Today’s New York Post has an interesting piece by a former Marine chief warrant officer about the difficulties that faced the US snipers who took part in the pirate stand off at the weekend:

A shot at any range from the pitching deck of a ship underway is very challenging. And this target was a head in the two-foot-square forward window of a bobbing lifeboat tethered by a line.

[...]The snipers, spotters and their team commander all likely took positions hours earlier, under cover of darkness, and remained well hidden in the daylight. (You don’t want to spook the pirates with activity on deck or at sea — you want them to lull in complacency.)

Probably, the snipers chose a hard-hitting rifle and round — such as a .338 Lapua Magnum, now popular among Marine and SEAL Special Operations snipers.

These are awesome guns, highly accurate. The more massive bullet would effectively break through the impact-resistant glass of the lifeboat windows, and retain enough force and integrity to kill the pirates on target.

More here.