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Some Emotional Motivation-The half minute shot

Started by TaosGlock, February 28, 2011, 11:25:42 AM

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TaosGlock

From Ted Gundy, a DOM.
Ted Gundy is 84 years old, WWII vet, who lost a leg to artillery fire in 1944, and he is still an impressive shot.
Thank you for serving our country.
Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQRpAxGVg4M...embedded#at=462

From Winchester's: The Shooting Wire for Monday, February 8
"Old Sniper"
It was a simple question 84-year old Ted Gundy put to the guys at Shooting USA's Impossible Shots: "How is it possible for snipers today to hit targets from such long ranges?"

From most of us, it would have been a gee-whiz kind of question, the kind that gets a polite "thanks for watching, snipers use...." kind of form letter response.

But Ted Gundy wasn't just another TV fan. Gunday was asking about today, based on his own experiences from yesterday.

In 1944, Ted Gundy was an army sniper fighting World War II in Europe. More specifically, fighting in the cold and horrible conditions of the Battle of the Bulge, the definitive name in United States Army combat - still the largest battle ever fought by United States troops.

Gundy also wanted something else- he wanted to try one of those long shots himself. "The more we checked, the more we realized we had a unique opportunity here," says Shooting USA's Jim Scoutten, "Ted Gundy could still wear his WWII uniform blouse- the Eisenhower jacket. He marched in every Memorial Day parade, despite being an amputee. He had a full set of dress greens he used as a member of the Missouri honor guard - he wore them to render funeral honors to veterans of World War II."

"And," Scoutten added, "we realized those World War II heroes were dying in greater and greater numbers."

So, his team pulled together an almost impossible answer for Gundy. The Army Marksmanship Unit commander thought it was a great idea. Public affairs got Gundy and his son cleared for VIP on-base housing, and the deal came together.

So for a week, the old sniper was a VIP guest of the modern Army at Fort Benning, Georgia.

That's the premise of a special episode of Impossible Shots, entitled, appropriately enough "Old Sniper". I first watched it Wednesday night, and I didn't take a single note. I couldn't. Instead, I was transfixed watching one of the fewer-by-the-day remaining members of "our greatest generation" watching today's warriors ply their trade.

It wasn't the gee-whiz nature of today's gear for a veteran who fought with a 03-Springfield equipped with a primitive riflescope that held my attention, it was the reverence with which Gundy was treated by today's soldiers.

Sure, I enjoyed watching Gundy tour the exact recreation of the barracks, mess halls - and latrines- he remembered from more than six decades earlier in Fort Benning's historical areas, and his VIP treatment in the new Infantry Museum.

But I was moved by the way the sniper of old was revered by the snipers of today. As SFC Robby Johnson explained, "they were amazing marksmen. They were given a bolt-action rifle, some rudimentary zeroing time, and then told 'go forth' - and they made the same kinds of shots we make today."

It seemed like a lot of polite talk and a little exaggeration - until Val Forgett of Navy Arms presented the old sniper with a brand-new, exact replica of the rifle he carried across Europe until a German shell cut short his war - and his right leg.

Gundy was taken to a firing line with his new rifle, and the transformation was almost magical.

Today, Gundy's gait might be uncertain, his hands shaky and his hearing electronically enhanced (but not always quite enough), but when he settled behind "his" 03 Springfield A4 sniper rifle, none of that mattered.

From a basic rest, he proceeded to make hits on a silhouette target -at 300 yards. Each one was better than the previous, with the final round landing dead center.

Time didn't stand still, but it was held at bay- at least for three shots.

That's only part of the story you'll see in this special episode of "Impossible Shots" - and I don't want to give it all away.

Normally, I'm pretty much immune to those "moments" created by television shows. That's because most "moments" are created. In this episode, there' was no need to create anything - simply capturing the action spoke volumes.

There are plenty of "moments" packed into this half-hour.

Some of them will swell your chest; others will moisten your eyes.

-snip-

Watch for the "The Old Sniper" on the archives  on Outdoor Channel.


89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

Reddot

Thanks for sharing, this will be worth the time to watch; on another (somewhat) related note, our last WW1 veteran, Frank Buckles, passed away this weekend--the end of an era....

Old Dog

What I got a kick out of was the way he grabbed that rifle (03A3 modified to A4 configuration) with his left hand and after shaking Val's hand with his right hand --- did you see him waggle that right hand to get Val to let go of the darned butt stock so he could get both of his hands on that Springfield and heft it by himself.

That was the sign (for me) that all those years melted away and he was once again standing there holding an A4 and thinking of the shots he was going to make.

Its on You Tube by the way.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."

—Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle

DaveD

Watched the U-Tube.  Emotional Motivation Big Time. 

Thank you for the post!
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind."

                                           Thomas Jefferson

JustJeff

I got a kick out of "ping... head shot, ping.... in the mouth, ping... in the mouth again."
Your version of "ineffective" does not necessarily reflect the truth....
Having been "ineffectively" taught to the Rifleman Standard and having been "ineffectively" taught to teach others to the Rifleman Standard, I believe I prefer the "ineffective" over the other choice.

oladcock

Yep, makes you swell up with pride don't it?....O.L.    :bow:
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato 400BC

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lprgcfrank

He is amazing a sub .5MOA group at 1,000 yards with a rifle he never fired before - truly a Rifleman!
"fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen." [Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981)]

Pvt.Joker

Watch that video again. Watch him as though he's on your firing line. Watch his face, his eyes. Not even the suggestion of a flinch, after all those years.
Steady as a rock.
He can cover my advance any day.
:bow:
"The battlefields of history are littered with the bones of those, who, at the dawn of victory, sat down to rest; and, resting, died."   
"We can't guarantee success in this war, but we can do something better. We can deserve it."
-John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail.

SamD

Look at Gundy.
Can you tell he is operating on a peg?
Does he look sorry for himself?

This guy is a winner.
A Rifleman.  O0

JustJeff

Quote from: SamD on March 01, 2011, 10:36:49 PM
Look at Gundy.
Can you tell he is operating on a peg?
Does he look sorry for himself?

This guy is a winner.
A Rifleman.  O0

Sam, he moves better on that peg (smoother) than a lot of folks I know who have two healthy legs!
Look sorry for himself? Not a chance... he's seen death up close and personal and realizes that every day he has here is a gift from God and shouldn't be wasted.
Your version of "ineffective" does not necessarily reflect the truth....
Having been "ineffectively" taught to the Rifleman Standard and having been "ineffectively" taught to teach others to the Rifleman Standard, I believe I prefer the "ineffective" over the other choice.

Captwa

  Thanks,

   90 years of perseverence out of the greatest generation, can we do less?

                                                                                                   Wa

TaosGlock

Unlike most of todays generation of logged in/tuned out, self loathing internet whiners and experts, Gundy steps up to the plate and gets it done.
Other than you guys in AS, nobody in tv/internet land will notice what the true spirit of a Rifleman really is all about.
We do most of what we do because of guys like Gundy.
The man is a true inspiration.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

CharlieHotel

The soldier presenting him with the hat in the beginning of the video I believe is John Buol. He is the author of the SDM and Appleseed articles I posted last month.

Very Cool...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQRpAxGVg4M


My post from last month... For those interested.

http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=20319.0

"A good plan executed perfectly is better than a perfect plan executed poorly"

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So speak and so act as those who will be judged by the law of Liberty.
For Judgement comes without mercy for those who have shown no mercy, Mercy shall triumph over judgement.
James 2:12-13

Jerry Hall

I am honored to wear the "Rifleman" patch, in honor of Riflemen....Past, Present and Future!!!
"The significant problems we face today cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein."

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CaptMac

After reading about Mr. Gundy and watching the video, I did a search to learn more about him and found this:  http://www.memphisdemocrat.com/2006/news/061109_gundy.shtml
Ramseur Five Ten!!!

"Live Free or Die:  Death is not the Worst of Evils."  Genl.  John Stark, 1809.