King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

Chapter 7: 7 High Precision Rifle

Having entertained big boss Lu Jun at his private shooting range, Joe Ga finally stayed behind to clean up the scene and then drove his car into the desert.

After racing across the boundless wilderness for almost half an hour, Joe Ga found a relatively flat area.

Eight hundred meters from his position were a few dead trees and a gigantic rock eroded by who knows how many years of wind and sand.

Joe Ga set up the simple sunshade he'd brought from the shooting range, then in front of the rock that he arrived at by car, he sprayed several targets in red paint on the rock.

Finally, he hung a dozen human-shaped steel targets on the trees with wire, drove back to the shelter of the sunshade, and took out his modified, or rather, transformed SVD and lay down on a tarpaulin.

First, he took out a rangefinder to measure the distance, 753 meters.

Then Joe Ga aimed at one of the targets on the rock through the 15x scope, and after brewing for a few seconds, he pulled the trigger.

After the "bang" of the gunshot, Joe Ga immediately picked up a pair of binoculars to look for the point of impact.

At a distance of nearly 800 meters, it was very common for a shooter not to know where the bullet had gone after firing, as the field of view in the sights was too small to see clearly. Therefore, snipers typically have an observer beside them to remind the shooter of their firing position.

Unfortunately, Joe Ga didn't have an observer, so he had to do everything by himself.

Through the clearer binoculars, Joe Ga found that his bullet hit 1 meter above and 40 centimeters to the left of the target.

This wasn't what he had anticipated since the zeroing range of the SVD in his hands was adjusted to 200 meters, and Joe Ga had chosen not to adjust the sights but rather had deliberately raised the aim slightly, as described on the internet.

Then he realized that the bullet's trajectory was completely different from what he had expected; at a distance of 753 meters, there was no sign of the bullet dropping whatsoever.

Theoretically, this was impossible. Joe Ga was very confident in the electromagnetic barrel he had made, but not to the extent that he believed the gun could defy the laws of physics.

But reality excited Joe Ga. The sniper-specific bullets made according to Soviet Union standards, combined with the electromagnetic barrel lengthened by 5 centimeters, allowed his SVD to maintain a flat trajectory at a distance of around 800 meters.

After trying a few more shots, Joe Ga discovered, to his delight, that the bullets fired from his gun would only start to drop after 850 meters due to velocity and air resistance, yet the effective killing range could extend to approximately 1200 to 1400 meters.

He didn't know the maximum range, nor did he think he'd need it; constructing a Barrett, not an SVD, was what one should do if they entertained the thought of killing enemies from 2000 meters away.

For an old rifle like the SVD, this was an incredible piece of data!

Even compared with the most top-tier bolt-action sniper rifles, it was beyond reproach. This wasn't something from the same realm because even a novice with this gun, as long as they didn't suffer from a shaking hand, could hit a target at 800 meters.

At the range of 200 to 400 meters where Joe Ga was most skilled, the gun's precision was unmatched, achieving accuracy of 0.1 milliradian, with virtually no error.

Then, as the distance extended to 800 meters, Joe Ga would develop deviations due to his shooting habits and insufficient practice, but these deviations were usually within the size of a volleyball.

Beyond this distance, when it came to calculating ballistics and wind drift, Joe Ga's performance was somewhat unsatisfactory.

The issue wasn't with the gun, but with the person.

Because Joe Ga wasn't very familiar with shooting using high-powered scopes, searching and aiming through the narrow field of vision made him very uncomfortable.

However, these problems could be overcome. The bigger issue was unfamiliarity with the gun and the trajectory of the bullets.

This matter required a great deal of practice and adaptation, but clearly, at the distance of 800 meters, Joe Ga could get the hang of it quickly.

Many might think long-distance shooting is very simple, just like playing a video game: scope, aim, shoot…

But the reality is that when the muzzle of your gun is beyond a certain distance from the target, a slight gasp for breath or even an accelerated heartbeat before pulling the trigger can send the bullet flying to who knows where.

If your muzzle deviates by half a millimeter, the impact point could be off by a meter or even tens of meters.

Simply pursuing a steady hand like an assault soldier is not enough; without finding your own shooting rhythm, you will never become an outstanding sniper or precision shooter.

Joe Ga had chosen the most stable prone shooting position, but his actual performance still fell short of his expectations, which left him slightly frustrated.

The gun must be a good one, so the issue had to be with the shooter.

This is the downside of not being formally trained: online and in novels, those genius marksmen who can shoot an arrow through a hole a hundred paces away abound, as if without the skill to headshot from two kilometers, you are not a qualified sniper.

Joe Ga wasn't even aware of his own remarkable shooting achievements; on his first time shooting at long-range targets, except for the first shot, every subsequent shot hit the target, and the deviation was less than the size of a football.

This meant that as long as he aimed at the enemy's torso, he could maintain a very high hit rate at a distance of 800 meters.

Combined with his habitual quick shooting, theoretically, as long as he picked up that SVD rifle, he was already an exceptional and deadly precision shooter.

Unfortunately, Joe Ga didn't know about this, and luckily he was unaware, or else his motivation might have diminished greatly.

He practiced his shooting desperately, to protect himself in case of any trouble.

He had brought his close-range handgun and assault rifle skills to a level of perfection, all to ensure his safety.

And for the deadlier long distance, it was more out of personal interest.

When there was no progress to be made with handguns and assault rifles, Joe Ga needed a new 'growth point' for his abilities.

This allowed him to maintain psychological stability in relatively dangerous environments; each improvement, each additional skill acquired, added to his sense of security.

For Joe Ga's line of work, this was extremely important. In a long-term state of insecurity, it might not take an attack from others to bring someone down—the omnipresent pressure alone could crush a person.

Of course, the heartless, the ignorant, or the resigned might not care about this and might even find it thrilling.

Yet, Joe Ga spent three years alone in that high-pressure environment, and it was this high pressure that spurred his rapid growth over those three years.

Three hours every night, three years four months twenty-three days...

Without being aware of it himself, Joe Ga had trained himself into a very tough killer who was becoming increasingly lethal.

Joe Ga didn't have a clear understanding of his condition, but it didn't stop him from quickly finding joy in long-distance shooting.

He took the crosshair that rose and fell with his breathing and heartbeat as an interesting challenge.

In just five days, just five days, Joe Ga felt he had found a bit of rhythm.

Although the problem of the bullet trajectory at distances beyond 800 meters still remained unresolved, Joe Ga's 'work time' had arrived.