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The British Sniper, A Century of Evolution


VarmLR

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Written by Steve Hougton.

Has anyone else been fortunate enough to get hold of a copy of the above?  I was thrilled that despite very limited numbers in the publishing run, I've somehow managed to snag a copy.   Very much looking forward to reading this one!

 

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33 minutes ago, VarmLR said:

Written by Steve Hougton.

Has anyone else been fortunate enough to get hold of a copy of the above?  I was thrilled that despite very limited numbers in the publishing run, I've somehow managed to snag a copy.   Very much looking forward to reading this one!

 

Yes, a thoroughly excellent book.  Very well written and a good mix of technical and operational information.

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Received a message fro Steve Houghton to say that the collection will be sold by invite only,.   I think that they will be mainly to people that he already knows and may include a select few who have purchased the book.  I expect many if not most will have a fairly eye watering price tag!  They're a slice of working history and if i could afford one, I'd buy one of offered.  Vermin control of course!

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Great author too 😉  He really knows his onions.    Shrivenham Small Arms Collection museum has bought some of the books and I wouldn't be surprised if many similar organisations world wide won't snap up a fair few copies.  Anyone interested in a copy will need to be quick as there are limited numbers available.

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Hesketh-Pritchard's book is well worth a read along with the above book.   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sniping-France-1914-18-Scientific-Observers/dp/1906033498/ref=sr_1_15?dchild=1&keywords=british+sniper+book+WW1&qid=1588845848&sr=8-15

It's dated language but there's some really interesting insights which I found fascinating reading alongside "The British Sniper"

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On 5/6/2020 at 9:05 PM, saddler said:

Will get a copy at some point, not seen it in any of the usual outlets, or I'd already have one

Highly recommended, as others have posted above. There are a lot of good books around covering historic aspects of sniping, particularly the work of Martin Pegler who wrote the foreword to this book, but not so much about more recent developments and the work of Accuracy International which are covered in detail. Not a cheap book but worth buying. Get in while there are some left, there were only 2,000 copies printed and mine is number 1313, I assume they are being sold in sequence so my guess is they won't be available for much longer.  

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That's right. I was told that there are some already reserved, many going out to institutions world-wide and UK availability is very limited and shrinking daily.  As you say, expensive but one of those books that comes along every 25 years or so which, for the serious shooter and amateur military historian is a "must have".  I seem to have amassed a large collection, some my late Father's and it's really interesting to look at the different takes and information each provides.

The story of AI was quite amusing, for those who don't know...... Two blokes working from a garage tendered for an MOD contract as in "what have we got to lose?" and the end result was that their novel and unique (at the time) unit construction chassis system won out.  Allegedly when MOD procurement contacted them and said a few high ranking officers were coming to inspect their premises, they had kittens!  Within days they had procured a unit on a nearby industrial estate, moved their lathe and a few workbenches in there with some stores and barrels plus a few bits of rifles scattered about on benches.  They had no budget remaining for a fancy restaurant meal so hoped a pint and a sandwich would do!  As it turned out the officers were impressed less with what they saw and more that it wasn't just "two blokes working out of a shed" 🤣 and said as much, then settled for a pint and a sarny!  The rest as they say is history.

The truth did come out though after the contract was awarded and whilst AI produced the first 110 or so rifles of a 1200 unit order, another (non firearms) company was handed the rights to complete the rest under licence.  However, they looked at the specs and because the firing pin materials were so expensive (as an example of a cost cutting opportunity) they decided that another type of steel would be cheaper....and so-on.  The end result was that there were many accidental discharges as the pins snapped near the heads at the rear end, firing the pin forward into a chambered round, setting it off.  As a result of that, the contract was handed back to AI on the understanding they'd meet demand which to their credit, they did.

I love the fact that their history and success follows that of so many others working from garages and sheds (Trevor Bayliss anyone?) and that the UK still has loads of people like this all over the country.  

My business is no comparison at all but I've been working out of a garden workshop successfully for ten years now and I wouldn't want that to change!

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