AMATEUR ASSASSIN V. PROFESSIONAL SNIPER

Cold Bore Shift – The Role It May Have Played in the Assassination Attempt on President Trump

The amateur assassin nicked former President Trump with an attempted head shot and then missed with what sounded like a controlled pair, and then missed again with four or five additional “spray and pray” shots the way I see it and hear it play out in the videos of the event.

Conversely, the professional United States Secret Service (USSS) sniper hit the assassin with his first shot. I do not have confirmation that only one shot was fired by the USSS sniper(s), but that’s the best information I have at this point, and it also sounded that way to me in the videos of the event. For the moment, lets assume this is the case (one shot, one kill). ??

What are the differences that likely affected the recreational shooter / amateur assassin that caused him to miss versus the professional sniper who made an incapacitating hit at a longer distance?

The obvious answer is training and experience.

If you listen to the talking heads, even a novice recreational shooter should have been able to make the 130-yard shot on the former president’s head. That said, if it was so easy, the former president should have been seriously wounded or even killed by this recreational shooter. Yet, the assassin was the one who ends up dead from one well aimed round from a professional sniper. Weird, right? ????

Right after this event happened, I wrote an article called the “Chip Shot” to help enlighten folks on just how difficult the novice assassin’s head shot attempt really was under those circumstances. I outlined the factors of time constraints, physical & mental stress, the awkward position, and most of all, how difficult it can be to hit the moving head target. All those factors played a role in his failure to seriously wound or kill the former president.

I purposely left out two other factors as I did not want to “nerd-out” too hard on the subject. Those would be elevation, (which is negligible at the heights and distances involved in this case) but more importantly, COLD BORE SHIFT. ???????

To keep things very simple for the uninformed, the cold bore shot is the first shot (round) fired out of the rifle either in training or on a mission (call out). In many rifles, the point of impact of the cold bore shot can be quite different from follow on shots that are taken after the barrel has warmed up. The only way you can know what your cold bore shift (deviation) is in relation to your point of aim will be, is to map the rifle’s (and shooter’s) cold bore performance over time. This is critical to know when lives are on the line. ?

This is what professional law enforcement snipers do as they don’t get to go out to the range on their way to a mission (call out) to warm up. They are thrusted into the Super Bowl, and they cannot miss. They must know what their cold bore shift is for the range the rifle is zeroed at (LE is generally 100 yards). For example, in my 30+ years in the LE sniper industry, it isn’t uncommon to see LE sniper’s cold bore shift be in the range of one full inch at 100 yards. The USSS snipers not only train for all the above, but they also know what their cold bore shift is, and in this case, they did not miss when their moment of truth came. Well done!

In the novice’s attempted assassination of former President Trump, a cold bore shift of one inch left, in combination with all the other factors mentioned above, could have helped save the former president’s life. ????

Let us give thanks that the assassin was not a professional.

Respectfully,

Jeff Felts

President, Center Mass, Inc.

www.centermassinc.com