 miles

Canadians may be known for being overly polite, but there is nothing polite about their shooting skills. Three Canadians topped the long-range sniper kill list in recent years, but the other two were public knowledge.

The operators of Canada’s Joint Task Force 2 are the most elite of our neighbors to the north. special operations forces, and the identity of this shooter (along with most of the details of the incident) is still a closely guarded secret.

Using a .50-caliber McMillan TAC-50 anti-materiel rifle, the JTF-2 sniper was posted to a high-rise building in an undisclosed Iraqi city in 2017. He targeted an Islamic State fighter who was attacking Iraqi security forces which could not be supported by airstrikes due to the proximity to civilians. He then downed the ISIS fighter from 3,540 meters with a hit verified by video evidence, according to the Globe and Mail.

3. Unnamed Australian sniper, Afghanistan: 1.74 miles

In their book, “One Shot Kills: A History of Australian Army Sniping,” authors Glenn Wahlert and Russell Linwood detail the story of an Australian soldier in the 2nd Commando Regiment, whose kill record at the time of the book’s publication in 2014 held the world record for longest strike distance at 2,815 meters.

The sniper was a member of two teams in the Kajaki district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province in April 2012. The first team consisted of two soldiers — an observer and a gunner — while the second had a rifle lance corporal and the marksman corporal. The commando commander was also spotted with both teams.

The gunman used a Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel rifle with a Schmidt and Bender scope and Woods reticle. All three observers confirmed the hit. It was a world record for the longest distance, one that it held for the next five years.

4. Unnamed Ukrainian Sniper, Ukraine: 1.68 miles

Russia intended its invasion of Ukraine to last a total of three days, but the war continues even more than two years later. By November 2022, Russia was forced to call on its reserves to reduce Ukrainian counteroffensives in the regions around Kharkiv and Kherson due to over 100,000 casualties suffered by the Russian military.

If that wasn’t enough to boost Ukrainian morale, a Ukrainian special ops soldier National Guard hit a russian”occupant” from 2,710 meters away, securing 2nd place on the list of longest sniper kills at the time. The sniper used an XADO Alligator Snipexa specially designed anti-materiel rifle with a claimed effective range of 2,000 meters, made in Ukraine.

5. Cpl. Craig Harrison, Afghanistan: 1.53 miles

It’s not a great idea to release the name of a world record-setting sniper like Craig Harrison will attest. The British Army appointed him against his will, leading to death threats against him and his family. He also struggled with PTSD after serving as a sniper in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But when he set the world record for longest sniper kill, he was overseeing British forces in Afghanistan.

His record-breaking photos came in 2009 on a clear, mild day with little wind. He was using an Accuracy International L115A3 against two Taliban machine gunners in Helmand province. After moving the targets, he took them out with two successive shots.